Stephin Merritt Gets Naked, Live
You're looking at a very special Naked American Songbook episode. Our first-ever live show was also our Lincoln Center debut (perhaps you heard the Doris Day-soaked preview). And for a special show, a special guest.
Host Julian Fleisher described the singer-songwriter-producer-genius Stephin Merritt as having a unique combination: the craftsmanship of Cole Porter, the heartbreak of Roy Orbison, the polished production of Brian Wilson, the wizardly wordplay of Noël Coward, the radical redemptive queerness of Oscar Wilde, and the sheer output of Pablo Picasso. Merritt's trademark croaking baritone, against all conventional wisdom, both breaks and baffles our collective heart.
And in this episode you'll hear that baritone intoning on the songs he loves. There's a clear line from Gershwin to Sondheim to Neil Innes to The Magnetic Fields. We took the naked show on the road, to the fabulous New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to learn about what songs marinated in Merritt's mind to make him the profound songwriter of his time.
And we must admit, we were pretty surprised at what made the list. There were some well known pop stars like ABBA and some lesser known groups like The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and the Ray Charles Singers (not that Ray Charles). But luckily, we had Evan Leslie and the archives at the Library for the Performing Arts to help us do some research.
You'll hear all of that and more on this week's episode of The Naked American Songbook with Julian Fleisher. Listen all the way through for Stephin's special live performance of a song from his recent auto-biographical album 50 Song Memoir.
Thanks to Steve Remote (that's right) and Jon D'Uva at Aura-Sonic for recording the live show. Make sure you don't miss an episode by subscribing to Naked American Songbook on iTunes! And while you're there, please rate us and leave a comment. It really helps the Naked American Songbook cause. Then join the Naked American conversation on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
