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“Come Back from San Francisco” – The Magnetic Fields
(Words/music: Stephin Merritt, available on 69 Love Songs, Merge 1999)

As lovely as Shirley Simms sounds here (and good lord, does she have a beautiful voice), the electric guitar strikes me every time.  Whether it’s the melody or the bass notes, the strings resonate with a rich tone and just enough reverb.  I find guitar sounds incredibly fascinating – and sometimes more fascinating than technique (which probably explains why I’ve spent more time playing around with the knobs on my guitar than getting any better at playing it).  When the sound and technique dovetail and complement each other, I tip my hat out of respect.  In “Come Back from San Francisco,” the electric guitar acts as the song’s skeleton, holding together the different vocal lines and giving Simms’ lead vocal somewhere to rest.  The melody, when coupled with the finger-picked bass notes and ringing just long enough, balancing the heartbreak and hope in Merritt’s lyrics.

Like Merritt’s finest lyrics, “Come Back to San Francisco” navigates through sweetness, humor, love, and heartbreak.  A few lines always make me smirk, particularly the “kiss me, I quit smoking” declaration that only a non-smoker could love.  I’m always fascinated by the first simile in the chorus: “You need me like the wind needs the trees to blow in.”  I’m drawn into the elusiveness of the image; I read it different ways depending on my mood.  It could be the recognition that the two need a little friction in their relationship to get by.  At other times, it’s a statement of dependence – after all, one can’t tell if it’s windy outside unless the branches of a tree are moving around, giving the otherwise invisible wind visibility.  Still, it might just be designed to evoke the simple, peaceful image of a breezy spring day.  Either way, it’s the link that matters most, even if it means late night, transcontinental phone calls until the lease runs out.

More on The Magnetic Fields: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

TAGGED UNDER: the magnetic fields | stephin merritt | shirley simms | 1999 | 1990s | merge records | guitar tone! |
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“100,000 Fireflies” – The Magnetic Fields
(Words/music: Stephin Merritt, available on Distant Plastic Trees, Red Flame 1991)

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the latest version of Stephin Merritt’s Magnetic Fields close one of their recent shows with “100,000 Fireflies,” as I didn’t know that the band still reached that far back into their catalogue. I’m mostly curious to see how their string-heavy recent lineup would interpret a song that relies so much on its production aesthetic. The keyboard, bouncy drum machine, and Susan Anway’s vocals make this recording of “100,000 Fireflies” sound like a slightly warped music box – it still sounds beautiful and pretty despite being a little weird. I remember the first time I heard this version after knowing (and loving) Superchunk’s cover and being amazed at the way Anway’s vocals and the change in octave on the keys sounded during the “I’m afraid of the dark without you next to me” line.

Trying to resolve the two distinct versions tonight, the best I can do is to compare them both to fireflies. The Superchunk version draws on the frenetic energy of a firefly humming around. Thus, their spin on the narrator’s loneliness draws on this restlessness and focuses it on pleading for another opportunity. This Anway-Merritt recording (perhaps influenced by my vision of a “100,000 Fireflies” music box) looks at the firefly inside the glass jar with its beauty and wonder carefully preserved. Their version feels smaller and more restrained yet feels more distant and isolated like an object untouched. Like the bugs stuck inside the jar, the narrator feels alone yet doesn’t quite know what to do to mend heartbreak. Instead, the narrator swaps out the missing lover for lightning bugs to find some solace in the dark the same way one might cling to a song when feeling lonely. This quiet, understated loneliness might not burn with the Superchunk version’s intensity, but it might cut deeper. While it looks bright and beautiful from far away, the lonliness doesn’t reveal itself until we get closer, the same way we wouldn’t notice the jar enclosing the beautiful fireflies unless we’re looking for it specifically.

(I wrote about the Superchunk version of “100,000 Fireflies” in the previous post – click here to read it).

More on The Magnetic Fields: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

TAGGED UNDER: the magnetic fields | stephin merritt | 1991 | 1990s | red flame | superchunk | 100000 fireflies |
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“100,000 Fireflies” – Superchunk
(Words/music: Stephin Merritt, available on Incidental Music 1991 – 95, Merge Records 1995)

I first knew “100,000 Fireflies” through the Superchunk version, and because my original copy of Incidental Music was on a CD-R, I didn’t know it wasn’t a Superchunk song.  With a bit of hindsight and and much deeper love for Superchunk’s catalogue, it stands out from a bunch of their earlier songs.  Lyrically it’s a little more dramatic than Mac McCaughan usually gets (I don’t think the phrase “I want to kill myself” appears in any of his songs).  Their cover highlights a lot of the things I love about the early Superchunk, particularly their fusion of melody and mayhem without sacrificing either.  It’s also more complex than the three chord pop-punk birthed at the end of the decade; the arrangement rises and falls in both volume and intensity.

There’s a certain justice to follow the “when I turn up the tone / on my electric guitar” lyric with electric guitars, and the energy Superchunk breathes into the song is infectious.  McCaughan’s strained vocals, particularly in the post-chorus section, lean on the desperation in the lyrics.  The guitar slows down and feels heavier as he pleads for another chance.  Gradually, Jim Wilbur embellishes on the main riff, twisting it into a brief solo before the song ends. 

In many ways, Superchunk gets right to the core of the song, bringing the urgency to the forefront with distorted guitars.  Like the Magnetic Fields version (and more on them in the next post – give me a half hour or so), the Superchunk cover relies on crafting a specific mood.  Their mood draws on the ones that run beneath the surface – ones I might not have gleaned just from the original version alone.

(Part 2 on the Magnetic Fields’ version can be read here)

More on Superchunk: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

TAGGED UNDER: 100000 fireflies | 1990s | 1995 | cover song | mac mccaughan | merge records | superchunk | the magnetic fields | stephin merritt |
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