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Song Stories

“Andrew in Drag”

The Magnetic Fields | 2012

“[The song’s] about a straight guy who falls madly in love with the drag persona of his straight friend Andrew,” Magnetic Fields auteur Stephin Merritt said about his tune. The gender-ambiguous music video directed by Scott Valins further explored the “drag persona” Merritt sang about. “We took the opportunity to create a vibrant collage, exploring the intimate process of transforming ones gender,” Valins said. “The backbone of the piece is a series of intimate portraits that lead the viewer to their own complex conclusions of what they are attracted to.”

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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