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Track Review: Magnetic Fields "Too Drunk to Dream"

6:05 a.m. · January 3, 2008 · by Jeff Klingman

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Stephin Merritt's romantic troubles haven't calmed down in the last decade or so, but at least he's better at self-medication. On 1995's underrated Get Lost, "all the dope in New York" wasn't enough to dry his pillow, but now a stiff drink or ten seems to do the trick. So that's, um, progress? If it's ground that's he's covered before lyrically (a hazard of dropping sixty-nine tracks in one sitting), at least "Too Drunk to Dream" is typically clever. Listing the knife-sharp bons mots would take a full three minutes, but my favorite would have to be the eminently logical, "I know you think I'm insane/ I know it's not appealing/ but until I'm feeling no pain/ guess what I am feeling?"

Musically, the track is a prime example of Distortion's commitment to its title. Though the structure fits into the familiar three-minute pop song sung with a sock-hop-lilt mold, a spoonful of white noise helps the sugar go down. I'd trot out the token Jesus and Mary Chain comparison, but the Reids were never this witty.