Added: 2 years ago
From: fatandrewrockz
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  • So where are these alleged rings, yo?

  • Magnetic fishes is what we be we two and God knows my Beloved how I do so love you... Peter Gabriel rocks this song, but this guys voice reminds me so much more of you and me, me and you making we into us eternal ... lo fidelity like an all star.

  • Yuk. This music is dull and puts me to sleep. Horrible stuff. Depressing.

  • @Vyskochkova1 Cool story bro

  • <3

  • <3

  • They use this song at the end of a video called Voyagers by Penny Lane. Shows the launch of Apollo 11 rocket to it.

  • Personally, I like this version better. It seems to me more clear.

    Awesome.. :)

  • @laAnicka What do you mean by "clear"? Just curious. Gabriel's version is champion, but Mr. Fields' is good, too.

  • Merritt, if you ask me is not only cynical in this track but passionate like how relationships actually are...Also, why does everyone say he can't sing?Damn it! Please appreciate a decent basso profundo!

  • the peter gabriel fans are not on the same level as the magnetic fields fans. they don't get it. thankfully, peter gabriel did.

  • I prefer peter gabriels cover personally.

  • Scrubs

  • @thaproducer9 i cried

  • @thaproducer9 /watch?v=FmnDXRJ7btE the right one ;)

  • I like Peter Gabriel's version better..it just seems more intimate and meaningful. Gorgeous lyrics, nevertheless.

  • one of my least favourites on the album, lyrics are unbearably horribly awful

  • @Tool9395 Troll much?

    

  • @WebsterAnn no i can't stand this song

  • @Tool9395 then don't listen to it?

  • where is their grammy?

  • The Airborne Toxic Event did an awesome cover of this song.

  • @jsreeser  Yes, they did! Outstanding version!

  • At first the Peter Gabriel song sounded better to me but this song seems much more intimate its just you and the singer .. Not you the singer and an entire orchestra... I respect both versions but this is how I would choose to sing it to my wife.

  • oh, his voice...

  • Oh youtube, if it's not racist comments on the most innocuous videos then it is the perpetual debating which version of a song is better. I personally could not give a toss about Peter Gabriel or his version. It is as one user said devoid of all the wonderful irony of Stephin Merritt's original. It is but the tip of the iceberg as far as this mans genius goes

  • @graemeislord Haw! You poo-poo the debate of which song is better, then throw down against Gabriel. They're BOTH good.

  • @SoEyeSay If I thought his version was better I would probably make a point to comment under his version instead of coming here pissing and moaning about the original being 'flat' and 'boring'. The best possible outcome of Gabriels version is for people to discover the Magnetic Fields.

  • is this the longest album ever?

  • @gogolplex74 No, it's "96 Hate Songs" which Magnetic Fields released after this :)

  • @tmmvds lol false

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  • Peter Gabriel's version is terrible

  • I hate Peter Gabriel's version: zero irony.

  • @ashburnhouse "Zero Irony", but plenty melody.

  • People who really love this song prefer this version.

  • @jessejames0096

    Retard.

  • Comment removed

  • Credit must go to the original songwriter, but in my entirely subjective view, Peter Gabriel's version is far superior.

  • @squamish4244 I agree, I understand that this version is the original and all credits go to the Magnetic Fields for making this fantastic song. However like you, I prefer Peter Gabriel's.

  • The Magnetic Fields are one of the greatest bands in history. This song has been covered by A LOT of people, most notably Mike Doughty, least notably Mr. Gabriel. If you don't know that, it's cool, but you're not a big "music person."

  • @Ristolable I love music, but have never heard of Mike Doughty, so by your definition, I'm not a big "music person." Whatever dude.

  • @Ristolable Really? Who's Mike Doughty?

    Just because someone doesn't know about something you just said doesn't mean they're not a "big music person." I listen to music all the time. I sing a lot. I love Magnetic Fields, some less popular pop music, tons of rock music, some punk rock, I like Irish music for crying out loud.

    Don't say small things like "if you don't know that, it's cool, but you're not a big 'music person,'" because it can offend a lot of people.

