You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh Herway.

This episode contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Merritt and I am the main member of the magnetic fields.

I don't actually remember writing this song because I write songs in bars.

Generally, these are gay bars patronized by men of a certain advanced age who prefer to listen to disco music in the background while they drink cocktails.

So it was in one such bar that I was hanging out and I don't remember what happened next but when I woke up the next morning I was at home looked in my songwriting notebook and in fact I had written a song and it was Andrew and Greg.

Stephen Merritt has fronted the band the magnetic fields for over 25 years. In this episode he'll break down the song Andrew and Greg from the 2012 album Love at the Bottom of the Sea.

Even though he doesn't actually remember writing it.

After releasing his triple album 69 Love Songs in 1999 to huge acclaim, Stephen stopped using synthesizers for the next three magnetic fields albums.

Coming up he talks about why he stopped and why he started using them again and why he doesn't write down his melodies.

My home life is so busy that I can only make myself work in a bar or in a cafe.

I find it very difficult to write music without other music playing because there's generally music playing in my head like a schizophrenic.

I have voices in my head and they're singing and they're generally singing commercial jingles or songs that I don't particularly like.

Often it's the Bumblebee Tuna jingles from the early 70s.

I love Bumblebee Bumblebee Tuna.

I wish it were a little less in my head since I heard it in 1972 but I guess it turned me into the sort of songwriter I am which is somebody who almost entirely writes songs in cafes and bars.

Getting good and drunk essentially not really. I can't do anything after three cocktails. It's not like I'm a fiendish alcoholic.

I wish I were so that I could get a lot more work done but I'm kind of actually a lightweight at this point.

I have to say that it tends to be the good ones that I don't remember writing because I guess I spent a lot of time on them and felt that I was on a roll.

So I would rather spend the money on a cab home then go home without finishing the song.

I don't remember thinking about the plot of the song. It was a straight guy who's best friend does a drag show on a lark and a straight guy falls madly in love with his best friend's drag character.

I don't remember thinking about that but fortunately I remembered the melody.

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