Homage to 69 Love Songs

"The connection between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary."

-Ferdinand de Saussure

There was a time in the mid-90's when I could at least feebly banter about the significance of Ferdinand de Saussure to literary theory and modern thought. But I have long since dropped out of grad school, and if I dare say, Ferdinand de Saussure signifies something quite different to me these days.

In late 1999, back when my wife was pregnant with our first kid, I bought "69 Love Songs" by Magnetic Fields.

I listened to it a lot.

We lived in Seattle. The WTO riots spread to our neighborhood. Our baby was born. We moved to Vermont. And now that baby has turned ten.

Amazing.

In the last decade, no record has been on my turntable more often than "69 Love Songs." I return to it again and again. So cheers to Magnetic Fields, and cheers to evil genius Stephin Merritt, seen here in clay trying to kill de Saussure as Holland Dozier Holland look on (claymation apparently by Mr. Merritt himself):