The Book of Love by the Magnetic Fields

In my entry entitled My Musical DNA, I linked to a studio version of this song (set to an old silent film of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk). The above version is from a 2008 show, a tour I got to catch.

The Book of Love has music in it
In fact, that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb

It was just a wonderful experience to see them live and stripped down to such spare acoustic accompaniment. For those of you unfamiliar with the Magnetic Fields, their sound is often much more produced and heavily influenced by '80s synth-pop. Here's an example of one of their more synthy songs. They have huge catalog of material, and songs range from old-timey country to ultra-modern, but nearly always with a tinge, or maybe a gash, of irony, arch humor, and melancholia.

Year: 1999
Rating: Hot!