Fresh from a successful European tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Magnetic Fields' iconic 69 Love Songs album, Stephin Merritt has today shared an unexpected cover of The Gap Band's 1982 hit "You Dropped a Bomb on Me", recorded with co-vocalist Xavier Smith for a new project by musician, author, and film scorer Michael Hearst.

"There’s only two chords," says Merritt of the song. "It could be thirty seconds or three hours long. It could just go on forever. If this is an infinite multiverse, there is a planet where the wind has been sighing, 'You Dropped a Bomb on Me', for millions of years."

Hearst's 80 From The '80s series launched two weeks ago with a cover of 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" featuring Syd Straw, and will continue to drop a new song every second Tuesday for the next 3 years until the 80th song is out. The next few releases will be covers of Yazoo's "In My Room" (8 October), Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" (22 October), and The Cure's "Lovecats" (5 November), featuring guest vocals from Tanya Donelly, Aimee Mann collaborator Jonathan Coulter, and Hedwig & The Angry Inch's John Cameron Mitchell, respectively.

Other artists who have contributed to the project include New Pornographers' AC Newman, Amanda Palmer, Krystle Warren, Martha Wainwright, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Alyssa Lamb, ex-Reuben member Jamie Lenman, and They Might Be Giants' John Linnell. Magnetic Fields member Claudia Gonson also contributes, with a version of Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face".

Listen to Hearst, Merritt, and Smith's version of "You Dropped a Bomb on Me", and the Gap Band original, below:

With the European leg of the 69 Love Songs anniversary tour now complete, The Magnetic Fields have a few weeks off before doing it all over again in the US. Upcoming dates listed below:

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