  • @Ristolable Have you heard Nataly Dawn's version? It can never top Stephin Merritt, but I like what she does with it :)

  • Best version is by The Airborne Toxic Event search it

    

  • Good tunes, Good lyrics.....At least its not fucking dubstep....

  • Disagreement and discussion of music should be fun. I say Gabriel (and the music backing) is the way better version, but this dude, bland and blah as he is, WROTE the tune. Both should get praise.

  • @SoEyeSay

    To be honest, I think the singer's voice is like lyrical marmite. You can either find it boring or mellow and melodic - I find it the latter and prefer this one over peter gabriel's, but it's a very subjective style of music.

  • I prefer this version over the Peter Gabriel version. It is stripped down and I think this guy has a unique voice. Amazing tune. My new GF just introduced it to me. The song is hot and so is she.

  • It is so arrogant to tell anyone that because you prefer a different version it is "the better version" . The lyrics are brilliant, and both sing it beautifully. There is no accounting for taste...

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  • Peter Gabriel's version blew me away, this just doesn't cut it in terms of emotional delivery.

    Not bad, just not as good as the cover.

  • this is the best version, how you can deny it is unfathomable

  • @MagnumRoyalty

    sorry bro but peter gabriel's version is so much better =)

  • GTFO. Kudos to these guys for writing it but Peter Gabriel did a much better job singing it. Certain things are meant to be. That's y the songwriters aren't usually the ones singing the song, the singers do

  • @KashmirShahzad LOL as if this statement was correct. So the term "singer/songwriter" means nothing?

  • @MagnumRoyalty way to completely go off topic there. yes theres people with multiple talents. then theres people like this dude singing the song who should have obviously stuck to being a songwriter, not a singer/songwriter. besides your on something if u think most (most, not saying all) accomplished singers write their own shit. take elvis for example.

  • @KashmirShahzad I'm sorry, you're an ignorant oaf. This man has written many of the greatest albums I've ever heard - I've listened to every one of them. It would be a tragedy to have this work scattered amongst doznes of no-name singers who don't feel the music and can't make an honest version. Besides, if Peter Gabriel hadn't of listened to this and thought "Damn, that's a good song", he wouldn't it with his sappy overdone version that you seem to prefer.

  • the airborne toxic event cover is absolutely beautiful.

  • I hate Peter Gabriel's version. It's overproduced and sentimentalized cheese. A certain segment of the American public seems to love being spoon fed shlock--and the more shallow the shlock the better. These same lifestyle cretins would have no interest in music were it not for advertisements and romantic comedy soundtracks

  • @ritter89

    Hmm, seems to me the real "cretins" are those with a superiority complex that think their taste in anything is the ultimate litmus test when it comes to quality. If a song moves somebody, who the fuck are you to criticize them for it? Music, like all art, is subjective. I can understand not liking a particular song, but not to the point of bashing people who do.

  • This is an amazing song. Magnetic Fields just.. have a way with words. This and All My Little Words I believe have the same impact as songs by Bright Eyes or even Bob Dylan at times. Just brilliant.

  • This sign looks like a cancer zodiac

  • I've listened to this so many times that I now like it more than the cover. :3

  • Peter Gabriel's cover was corny. The original has more soul.

  • I love the Peter Gabriel one, but this was somehow dull compared. Great, but not as great.

  • @BaraSkit07 if you honestly think this is dull then I kinda feel sorry for you dude. This is one of the most evocative songs I've ever heard, and most of that effect is due to how sparse it is - you can feel the words as they come out of his mouth and it's delicate, as any true love song should be. Conveys far more meaning than a big theatrical voice ever could dream of in my books, but c'est la vie

  • @daddyfatsaxohten I think you misinterpreted my message, read it again mate.

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  • Like this version Love Peter Gabriels =)

  • I'd take this original any day.

  • Love this song... found it from The Airborne Toxic Event's cover of it. Both versions are fantastic.

  • Without the Magnetic Fields, there would be no song for Peter Gabriel to cover. So give some credit folks.

  • Well, I for one prefer this version. :)

  • Not anywhere as good, or emotionally moving, as Peter Gabriel's version!

