| The Magnetic Fields – Underwear Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I always took this as being a casual, indifferent description of bisexuality and the irresistible strength of lust/love. "Death, it is only death, but love, it is /love/..." |
|
| The Magnetic Fields – Josephine Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I'm really surprised this hasn't gotten more comments. I love this song so much. I see it as wanting to be something different so the person you love will be with you (I'd even suggest that this 'character' just wants to be male or renown). It's about making up an imaginary world ('science fiction') where their love could be possible. It's sung so beautifully. | |
| The Magnetic Fields – Long Vermont Roads Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I really love this song, I don't know why. I find it so beautiful, even if I feel like people fail to notice it. Anyway, I'd like to share a few thoughts I have on this. The instruments used in this song have always seemed soft and loving, but clearly aggressive at points. The grating sound kicks in every now as then, as if representing the cold, dry insults in the lyrics, which flow alongside the beautiful descriptions of how the character/singer (Merritt) admires and loves his lover. "...But after all this time and after all your crying, The roads don't love you and they still won't pretend to. The roads are dark and long and all those country songs, Well, they don't love you and they still won't pretend to." This makes me think about someone running away from their problems, thinking that the road will comfort them in their cowardice. But it never does. "They don't love you and they still won't pretend to," has always been such a powerful line, to me. It's a cruel, honest way of telling someone they can't just run away. "... And the fireflies never go to sleep, And the country songs never help you sleep." This line is beautiful. It reminds me a lot of 100,000 Fireflies, for obvious reasons. One of the comments on that song pointed out that the fireflies (captured in a jar, reminding the signer of her lover's "starry-eyes") seemed to represent how trapped a person can be in love. How you can be a fool in love. I've always seen that here, too. The fireflies never go to sleep and you'll never stop feeling trapped by your starry-eyes. "Your eyes are the Mesa Verde, Big and brown and far away. And your eyes are Kansas City, In Kansas and in Missouri..." This is one of many brilliant lyrics that have made me fall in love with the Magnetic Fields. I don't really have to explain why, but I will anyway. I feel like this whole song is about being in love with someone who's constantly running away because they're depressed and overwhelmed. Merritt is singing about why he loves this person and why their eyes are far away, in Kansas and in "misery". It's perfection... |
|
| The Magnetic Fields – Plant White Roses Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I know Merritt didn't like this song and ended up not releasing it, really, but when I first discovered it, I loved it. I listened to it very, very often during a bad point in time a few years back. I heard them play it live, to my surprise, and it was wonderful. | |
| The Magnetic Fields – 100,000 Fireflies Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
"I have a mandolin, I play it all night long, It makes me want to kill myself." I always took this as simply meaning "I'm awful at the mandolin, it makes me want to kill myself." But it could be that she feels nostalgia or longing for the person she lost every time she plays it. This is my favourite Magnetic Field song. It's perfection. It's so beautiful, thrilling, and happy, but so horrifically tragic at the same time. If one song can make me feel such a huge range of emotion every single time I listen to it (for several years), I have to say it's perfect. The way the lyrics, the vocals, the instruments, and the pace flow is beyond beautiful. It's true. "I went out to the forest and caught, 100,000 fireflies. As they ricochet 'round the room, They remind me of your starry eyes. Someone else's might, Not have made me so sad, But this is the worst night I ever had..." It's too beautiful for me to express. |
|
| The Magnetic Fields – Acoustic Guitar Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I've always loved this song, so I'm quite surprised to see people dislike it. I've always imagined that the singer wished she could play guitar properly, but she's not very good and she blames her guitar for it, as if it's a person. It's a foolish, almost childish way of trying to work out why your lover walked away. | |
| The Magnetic Fields – Alien Being Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
To me, this song is about being in love with someone who's giving up. It's a cruel, true message saying "if you don't believe in love, you believe in nothing at all". It reminds me of the MF song 'The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure': "We don't know anything, You don't know anything, I don't know anything, About love. But we are nothing, You are nothing, I am nothing, Without love." This song is about highlighting all of the things love affects in people's lives. It's almost like he's saying: "You sure talk a lot about love for someone who doesn't believe in it". There's a yearning for love embedded in every line, but we can never quite reach it since Merritt is making a point of how badly giving up hope can affect someone's life. So instead of getting: "You talk a lot about love / Watch TV shows about love" we get: "You talk a lot about nothing at all / Watch TV shows about nothing at all". If you swap a few lines saying "nothing at all" with "love" in this song, Merritt goes deeper into questioning how cold and cruel it is to believe love doesn't exist: "You write the laws about (love) Make 3D films about (love) Stage happenings about (love) Sound and light shows about (love) You complain about (love) Go insane about (love)." Whilst never once using the word, Merritt describes someone losing their humanity by giving up love. They become alien to this world. |
|
| The Magnetic Fields – Abigail, Belle Of Kilronan Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I've always thought of this sound as highly romantic. To me, it's simply a man fearing for his life in war and telling his love to move on if he doesn't return. It's perfect. "I'm off to the war, but you can be sure, I will know you're what I'm fighting for. I'm off to the war, but you can be sure, I will know you're what I'm fighting for... When I come home, if I come home, You'll be a grown woman. When I come home, if I come home, Don't be alone, Abigial, belle of Kilronan..." |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.