69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 by The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields is the principal creative outlet of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt...

 released in 1999. As its title indicates, the album is composed of 69

69 (number)

69 is a number following 68 and preceding 70.- In mathematics:The aliquot sum of sixty-nine is 27 within the aliquot sequence 69 being the third composite number in the 13-aliquot tree.69 is a semiprime...

 love song

Love song

A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...

s, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt

Stephin Merritt

Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...

.

Conception and live performance

The album was originally conceived as a music revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...

. Stephin Merritt was sitting in a gay piano bar in Manhattan, listening to the pianist's interpretations of Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...

 songs, when he decided he ought to get into theatre music because he felt he had an aptitude for it. "I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queen

Drag queen

A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...

s. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid."

On seven occasions (five in the United States and two in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 over four consecutive nights) The Magnetic Fields performed all 69 love songs, in order, over two nights. Several of the lavish orchestrations are more simply arranged when performed live, due to limited performers and/or equipment.

Genres and themes

Merritt has said "69 Love Songs is not remotely an album about love. It's an album about love songs, which are very far away from anything to do with love".

Track listing

All songs written by Stephin Merritt. All lead vocals by Stephin Merritt except as noted.

Volume one

1. "Absolutely Cuckoo" – 1:34
2. "I Don't Believe in the Sun" – 4:16
3. "All My Little Words" – 2:46 (vocals by LD Beghtol)
4. "A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off" – 2:41
5. "Reno Dakota" – 1:05 (vocals by Claudia Gonson)
6. "I Don't Want to Get Over You" – 2:22
7. "Come Back from San Francisco" – 2:48 (vocals by Shirley Simms)
8. "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" – 3:43 (vocals by Dudley Klute)
9. "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits" – 2:25
10. "The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be" – 1:11
11. "I Think I Need a New Heart" – 2:32
12. "The Book of Love" – 2:42
13. "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long" – 2:33
14. "How Fucking Romantic" – 0:58 (vocals by Klute)
15. "The One You Really Love" – 2:53
16. "Punk Love" – 0:58
17. "Parades Go By" – 2:56
18. "Boa Constrictor" – 0:58 (vocals by Simms)
19. "A Pretty Girl Is Like..." – 1:50
20. "My Sentimental Melody" – 3:07 (vocals by Beghtol)
21. "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" – 2:27
22. "Sweet-Lovin' Man" – 4:59 (vocals by Gonson)
23. "The Things We Did and Didn't Do" – 2:11

Volume two

1. "Roses" – 0:27 (vocals by Beghtol)
2. "Love Is Like Jazz" – 2:56
3. "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" – 2:38
4. "Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old" – 2:03
5. "Very Funny" – 1:26 (vocals by Klute)
6. "Grand Canyon" – 2:28
7. "No One Will Ever Love You" – 3:14 (vocals by Simms)
8. "If You Don't Cry" – 3:06 (vocals by Gonson)
9. "You're My Only Home" – 2:17
10. "(Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy" – 2:18
11. "My Only Friend" – 2:01
12. "Promises of Eternity" – 3:46
13. "World Love" – 3:07
14. "Washington, D.C." – 1:53 (vocals by Gonson)
15. "Long-Forgotten Fairytale" – 3:37 (vocals by Klute)
16. "Kiss Me Like You Mean It" – 2:00 (vocals by Simms)
17. "Papa Was a Rodeo" – 5:01 (duet with Merritt and Simms)
18. "Epitaph for My Heart" – 2:50
19. "Asleep and Dreaming" – 1:53
20. "The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing" – 2:46
21. "The Way You Say Good-Night" – 2:44 (vocals by Beghtol)
22. "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan" – 2:00
23. "I Shatter" – 3:09

Volume three

1. "Underwear" – 2:49
2. "It's a Crime" – 3:54 (vocals by Klute)
3. "Busby Berkeley
   Busby Berkeley
   Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
   
    Dreams" – 3:36
4. "I'm Sorry I Love You" – 3:06 (vocals by Simms)
5. "Acoustic Guitar" – 2:37 (vocals by Gonson)
6. "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure
   Ferdinand de Saussure
   Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
   
   " – 3:10
7. "Love in the Shadows" – 2:54
8. "Bitter Tears" – 2:51 (vocals by Beghtol)
9. "Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget" – 1:55
10. "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" – 2:19 (duet with Merritt and Gonson)
11. "Experimental Music Love" – 0:29
12. "Meaningless" – 2:08
13. "Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin" – 1:46
14. "Queen of the Savages" – 2:12
15. "Blue You" – 3:03 (vocals by Klute)
16. "I Can't Touch You Anymore" – 3:05
17. "Two Kinds of People" – 1:10
18. "How to Say Goodbye" – 2:48
19. "The Night You Can't Remember" – 2:17
20. "For We Are the King of the Boudoir" – 1:14 (vocals by Beghtol)
21. "Strange Eyes" – 2:01 (vocals by Simms)
22. "Xylophone Track" – 2:47
23. "Zebra" – 2:15 (vocals by Gonson)

