The Magnetic Fields’ 50 Song Memoir (2017) chronicles the 50 years of songwriter Stephin Merritt’s life with one song per year. 50 Song Memoir is available in a five-LP edition with an extensive interview by Daniel Handler and facsimile handwritten lyrics by Merritt. It is also available as a standalone bound book with a full-album download card.

Merritt began recording on his 50th birthday: February 9, 2015. In addition to his vocals, Merritt plays more than one hundred instruments on 50 Song Memoir, ranging from ukulele to piano to drum machine to abacus. Unlike his previous work, the lyrics on 50 Song Memoir are nonfiction—in Merritt’s words, “a mix of autobiography (bedbugs, Buddhism, buggery) and documentary (hippies, Hollywood, hyperacusis).” In the album’s liner notes, Merritt states: “I am the least autobiographical person you are likely to meet. I will probably not write any more true songs after this than I did before, but it’s been interesting working on it.”

Track List:
(Nonesuch Records, 2017)

Disc 1
01. ’66 Wonder Where I’m From
02. ’67 Come Back as a Cockroach
03. ’68 A Cat Called Dionysus
04. ’69 Judy Garland
05. ’70 They’re Killing Children Over There
06. ’71 I Think I’ll Make Another World
07. ’72 Eye Contact
08. ’73 It Could Have Been Paradise
09. ’74 No
10. ’75 My Mama Ain’t

Disc 2
01. ’76 Hustle 76
02. ’77 Life Ain’t All Bad
03. ’78 The Blizzard of ’78
04. ’79 Rock’n’Roll Will Ruin Your Life
05. ’80 London by Jetpack
06. ’81 How to Play the Synthesizer
07. ’82 Happy Beeping
08. ’83 Foxx and I
09. ’84 Danceteria!
10. ’85 Why I Am Not a Teenager

Disc 3
01. ’86 How I Failed Ethics
02. ’87 At the Pyramid
03. ’88 Ethan Frome
04. ’89 The 1989 Musical Marching Zoo
05. ’90 Dreaming in Tetris
06. ’91 The Day I Finally…
07. ’92 Weird Diseases
08. ’93 Me and Fred and Dave and Ted
09. ’94 Haven’t Got a Penny
10. ’95 A Serious Mistake

Disc 4
01. ’96 I’m Sad!
02. ’97 Eurodisco Trio
03. ’98 Lovers’ Lies
04. ’99 Fathers in the Clouds
05. ’00 Ghosts of the Marathon Dancers
06. ’01 Have You Seen It in the Snow?
07. ’02 Be True to Your Bar
08. ’03 The Ex and I
09. ’04 Cold-Blooded Man
10. ’05 Never Again

Disc 5
01. ’06 “Quotes”
02. ’07 In the Snow White Cottages
03. ’08 Surfin’
04. ’09 Till You Come Back to Me
05. ’10 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
06. ’11 Stupid Tears
07. ’12 You Can Never Go Back to New York
08. ’13 Big Enough for Both of Us
09. ’14 I Wish I Had Pictures
10. ’15 Somebody’s Fetish