  • @tcmitssr And yet it's because of the magnetic fields your buddy Peter was able to receive such a great song. Did you not enoy the lyrics and musical arrangement and melody that Peter took and covered? I don't mind if you enjoy Gabriel's version more but give proper credit and respect to the magnetic fields as well.

  • @CanadianGunslinger11 peter gabriel's version is laaaame. this version is beautiful and breathtaking and also the original. and why are you even here if you like peter gabriel better? get ooouuuuttt!!!!

  • I guarantee that this would be the more popular version if Gabriel's wasn't used for the Scrubs ending.

  • somehow it sounds he is either high or stoned or both :/

  • Peter Gabriel wins, sorry.

  • look for the cover by Natay Dawn. so soothing. Plus I don't like being sung to by men, haha.

  • I orefer this one though they're both great

  • mhm the cover of Peter Gabriel is much more emotional....

  • This is too good. Peter Gabriel's version kinda negates the ironic nature of the song and Merritt's songwriting. Not saying his version's bad, just that to me it doesn't convey the song's original meaning...which is what you'd expect from a cover anyway. RAMBLE OVER.

  • Fuck Peter Gabriel and Scrubs

  • @nashwhal funny!

  • @nashwhal Woah hey now, I don't give a rat's ass about Peter Gabriel, but you leave Scrubs out of it!  :)

  • i don't get why people prefer the peter gabriel version personally....

  • somehow i spent my whole life listening to stuff like this without hearing magnetic fields, then i was doing some research on a childhood favorite, future bible heroes, and came across the back story leading me to here :P

  • This version poured the petrol on the ground, and Peter Gabriel's was the spark that set the world alight afterwards.

  • pete and pete brought he here via Why I Cry

  • I brought myself here.

  • @sleeplessk8r you dont get it do you :P

  • @robman8855 nope

  • @sleeplessk8r seems like you're the one who's tone deaf. they're both great.

  • @sleeplessk8r you realize this is the original song, right?

  • peter gabriel turns this song to cheesy, soupy, sentinmental mush. merrit 4 life!

  • @mmhmmmom

    you sound like johnny cash.

  • It's a great song The Magnetic did a great job with this song, but for some reason I feel that Peter Gabriel did a better job. he put so much emotion behind it

  • Nothing makes me as emotional as Peter Gabriel singing this in the ending of My Finale Scrubs season 8 <3

  • @Peteioz loser

  • this reminds me of `a boy called allen`. ..

  • Nick Bianco brought me here

  • Such and indelible piece of music: I only wish that Stephen Merritt would get all the credit he deserves for this piece...

  • It really takes a special singer to sing this song without it becoming boring.

  • Cody Weber brought me here

  • I'm here to see if i can see what Zach Condon like about these guys.

  • i like this song but it kinda sounds like John Wayne is singing

  • @xweetoc more like Johnny Cash

  • @SacreligiousPorkchop i honestly wouldn't really know. i don't really listen to country

  • @xweetoc Yeah me neither but I do listen to Johnny cash

  • Somehow, East Harlem, by Beirut, remembered me of this.

  • Magnetic fields came first. I personally like the Peter Gabriel version better but they're both amazing.

  • what came first, peter gabriel or magnetic fields?? i'm confused?

  • @bubblelot1 Magnetic Fields wrote the song and released it first. Peter Gabriel covered it a few years later

  • @bubblelot1 Magnetic Fields

  • i dont understand all the excitement, its just the number 69.....someone explain that to me please?

  • @hahalufs9 '69' is a sexual position.

  • @hahalufs9 seriously?

  • @hahalufs9

    It's a position where two lovers can both felatiate each other.

  • @hahalufs9 I'm with you. What's the big deal? 69 - what? Is it some kind of occult secret or something?

  • @vanessa4u4evr I can't quite decide whether this comment is tongue in cheek sarcasm tbh, if you're serious though look the number (and it's possible meanings) up, you'll be surprised. Lets say the penny should drop on the joke at any rate :P

  • Although this is the original version, the interpretation of Peter Gabriel gives me something more..!

  • @MarcoStu93 My condolences.

  • i thought those were just two monacles with one upside down D:

  • Don't you ever wish that the original writer could have recognition even if there is better singers (of this song). This artist is a really incredible man and deserves more views. He really does.

