I went back and searched through my old postings for this blog and realized that I have never posted about The Magnetic Fields. Is that even possible? I feel like I have talked about them endlessly and their 69 Love Songs is a mainstay of many in my social and familial circles. That album has literally been passed around for years and years and the first time I went to my future wife’s apartment and saw it there, I was smitten. Yes, that is right. Smitten.
On our first date, which I have described in some detail in another post, we went to a pub in Seoul (Shinchon (신촌동) specifically) after dinner, a place that was to become a mainstay for us when we lived in that dong (동). We sat back and listened to the wonderful music the owner played and eventually the following song came on from Magnetic Fields. Eventually, it just became our song. So much so that we used it as our first dance song at our wedding. The lyrics, as with all Magnetic Fields songs, are priceless. When my family heard it at my wedding, there was a fair amount of laughter, but eventually everyone fell in love with it.
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Another song that I particularly love from that same album is called Washington, D.C. The lyrics are worth a look in textual form.
“Washington D.C.!
It’s the greatest place to be
It’s not the cherries everywhere in bloom
It’s not the way they put folks on the moon
No, no, no
It’s not the spectacles and pagaentry
The thousand things you’ve got to see
It’s just that’s where my baby waits for me”
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Happy Friday, everyone. Enjoy the weekend.