Songs about the denial shown by someone left behind by their significant other aren’t all that uncommon. The songwriter who can find a metaphor to set that scenario apart can create something original while still drawing from that profound well of emotion.
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Stephin Merritt, the mastermind behind The Magnetic Fields, did just that on “Busby Berkeley Dreams”. The song, one of the highlights of the band’s ambitious 69 Love Songs project in 1999, uses ornate movie musicals to signify the fantastical, but unrealistic, dreams of the poor sap telling the story.
For the Love of Busby
Stephin Merritt didn’t initially think of 69 Love Songs as a potential album. He thought it might be a clever conceit to play at cocktail bars. Only when he started to compile the songs did he realize it might have some worth as a Magnetic Fields project.
Merritt would likely have failed at creating much interest in his idea if he had stuck with only slow songs. Instead, he used his extensive knowledge of many styles and genres of music to create incredible variety from track to track. By the time you’re done with 69 Love Songs, you’re not exhausted with the format. If anything, you selfishly wish Merritt could have given you even more.
“Busby Berkeley Dreams” sticks to a traditional balladic setup. Merritt accents a piano foundation with subtle orchestral embellishments. The melody is high-drama and a bit arch, and the lyrics take comical turns, even as the emotional stakes are high. That contrast keeps the song from going too far in any one direction, and, in turn, keeps listeners on their toes.
For those who don’t know, Busby Berkeley gained fame in the classic era of the Hollywood musical. As a director and choreographer, he would fashion incredibly intricate, ornate dance sequences, often with a multitude of dancers on screen. For the song’s protagonist, these scenes represent the magic that he’s lost.
Exploring the Lyrics of “Busby Berkeley Dreams”
Throughout 69 Love Songs, Merritt challenges the listeners to decide the level of earnestness being displayed in his songs. Is “Busby Berkeley Dreams” just the writer’s attempt to mimic a certain type of melodramatic song? Or is he using the artifice as a way of masking the pain at the heart of it all?
After all, that’s what the guy telling the story is trying to do. He makes some honest admissions about his sorrow at the beginning of the song. “I should have forgotten you long ago,” he begins. “But you’re in every song I know.” He also gets somewhat combative as a shield. “So on and so forth, of course, of course / And no, you can’t have a divorce,” he sneers.
In the second verse, his denial comes to the fore. “And now you want to leave more for good,” Merritt sings. “I refuse to believe you could.” He also vows to hang on until the bitter end. “Well, darling, you may do your worst,” he warns. “Because you’ll have to kill me first.”
When the refrains arrive, he gets lost in a fantasy world to hide from the truth. “I haven’t seen you in ages,” he admits. “But it’s not as bleak as it seems / We still dance on whirling stages / In my Busby Berkeley dreams.” Even as he tries to envelop himself in fictional depictions of happy relationships, his real world of sadness keeps interrupting: “The tears have stained all the pages / Of my true romance magazines.”
Merritt ends the song by asking, “Do you think it’s dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?” While that’s ostensibly a question from the narrator to his ex, you can also read it as a query posed by the artist to his listeners. In other words, is it wise to bury your heartbreak in pop songs? Or is dealing with the reality of it all the better idea?
Photo by Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images
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