Personnel

The Magnetic Fields

• Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , Digitech vocalist, Roland
  Roland Corporation
  is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
  
   harmonizer
  Effects unit
  Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
  
  , vocoder
  Vocoder
  A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
  
  , ukulele
  Ukulele
  The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
  
  , baritone ukelele, Kaholas ukelele, Admira classical, acoustic
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  -electric
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
   12-string guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , lap steel
  Lap steel guitar
  The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
  
  , fado guitar, bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , autoharp
  Autoharp
  The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
  
  , Marxophone
  Marxophone
  The Marxophone is a fretless zither that has four sets of chord strings to be strummed with the left hand and two octaves of double melody strings, which are struck by metal hammers activated by the right hand...
  
  , ukelin, tremeloa, violin-uke, sitar
  Sitar
  The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
  
  , zither
  Zither
  The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
  
  , violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , musical saw
  Musical saw
  A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , synclavier
  Synclavier
  The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
  
  , Moog
  Moog Music
  Moog Music is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina which manufactures electronic musical instruments. The current Moog Music is the second company to trade under that name.-R.A. Moog Co. and the original Moog Music:...
  
   Satellite, piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , harmonium
  Harmonium
  A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
  
  , Wurlitzer
  Wurlitzer
  The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
  
   electronic piano, organ
  Organ (music)
  The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
  
  , rhythm
  Rhythm
  Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
  
   units, recorder
  Recorder
  The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
  
  , ocarina
  Ocarina
  The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument. Variations do exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body...
  
  , pennywhistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  , Maestro wind synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , Hohner
  Hohner
  Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. Founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner , Hohner is identified especially with harmonicas and accordions. The Hohner company has invented and produced many different styles, and most of the...
  
   melodica
  Melodica
  The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
  
  , Paul Revere jug, rumba
  Rumba
  Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
  
   box, xylophone
  Xylophone
  The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
  
  , kalimbas, Radio Shack
  Radio shack
  Radio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
  
   75-in-One Project Kit, drum kit
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , cymbal
  Cymbal
  Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
  
  s, rain stick, chimera, maracas, conga
  Conga
  The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
  
  , bongos
  Bongo drum
  Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
  
  , triangle
  Triangle (instrument)
  The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
  
  , bells
  Bell (instrument)
  A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
  
  , tambourine
  Tambourine
  The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
  
  , washboard
  Washboard
  A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
  
  , steel drum, Chicken Shakers
  Shaker (percussion)
  The word shaker describes a large number of percussive musical instruments used for creating rhythm in music.They are so called because the method of creating sound involves shaking them—moving them back and forth rather than striking them. Most may also be struck for a greater accent on certain...
  
  , finger cymbals, springs and Slinky
  Slinky
  Slinky or "Lazy Spring" is a toy consisting of a helical spring that stretches and can bounce up and down. It can perform a number of tricks, including traveling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.-History:The toy was...
  
   guitar, pipes
  Uilleann pipes
  The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...
  
  , bamboo harp, spirit chaser, sleighbell, fingersnaps
  Snapping
  Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change is a 1978 anti-cult book which describes the authors' theory of religious conversion, called snapping in terms of mind control, is a mental process through which, the authors argue, a person is recruited by a cult or other religious...
  
  , thunder sheet
  Thunder sheet
  A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet....
  
  , cabasa
  Cabasa
  The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, narrow wooden or plastic handle....
  
  s, cowbells, gong
  Gong
  A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
  
  
• Sam Davol
  Sam Davol
  Samuel Bradford Davol is a musician best known for his work with the indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. He is featured several times in videos for The Magnetic Fields, and in the opening for "Born on a Train", his cello is featured at the beginning of the video...
  
   – cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  , flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  
• Claudia Gonson
  Claudia Gonson
  Claudia Miriam Gonson, is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She occasionally provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums...
  
   – piano; drums; percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  ; lead vocals on "Reno Dakota", "Sweet-Lovin' Man", "If You Don't Cry", "Washington, D.C.", "Acoustic Guitar", and "Zebra"; other backing vocals; duet with Merritt and guitar on "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!"; arrangement
  Arrangement
  The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
  
   on "Very Funny", "World Love", and "Busby Berkeley Dreams"; whistling
  Whistling
  Human whistling is the production of sound by means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. Whistling can be achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing or sucking air through the hole...
  
   on "Blue You"
• John Woo
  John Woo (musician)
  John Woo is a musician best known for his work with the indie pop band The Magnetic Fields.- References :...
  
   – banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  , lead guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  , mandolin

Additional musicians

• LD Beghtol
  LD Beghtol
  LD Beghtol is an American musician, art director and writer. Beghtol participated in The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs recordings and live shows. Beghtol is a founding member of the band Flare—aka Flare Acoustic Arts League—and the death-pop outfit LD & the New Criticism, and was also in the...
  
