Fifty

Inspired by The Magnetic Fields's 50 Song Memoir, Rusty Spell writes a song for each year of his life, starting with gestation and ending with the year he turns fifty, for a total of fifty-two tracks.

Recording: 21 Feb 2024 - 9 Jan 2025 by Rusty Spell at Love and Letters Studios in Auburn, AL. Cover design and photography: Rusty Spell. Total running time: 1:06:33 (Disc One), 1:07:34 (Disc Two), 1:03:24 (Disc Three), 3:17:35 (Full Album).

Vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, soprano ukulele, baritone uke, keyboards, accordion, harmonica, electronic drum set, snare drum, tambourines, bongo, egg shakers, maracas, claves, guiro, jingle bells, drumstick clicks, marble with tin lid, whistling, hand claps, finger snaps, other mouth/body sounds, and sound effects editing by Rusty Spell.

Songs written by Rusty Spell.

Liner Notes * Lyrics * Bonus

"Half a century of a life, in music."

Listen and download at Bandcamp.

Listen on most streaming services.

1. 1974 - Those First Eight Months in the Year Before I Was Born (Was Pleasant) [1:06]
2. 1975 - Shame! [2:11]
3. 1976 - I Don't Remember (Being One) [1:40]
4. 1977 - My First Memory [3:56]
5. 1978 - Life Begins at Three [3:14]
6. 1979 - I Really Like Drums [4:58]
7. 1980 - Michelle [4:03]
8. 1981 - Apparently [3:44]
9. 1982 - Obsessions [2:49]
10. 1983 - (Me and Andy) At the Roller Rink [5:18]
11. 1984 - Prince [2:27]
12. 1985 - The Mid-80s [2:59]
13. 1986 - The Knob [4:29]
14. 1987 - Band Camp [2:10]
15. 1988 - How Did This Happen? [5:57]
16. 1989 - The White Witch [4:37]
17. 1990 - This Is Real (It's Like I'm Real) [3:06]
18. 1991 - Gold and Blue [3:35]
19. 1992 - Tommy and Fire Walk With Me [3:29]
20. 1993 - Asceticism Lite: College Edition [3:11]
21. 1994 - She Makes Me Feel Like ABBA Songs [4:06]
22. 1995 - The Magnetic Fields [5:26]
23. 1996 - Twenty-One and Tired of Life [2:03]
24. 1997 - Everything’s Gonna Be Better from Now On [4:46]
25. 1998 - What the Hell Is Wrong with Rusty? [3:51]
26. 1999 - Space Camp! [2:56]
27. 2000 - How Am I Supposed To Write a Song About You? [4:53]
28. 2001 - Gettin’ Political Now [4:24]
29. 2002 - The Rio Grande Valley [5:07]
30. 2003 - The Class Reunion [3:16]
31. 2004 - Hoffy [4:05]
32. 2005 - Enya and System of a Down [2:54]
33. 2006 - One More Thing [3:44]
34. 2007 - The Parrot Jungle [2:17]
35. 2008 - The Good News [5:30]
36. 2009 - I Don’t Know What Happened This Year [4:25]
37. 2010 - We Bought a House [3:35]
38. 2011 - The Day You Were Born [6:32]
39. 2012 - Your First Full Year [2:48]
40. 2013 - In My Car [4:03]
41. 2014 - Twin Peaks Party [5:27]
42. 2015 - The 2015 Medley [4:39]
43. 2016 - Orange Man Bad [4:28]
44. 2017 - (I’m Hanging with the) Drama Kids (Again) [4:42]
45. 2018 - Science Girl [4:01]4
46. 2019 - Keep Those Bells Jinglin’ [4:37]
47. 2020 - The Worst Year [2:10]
48. 2021 - What Else Is There To Talk About? [1:38]
49. 2022 - Palomino (A Love Song for an Album) [2:37]
50. 2023 - I Can’t Believe How Much I Love Sea of Thieves [5:13]
51. 2024 - The Year I Made This Album (Turning Fifty) [3:30]
52. 2025 - Golden Years [2:47]

'nSProd-58 LLM-38 RS-22