69 Love Songs (1999)

About this title: As the sprawling magnitude of its cheeky title suggests, 69 Love Songs is Stephin Merritt's most ambitious as well as most fully realized work to date, a three-disc epic of classically chiseled pop songs that explore both the promise and pitfalls of modern romance through the jaundiced eye of an irredeemable misanthrope. A true A-to-Z catalog of touchingly bittersweet love songs that runs the gamut from tender ballads to pithy folk tunes to bluesy vamps, the sheer scope of the record allows all of Merritt's musical personas to converge -- the regular use of guest vocalists recalls his work as ... read more

Tracks:

1. Absolutely Cuckoo [Merritt]
2. I Don't Believe in the Sun [Merritt]
3. All My Little Words [Merritt]
4. A Chicken with It's Head Cut Off [Merritt]
5. Reno Dakota [Merritt]
6. I Don't Want to Get Over You [Merritt]
7. Come Back from San Francisco [Merritt]
8. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side [Merritt]
9. Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits [Merritt]
10. The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be [Merritt]
11. I Think I Need a New Heart [Merritt]
12. The Book of Love [Merritt]
13. Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long [Merritt]
14. How Fucking Romantic [Merritt]
15. The One You Really Love [Merritt]
16. Punk Love [Merritt]
17. Parades Go By [Merritt]
18. Boa Constrictor [Merritt]
19. A Pretty Girl Is Like [Merritt]
20. My Sentimental Melody [Merritt]
21. Nothing Matters When We're Dancing [Merritt]
22. Sweet-Lovin' Man [Merritt]
23. The Things We Did and Didn't Do [Merritt]
24. Roses [Merritt]
25. Love Is Like Jazz [Merritt]
26. When My Boy Walks Down the Street [Merritt]
27. Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old [Merritt]
28. Very Funny [Merritt]
29. Grand Canyon [Merritt]
30. No One Will Ever Love You [Merritt]
31. If You Don't Cry [Merritt]
32. You're My Only Home [Merritt]
33. (Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy [Merritt]
34. My Only Friend [Merritt]
35. Promises of Eternity [Merritt]
36. World Love [Merritt]
37. Washington, D.C. [Merritt]
38. Long-Forgotten Fairytale [Merritt]
39. Kiss Me Like You Mean It [Merritt]
40. Papa Was a Rodeo [Merritt]
41. Epitaph for My Heart [Merritt]
42. Asleep and Dreaming [Merritt]
43. The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing [Merritt]
44. The Way You Say Good-Night [Merritt]
45. Abigail, Belle of Kilronan [Merritt]
46. I Shatter [Merritt]
47. Underwear [Merritt]
48. It's a Crime [Merritt]
49. Busby Berkeley Dreams [Merritt]
50. I'm Sorry I Love You [Merritt]
51. Acoustic Guitar [Merritt]
52. The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure [Merritt]
53. Love in the Shadows [Merritt]
54. Bitter Tears [Merritt]
55. Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget [Merritt]
56. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! [Merritt]
57. Experimental Music Love [Merritt]
58. Meaningless [Merritt]
59. Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin [Merritt]
60. Queen of the Savages [Merritt]
61. Blue You [Merritt]
62. I Can't Touch You Anymore [Merritt]
63. Two Kinds of People [Merritt]
64. How to Say Goodbye [Merritt]
65. The Night You Can't Remember [Merritt]
66. Zebra [Merritt]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.