  • @supergown2 Yeah! If the more well-known version is sung by a person who is also a writer, people assume they wrote it.

  • @SoEyeSay Yeah exactly!

  • @supergown2 Incredible artist. far from incredible man. there's a difference.

  • @Jer314153 Eh, I call him an incredible man because he's a incredible artist.

  • oh nice i didnt know this version!

  • Definitely one of the best on the album.

  • oh, you...

  • i had never heard this song before awwww i`m purring now :3

  • My favourite song in the world <3

  • This sounds like goth Johnny Cash

  • I forgot about this band!

  • I like PG but he's not doing his shit anymore, just getting bored and re-hashing classic songs....

  • There is no need for people to discuss what version is better, this or Peter Gabriel. They are both very good. Peter Gabriels' version is much more heartfelt sure, but if you listen to the lyrics, the singer is supposed to be bored and fed up with the book of love, hence the lyric 'the book of love is long and boring, no one can lift the damn thing,' so in that respect The Magnetic Fields get it spot on. And is the original.

  • @bigbang305

    You are contradicting yourself. You said that people don't need to discuss what version is better but you just discuss that Peter Gabriel's version is more heartfelt than the original. I disagree. I like this is better. Gabriel's is more poppy. I like the indie folk-pop

  • way better than the cover

  • ill get alot of hate for this but I really dont like this version I prefer peter's version for personal reasons of which I wont tell...

  • youtube.com/watch?v=iEI1j_etQH­0

  • watch?v=iEI1j_etQH0

  • This is the best version, that's it... no discussions needed. No cheesy singer is gonna sing better than the man who actually wrote the song. God boys. Covers suck, exept Cohens'.

  • @AHarmlessBystander Even better is the amazingly brilliant TMF logo. It spins like magnets and has the cliched magnet color scheme. Amazing.

  • Peter Gabriel's cover is much better.

  • The National.

  • @AHarmlessBystander

    haha same here bro and i just stumbled upon a good song

  • like both, but this much better!

  • Sure; it's not IMPOSSIBLE or wrong to like this better than Gabriel's version, but I do believe there's a prejudice, a conceit that says that the composer of a song performs it best, when that's just not true: sometimes a great composer is a mediocre musician, or can't sing very well.

  • Peter Gabriel's version is better; he makes some good changes in the melody and sings with feeling. This guy sounds like he's bored. Gabriel's has a better arrangement, too.

  • @SoEyeSay That's kind of the point. This guy's known for singing like this. The whole brilliance of the original version of the song is that there's something acidic about it. You get the feeling that whoever composed it has no patience for sentimentality, hence "the book of love is long and boring." And Stephin's "bored" singing-style just adds to the cynicism. I do like Gabriel's version, too, but it has a totally different approach - it's heartfelt, sure, but that doesn't mean it's better.

  • @liacirne I dig ya! But what I'm saying is that there's a difference between "appreciating" a work and "enjoying" it. I can appreciate what Mr. Fields is doing, but I don't enjoy it like I do Mr. Gabriel's. I'm old, and have gone thru "dislikes" over songs for trendy reasons("they don't write their own song! They use studio musicians!") and have decided to just listen and not care what the words are or who played on it: if I like it, I like it. "Better" IS an opinion, but there are prejudices.

  • @SoEyeSay If you haven't heard "The Airborne Toxic Event's" cover of this song, your missing out. :) Love it more than Gabriel and equal to MF.

  • @SoEyeSay It's all in the context of the piece. This song was written as an acerbic counterpoint to the cliches we often think of concerning matters of the heart.

  • Oh, Scrubs...

    

  • this version feels much more personal and raw than the Peter Gabriel version. I much prefer it.

  • I love this version, and I love Peter Gabriel's version - there is no reason you can't enjoy both. Besides, if you're going to argue about the best version of this song, you might as well bring Airborne Toxic Event into the equation.

  • The Peter Gabriel version is really well made and produced. It initially does have a greater impact on the listener, I agree.

    But the reason I like this version more is that this guy wrote it. The lyrics are amazing, and to me, hearing their author sing them is even more amazing. Its hard to describe further than that but seriously, great song.