Stephin Merritt/The Magnetic Fields. Video from some defunct RU-vid account--glad I grabbed it when I did, as I can never find this version anywhere else.
I'm a white boy from the South, my parents were hippies and I was a kind of post punk goth kid whatever. Stephen built something with his music that, while it doesn't define America for me entirely , it does create a scaffolding that I can reliably hang most of my American identity on. Needless to say, genius.
Thought this version vanished. Thank you so much for bringing it back. My friend and I are huge magnetic fields fans and i was trying to show him this one but couldnt find it again till now
I will always be sad that Susan Anway left the group but I also can't help thinking of Stephen and what he brought forward. There is no right answer. The only one that is right is an alternate universe where they are just a duet of all the songs
Wow! I wish I knew... I downloaded this version originally in the Napster days, but then I lost it and couldn't find it again for 10+ years. Finally stumbled on it again in the form of this video, uploaded it for posterity, and continue to hope it doesn't get pulled for copyright.
I wondered the same thing too! Her stage name was "Princess Rajah" and she was a vaudeville performer who also performed in circus midways. This was her famous chair act, which was recorded by Thomas Edison and crew at the 1904 World's Fair. All this information came from a wordpress blog called "Travelanche" Details about her early life are unknown, her real name was Rose or Rosa Ferran. She began her career at coney island and eventually became one of the top performers in Vaudeville, travelling the circuit and getting paid $1000 a week (well over 15,000 today). She was performing as a big time act at least until 1927, and details about the end of her life are seemingly murky.