   – harmonium on "Xylophone Track", lead vocals on "All My Little Words", "My Sentimental Melody", "Roses", "The Way You Say Good-Night", "Bitter Tears", and "For We Are the King of the Boudoir;" duet with Merritt on "The One You Really Love"; other backing vocals; graphic design of box and book
• Chris Ewen – backing tracks and arrangement on "Promises of Eternity" and "It's a Crime", theremin
  Theremin
  The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
  
   on "Blue You"
• Daniel Handler
  Daniel Handler
  Daniel Handler is an American author, screenwriter and accordionist. He is best known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket.-Personal life:...
  
   (aka Lemony Snicket
  Lemony Snicket
  Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
  
  ) – accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  , keyboards, and arrangement on "Asleep and Dreaming"
• Dudley Klute
  Dudley Klute
  Dudley Klute is an American vocalist and songwriter noted for his work with the Belgian New Wave band Kid Montana in the 1980s, and his subsequent collaborations with Stephin Merritt's The Magnetic Fields , LD Beghtol, and other musicians...
  
   – lead vocals on "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side", "How Fucking Romantic", "Very Funny", "Long-Forgotten Fairytale", "It's a Crime", and "Blue You;" duet with Merritt on "Underwear;" other backing vocals
• Ida Pearle – violin on "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side"
• Shirley Simms – duet with Merritt on "Papa Was a Rodeo", vocals on "Come Back from San Francisco", "Boa Constrictor", "No One Will Ever Love You", "Kiss Me Like You Mean It", "I'm Sorry I Love You", and "Strange Eyes;" other backing vocals

Production

• Jon Berman – engineering
  Audio engineering
  An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
  
  
• Chris Ewen – engineering
• Claudia Gonson – engineering
• Jeff Lipton – mastering
  Audio mastering
  Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
  
  
• Eric Masunaga – engineering
• Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...
  
   – production
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  , engineering
• Charles Newman – engineering

Release history

The album was initially released in the United States by Merge

Merge Records

Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...

 on September 7, 1999, as a box set with Merritt interview booklet, and as three separate individual volumes—catalogue numbers MRG166 (Vol. 1), MRG167 (Vol. 2), MRG168 (Vol. 3), and MRG169 (box set). On May 29, 2000, the album was released by Circus (CIR CD003) in Europe and Australia without the booklet insert. It was reissued in the United Kingdom through Domino

Domino Records (1993)

Domino Recording Company, generally known as Domino, is an independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in the United States, releasing Domino artists' music from the label's Brooklyn offices and run by Kris Gillespie, as well as a German division called Domino...

 as REWIGCD18.

On April 20, 2010 Merge released a limited edition 6x10" vinyl version limited to 1000 copies.

69 Love Songs, A Field Guide

LD Beghtol

LD Beghtol

LD Beghtol is an American musician, art director and writer. Beghtol participated in The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs recordings and live shows. Beghtol is a founding member of the band Flare—aka Flare Acoustic Arts League—and the death-pop outfit LD & the New Criticism, and was also in the...

's explication of 69 Love Songs (ISBN 0-8264-1925-9) was released on December 15, 2006 by Continuum International Publishing Group

Continuum International Publishing Group

The Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City. It had been owned by Nova Capital Management since 2005...

 as part of their 33⅓ series of books on influential pop/rock albums.

The book includes studio anecdotes, an extensive annotated lexicon

Lexicon

In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...

 of words and phrases culled from the album's lyrics, performance notes from the band, fans and friends, full-album shows in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, rare and unpublished images by chickfactor editor/photographress Gail O'Hara

Gail O'Hara

Gail O'Hara is a US editor, writer, photographer, recording label owner, and filmmaker. She lives in Portland, Oregon. O'Hara attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, where she worked for WVCW radio and the Commonwealth Times...

, and other items such as a crossword puzzle created by TMF/Flare

Flare Acoustic Arts League

Flare Acoustic Arts League — a.k.a. Flare — is an experimental pop band formed by guitarist Damian Costilla and singer LD Beghtol in New York in 1996.-History:...

 associate Jon DeRosa

Jon DeRosa

Jon DeRosa is a guitarist, composer, singer-songwriter, and vocalist. He has been involved with several critically acclaimed acts, including Dead Leaves Rising , Pale Horse and Rider , as well as the musical collective known as Aarktica.- Background :Raised in the small shore town of Manasquan,...

 and a scathing list of academic cant words not otherwise used in Beghtol's book.

Also featured is a candid interview with the songwriter, styled as a surrealist radio play, in which Stephin Merritt answers questions about his Chihuahua

Chihuahua (dog)

The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...

Irving Berlin Merritt, his sex life, studio practices, and other esoterica.

External links

• 69 Love Songs unofficial companion wiki
• 69 Love Songs reviewed in French