He briefly used the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra as an attribution for a song written for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, entitled "Scream and Run Away". Further music was recorded for the audiobook versions of the series and is attributed to The Gothic Archies.
Under his own name, he recorded and released the soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. The soundtrack to the late Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete featured many of his songs.
He and director Chen Shi-Zheng have collaborated on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). Select tracks from these works have been released on Nonesuch Records under the title Showtunes.
Merritt is openly gay. His lyrics are known for bending and blurring the gender line; examples include the song When My Boy Walks Down The Street, sung by a male vocalist, which contains the lyric "and he's going to be my wife". He is fascinated with the undead, often making veiled or explicit references to vampires. Other frequent motifs in his lyrics include trains and railroads, the moon, dancing, eyes, and, of course, love.
Merritt has a Chihuahua named Irving, after Irving Berlin. He was raised Buddhist by his counter-culture mother. He attended the progressive Massachusetts high school, The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended NYU before moving back to Boston. He is a smoker, and is known to light a cigarette while performing on stage. He has worked as a copy editor for Spin Magazine and Time Out New York.
One of Merritt's most notable quirks is that, when interrupting his speech for thought, he does not use linguistic placeholders such as "uh" or "er" to indicate that he is not done speaking, but instead simply stops speaking. This leads many interviewers unfamiliar with this behavior to cut him off before he has finished answering a question.
In a September 2005 interview conducted by The Onion's AV Club, alternative rock musician Bob Mould was reminded of an interviewer who once referred to Mould as "the most depressed man in rock." Mould's response was, "He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously."
The World Is Not Made Of Flowers
Stephin Merritt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Crushing your skull won't quell my fury
The world is not made of flowers, is it?
Neither am I
If you smell a bullet
Passing through your nose
Red as a rose
The world is not made of music, is it?
Neither am I
If you hear an arrow
Passing through your ear
And out your rear
Let it be mine
The world is not made of sunlight, is it?
Neither am I
If you see a dagger
Passing through your eye
And then you die
Let it be mine
And while my anger still increases
I'll piss on all your little pieces
The song "The World Is Not Made of Flowers" by Stephin Merritt seems to be an intense and violent expression of anger towards someone. The opening lines, "Though I will be your judge and jury, crushing your skull won't quell my fury," suggest that the singer is judging someone and feeling furious towards them. The violent imagery, "crushing your skull," shows how intense the singer's anger is.
The following lines, "The world is not made of flowers, is it? Neither am I," suggest that the singer is cynical and sees the world as a dark and dangerous place, just like themselves. They do not believe in the beauty or optimism of the world or people, and they share that in common with the person they're addressing.
The last stanza, "And while my anger still increases, I'll piss on all your little pieces," adds to the intense and graphic nature of the song. The singer's anger only seems to be growing stronger, and they feel like they're destroying the person piece by piece. The language is vulgar and violent, emphasizing how out of control the singer's rage has become.
Overall, the song seems to be a cathartic expression of anger and cynicism towards the world and the person being addressed.
Line by Line Meaning
Though I will be your judge and jury
I have the power and authority to judge and punish you for your misdeeds.
Crushing your skull won't quell my fury
Even if I physically harm you, it won't pacify my anger towards you.
The world is not made of flowers, is it?
The world is not always pleasant or easy, is it?
Neither am I
Neither am I solely pleasant or easy.
If you smell a bullet
If you sense danger coming your way.
Passing through your nose
Coming at you so fast that you barely have time to react.
Red as a rose
Causing a fatal injury that results in blood loss.
Let it be mine
I'll take responsibility for inflicting harm if necessary.
The world is not made of music, is it?
The world is not always pleasant or harmonious, is it?
If you hear an arrow
If you sense danger coming your way.
Passing through your ear
Coming at you so fast that you barely have time to react.
And out your rear
Exiting your body after causing a fatal injury.
Let it be mine
I'll take responsibility for inflicting harm if necessary.
The world is not made of sunlight, is it?
The world is not always warm and bright, is it?
Neither am I
Neither am I always warm and empathetic.
If you see a dagger
If you sense danger coming your way.
Passing through your eye
Coming at you so fast that you barely have time to react.
And then you die
Causing a fatal injury resulting in death.
Let it be mine
I'll take responsibility for inflicting harm if necessary.
And while my anger still increases
Even as my anger intensifies.
I'll piss on all your little pieces
I'll completely destroy and dismantle everything you hold dear.
Contributed by Lauren H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.