The band was originally formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1990 by friends Merritt and (percussionist/pianist/vocalist) Claudia Gonson. While 1991's Distant Plastic Trees and 1992's The Wayward Bus (now most easily available together as a compilation, The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees) are sung by Susan Anway (b. 1951 - d. 2021), all subsequent albums are principally sung by Merritt himself.
Longtime members include: Gonson, (cellist) Sam Davol, and (banjo player/guitarist) John Woo. Contributors include (but are not limited to) the singers Susan Anway, Dudley Klute, Shirley Simms, and LD Beghtol, and the accordionist/writer Daniel Handler (famous for writing the childrens' books A Series of Unfortunate Events under the alias Lemony Snicket).
Their most popular and best-selling album to date is 69 Love Songs issued on Merge Records as a triple album filled with many fairly short songs that are reminiscent of early Beatles productions.
The album is notable for its employment of many unorthodox musical arrangements and downright impressive quantity of material presented. Instruments used on this album include the ukulele, banjo, accordion, cello, mandolin, piano, flute, xylophone guitars, various percussion instruments, and a standard setup of synths and effects. It features several guest vocalists on several different tracks. The album is a three CD set, released in the US as three separate albums (also available as a boxed set) and in the UK as a triple album.
The album i (2004, Nonesuch Records) continues Merritt's fixation on the concept album, with each of the 14 songs beginning with the letter (and often the pronoun) "I".
The album Distortion, was released through Nonesuch on the 15th January 2008 and introduced noise pop to the array of styles utilized in their music. The album's release was followed by a sold-out U.S. tour starting in February. Additional albums followed in 2010, 2012, 2017, and 2020.
Stephin Merritt is involved in several other musical projects: The 6ths (featuring different guest performers on every track), The Gothic Archies (songs dealing humorously with dark themes) and Future Bible Heroes (with music written by Chris Ewen)
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I've Run Away to Join the Fairies
The Magnetic Fields Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
This mortal world has lost its charms
I'll be a flower for their garden
Never to hold you in my arms
They will enchance me and enslave me
And make of me their fool for fun
Upon my head they'll place an ass head
I loved you like I was your baby
Although you couldn't even fly
And though you held no eldritch secrets
All too enthralled to you was I
In yonder forest grows a toadstool
To make the mind of man grow small
They will mistake me for their changeling
I wasn't human after all
The Magnetic Fields' song "I've Run Away to Join the Fairies" speaks about the singer's decision to leave the mortal world behind and join the fairy world. The singer believes that the mortal world has lost its charms and decides to become a flower in the fairy garden. This decision comes from a feeling of being enslaved by the fairy world, they will enhance him and make him their fool for fun. The singers hope is to never hold the one they love in their arms again.
The lyrics display a contrast between the singer's love for the person they're leaving behind and their desire to leave. They are enchanted by the fairy world, but at the same time, they feel enslaved by it. There's a sense of wanting to belong to something bigger than oneself but giving up something precious for that. The toadstool in the forest that makes the mind of man grow small is a metaphor for the singer's decision. When they join the fairies, they'll fit in the fairy world since they weren't ever human.
The song is a melancholic one that portrays the cost of choosing other worlds over our present reality. It is a universal tale of the human race's desire to seek a world outside their reality, which can result in losing connections with our loved ones.
Line by Line Meaning
I've run away to join the fairies
I have left my mundane life behind to join the mystical and magical world of the fairies.
This mortal world has lost its charms
The human world no longer holds any interest or allure to me.
I'll be a flower for their garden
I am willing to be a part of the fairy world and be used for their own purposes.
Never to hold you in my arms
I will never be able to hold my lover in my arms again as I have chosen a different path.
They will enchance me and enslave me
The fairies will enhance my abilities but also enslave me to do their bidding.
And make of me their fool for fun
The fairies will use me for their own entertainment and amusement.
Upon my head they'll place an ass head
They will transform me and make me look ridiculous with an ass head, similar to how my lover treated me with disrespect.
More or less as you've always done
Just like how my lover always treated me as a fool.
I loved you like I was your baby
I loved my partner with a sense of innocence and dependency, like that of a child.
Although you couldn't even fly
Despite my partner being incapable of the extraordinary abilities that the fairy world has to offer.
And though you held no eldritch secrets
Even though my partner did not have any mystical or supernatural secrets to share.
All too enthralled to you was I
I was completely captivated and enchanted by my partner, despite their flaws and limitations.
In yonder forest grows a toadstool
There is a toadstool growing in the distance that has the power to alter human perception and make me appear as a changeling to the human eye.
To make the mind of man grow small
This toadstool has the power to diminish the cognitive abilities of humans and make them think less rationally.
They will mistake me for their changeling
Humans will mistake me as a child who has been replaced by a fairy or who has turned into a fairy.
I wasn't human after all
I have discovered that I was not meant for the human world and have accepted that I belong in the fairy world.
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: STEPHIN RAYMOND MERRITT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind