(I am not going to take the time to link every individual song throughout this. I thought about it, but come on who do I think I am.)
If you want to follow along, the album is linked here: 69 Love Songs
- Fido, Your Leash is Too Long – Fido, who we can only hope is a dog, is out being crazy and getting into trouble. A very funky track, with a simple setup that allows you to listen to the lyrics more. My guess is that Merritt really wanted to be able to dance around curse words in this album, and uses foxhound and shih-tzu to make up for that. The digital-sounding melodies at the end are somewhat strange. They fit the instrumentation, but don’t really feel like they have a place in the song as they are only there at the end and don’t fit into the lyrics at all. Guess the song needed something other than dogs and plays on bad words. I’ll give it to you, Merritt.
- How F*cking Romantic – Person A is saying how f*cking romantic it is to be with Person B. Sometimes they feel like a dancing bear that needs to be fed or it’ll die. Very romantic. I take back what I said about Merritt wanting to dance around curse words, as this song starts doesn’t beat around the bush. There is no instrumentation in this song, with the voice being joined only by snaps. It exposes the voice a little more, but this makes the song feel a little more real, which pairs well with the lyrics. And these lyrics are even more backhanded than the ones in All My Little Words, as it is a little more straightforward in its discontent. Comparing yourself to a dancing bear for your ringleader of an SO can do that. This feels like something you would hear in a slam poetry night, which I’m sure is where Merritt got the idea for this song.
- The One You Really Love – Person A is sad that Person B is not over the one they are truly in love with. Even after all that Person A did to get “the one” out of the picture. This song starts with a simple guitar and banjo, and a melody extremely reminiscent to that of the song My Little Sunshine (My Only Sunshine). This gives the song a very warm tone, and sets the scene for a heartfelt song from a lover about the person they love that doesn’t love them back. The lyrics are non-important, simply speaking of an impossible love, until the lyrics “Though he is dead,” showing that there is more to this song. And the mention of the word ‘corpse’ brings all of these lyrics together, showing why Person B is unable to love Person A, who 100% murdered “the one”. I love this song because if you weren’t listening closely to the lyrics, this song would simply sound like a campfire song about love that you sing in a circle, which Merritt did intentionally and did so amazingly. 10/10. But not for the corpse.
- Punk Love – Punk love! Punk rock! Would this be an album about love songs without taking a dig at punk music? The song is one of the few in this album to have an entire drumset in the song, as any punk song should be mostly drums. The constant speeding up in the song is also fun and shows a lack of regard to structure or time, also very punk. There are exactly three words in the song: punk, love, and rock. To be fair, Merritt is pretty on the dot that punk rock really only focuses on those three things in their songs. I still do love Green Day, though.
- Parades Go By – Person A is sad and waiting for Person B, who is not with them. They stay in the same place longing for their lover. This song starts with a repetitive buzzy synth melody, which plays throughout the song and really offers this feeling of time passing. At the beginning it is there, and when verses and choruses suddenly end, then sound remains constant. The song, much like The One You Really Love, offers a pretty non-important love song if you don’t pay attention to the melody. The flute that harmonizes with the voice reminds me of Danny Boy, the infamous Irish song about someone waiting for their lover who is off in war, ultimately waiting until the end of their life. This song also tells of longing, but it isn’t until the lyrics in the second stanza that it shows that this person isn’t waiting at home, but has passed away and is now “beyond the moss”. That is why they see days, nights, and parades go by, but nothing more. They are stuck and are waiting for their lover, as things go by. It’s a sad song, but with some really wonderful music to accompany it. Except for the buzzing synth. I know its purpose, but it is so annoying.
- Boa Constrictor – Love is so strong and hurtful, just as a boa constrictor would be. Short song with a simple metaphor. Like the cactus song in the last post, Merritt finds a simple metaphor and runs with it. This waltz melody makes it easy to do that, making the song feel natural even though it’s so short. I guess when you’re writing 69 songs, some have to be a little faster to write. The lyrics work, although the line about wishing that their mom would murder them is a tad bit unnecessary, I’m sure you could’ve found some other lines to replace it. You do you, Merritt.
- A Pretty Girl Is Like – Comparing pretty girls to minstrel shows and violent crimes. I think and hope that this song was intended to be a dig at love songs that try and use a metaphor that doesn’t quite stick the landing, or stick any ground for that matter. There is a comparison to a minstrel show, which were notoriously racist, for a girl’s “excessive makeup, laughing, and crying”. Merritt then follows up by offering a comparison to a crime, saying that “if you do it wrong, you could do time”. The very Elvis-esque voice in the song, paired with an ukulele that Presley was known all too well for co-opting, makes me feel like it is a dig to songs of that genre. I will say though, that even a dig at these songs could have been done a little better. Not my favorite song, although I understand where it was going.
- My Sentimental Melody – A song to someone’s sweetheart. It’s pretty astounding how Merritt can offer up such different quality songs in this album. It takes a really good understanding of the genre to understand where it excels and where it doesn’t. This song is another example of the occasionally beautiful songs that are scattered throughout this album. A soft waltz and a consistent harmony in the back leaves space for a strong and steady voice, which pairs well for the idea of this song as a lullaby. I had to listen to this song a couple of times just because of how good it is.
- Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing – The title explains it better than I will. I am a huge fan of solo ukulele, as I’m sure I’ve made abundantly clear. I love the simple repeated verses, it really offers up that feeling of dancing in circles and circles, ignoring everything else in the world. The background vocals not only give the song beautiful backing, but also are faint enough that they make you feel like there is background chatter around you as you are in this circle, with only you and your lover. A cliche love song about nothing mattering when you’re with the person you love, but a good song nonetheless.
- Sweet-Lovin’ Man – After so much searching, Person A has found a good man, and boy does it feel so good! I will say that this song is something that I would expect to hear on the radio. I imagine that Merritt is taking a dig at this double-standard on how women are portrayed in love songs. In so many songs written by men, it is assumed the man is singing about a woman who has lied to him, or cheated on him, or is unable to forgive him for the things he has done. On the flip side, songs featuring a woman as the vocalist are about how amazing men are, or about how “worth it” this man is compared to all other men. And Merritt accurately copies this style, by giving a song where the woman speaks about how the right man makes up for hundreds of failed attempts, and “a million years of rain is worth it for just one hour of sunshine”. Pretty tacky, but an accurate portrayal of love pop.
- The Things We Did and Didn’t Do – Person A is stuck on all the things that did not happen in their relationship, and reliving those missed opportunities over and over again. As an ending to volume 1, This does a good job at capturing the “ending” of failed relationships. I say “failed” to mean those relationships that ended in a way that causes the pair to relive things that they wish were different, whether that be arguments, major life decisions, etc. I don’t think that all ended relationships are failed, but the ones that end in remorse leave people with the sentiments expressed in this song. Merritt writes this simple repetitive song that mimics the repetitive nature of going through memories and saying “I should have done this instead”. And in a ways, this ending is also not an ending, because you have all of these unanswered sentiments that are going to keep coming back up until you reach a resolution. You think it’s over, but it’s definitely not. The song mirrors this by repeating the melody as it fades into nothing, leaving you waiting for that final resolution that won’t come. A great song to finish off the first volume of the album.
Songs 24-35 coming soon.
Feeling unfinished,
Oswaldo.
scatterbrain 