Stephin Merritt, “Forever And A Day”

Stephin Merritt’s many gifts – a knack for melody, an ear for simple but unexpected arrangements, a massive rhyming dictionary – are often tempered by his famous misanthropy. So it’s a refreshing surprise to hear such a straightforward love song. Granted, his masterpiece was called and indeed contained 69 Love Songs, but most of those were ironic or twisted or sad. This one’s just sweet. If you crave clever, caustic Stephin, you’ll have to make do with rhymes like “sine qua non” / “baritone,” or the fact that this tune comes from an uncompleted musical about everyone in the world falling in love at once – only there’s an odd number of people on the planet, so one poor dude is left mateless. -- Tim Quirk

"Forever And A Day" Stephin Merritt