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Two headed boy
All floating in glass
The sun it has passed
Now it's blacker than black
I can hear as you tap on your jar
I am listening to hear where you are
I am listening to hear where you are
Two headed boy
Put on Sunday shoes
And dance round the room to accordion keys
With the needle that sings in your heart
Catching signals that sound in the dark
Catching signals that sound in the dark
We will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine
And when all is breaking
Everything that you could keep inside
Now your eyes ain't moving
Now they just lay there in their climb
Two headed boy
With pulleys and weights
Creating a radio played just for two
In the parlor with a moon across her face
And through the music he sweetly displays
Silver speakers that sparkle all day
Made for his lover who's floating and choking with her hands across her face
And in the dark we will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine
Two headed boy
There is no reason to grieve
The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves
Left beneath Christmas trees in the snow
And I will take you and leave you alone
Watching spirals of white softly flow
Over your eyelids and all you did
Will wait until the point when you let go
All floating in glass
The sun it has passed
Now it's blacker than black
I can hear as you tap on your jar
I am listening to hear where you are
I am listening to hear where you are
Two headed boy
Put on Sunday shoes
And dance round the room to accordion keys
With the needle that sings in your heart
Catching signals that sound in the dark
Catching signals that sound in the dark
We will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine
And when all is breaking
Everything that you could keep inside
Now your eyes ain't moving
Now they just lay there in their climb
Two headed boy
With pulleys and weights
Creating a radio played just for two
In the parlor with a moon across her face
And through the music he sweetly displays
Silver speakers that sparkle all day
Made for his lover who's floating and choking with her hands across her face
And in the dark we will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine
Two headed boy
There is no reason to grieve
The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves
Left beneath Christmas trees in the snow
And I will take you and leave you alone
Watching spirals of white softly flow
Over your eyelids and all you did
Will wait until the point when you let go
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The first verse takes place after the war, where the singer (who could be a person Peter Van Daan met while in the concentration camp) is thinking of his dead friend. I think the imagery of something "floating in a jar" obviously comes from fetuses displayed in jars, but also from brains that belonged to concentration camp inmates that Nazis kept in jars for experimentation. A few years back they discovered rooms filled with brains from Jews and mentally disabled people that were murdered under the Nazi regime.
The bit about "Sunday shoes" and "accordion keys" could be a memory of Peter from before. "Catching signals that sound in the dark" could be a forbidden radio broadcast, such as the BBC.
The chorus is about living in the concentration camp itself. "We will take off our clothes" relates to how inmates were forced to strip naked and stand in front of the guards in the freezing cold for hours. "Placing fingers through the notches in your spine" could actually be about Anne Frank, seeing as Mangum described her as having "wings in her spine" in earlier songs; as in the Nazis are examining holes in her spine where her wings used to be.
The next verse, about the radio and the parlor, is about the time Peter spent with Anne in the annex.
The final verse is about how Peter died in the "death march" from Auschwitz in January 1945, just weeks before its liberation. He could very well have died from freezing in the snow. Also, the "Christmas" part could be about how all he needed was to be a Gentile, as in someone who celebrates Christmas instead of Hanukah, or it could be about the hope that Christmas brings to people during the winter when everything is bleak.
Also, if thought of in a more personal context, I definitely think the two-headed boy could very well be how Jeff thinks of himself and his brother who committed suicide. (Or was it a friend's brother who committed suicide? I was never clear on this.)
This one is about friendship. Not romantic love or sexual passion, but a close bond that only exists between people who grew up together. I'm an only child, but I have this bond with a friend I grew up with from second grade onward, and we're still as close as ever today. The song is about when one "brother" is suffering or going through something that the other brother knows they can do nothing about. "I can hear as you tap on your jar" could be knowing that that person needs you, but "I am listening to hear where you are," even though you can't get to them.
As for me, it makes me want to cling to my best friend and cry with her all night until I fall asleep because all I want is for her to still be there in the morning.
This album is about Jeff's brother, who killed himself. Jeff became obsessed with Anne Frank and incorporated her into his lyrics because following her life and death reminded him of his brother and the hopelessness of ever seeing him again. The album will now be much clearer for you.
Two headed boy
All floating in glass
The sun it has passed
Now it's blacker than black - they could never have lights on at night.
I can hear as you tap on your jar - when someone was downstairs, they had to keep the lights off and use jars instead of the bathroom, which was outside their hiding place.
I am listening to hear where you are - Anne and Peter, hiding in the dark, trying to be as silent as possible.
I am listening to hear where you are
Two headed boy
Put on Sunday shoes
And dance round the room to accordion keys - they often listened to radio.
With the needle that sings in your heart - the two fell in love, but I don't know what parallel "needle" refers to.
Catching signals that sound in the dark - referring to the radio they listened to, as well as the signals they felt from each other as they spent time together alone in the dark, in the attic.
Catching signals that sound in the dark
We will take off our clothes - this didn't happen in her diary, so I'm not sure what the reference is, or if it's Magnum just taking the story further.
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine - Peter's influence on Anne, who was always writing about her shortcomings, and all of her thoughts about Peter.
And when all is breaking - obviously about the chaos of WWII
Everything that you could keep inside - she often wrote about how she wished he would open up to her.
Now your eyes ain't moving
Now they just lay there in their climb - either about his death, or about when they would lay together in his room.
Two headed boy
With pulleys and weights
Creating a radio played just for two - this is something that actually could have happened between her and Peter.
In the parlor with a moon across her face - they sat alone together often, and Anne loved how at night with just the moonlight she felt like they could talk about anything.
And through the music he sweetly displays
Silver speakers that sparkle all day - not sure about this part, this is an allusion to something not in the diary.
Made for his lover who's floating and choking with her hands across her face
And in the dark we will take off our clothes
And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine
Two headed boy
There is no reason to grieve - they were all sent to different concentration camps, and Peter was separated from his family and Anne.
The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves
Left beneath Christmas trees in the snow - a beautiful metaphor for Peter's longings during winter, when he was in the concentration camp.
And I will take you and leave you alone
Watching spirals of white softly flow - it was winter when he was forced on a death march.
Over your eyelids and all you did
Will wait until the point when you let go. - Peter died on the death march, probably all alone, lying in the snow and cold, only three days before the Allies reached them.
The two-headed boy may be a reference to Mangum's brother who killed himself (if you're wondering, he's the dark brother wrapped in white) Mangum's close connection to his brother shown as an unbreakable physical connection - typically, when one siamese twin dies, the other one does too.
The rest of the song until the last stanza is pretty much an idealist view of life - love, drugs, peace. Of course, the irony here is evident - the two-headed boy will never see any of this again.
The last stanza is one of acceptance; one boy is leaving the other, to die or whether he's already dead, and he knows there is nothing he can do.
Overall, the song is about brothers, and loss, and grief.
Or vinyl.
"And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine"
goes right along with-
"And she was born in a bottle rocket, 1929 with wings that ringed around a socket right between her spine" from Ghost.
If looking at this as being an Anne Frank reference, I have this picture in my head of confused Nazi doctors examining her remains and finding these strange holes in her spine where her wings (symbolizing freedom) used to be.
sputnikmusic.com/review/46577/Neutral-Milk-Hotel-In-the-Aeroplane-Over-the-Sea/
i wish i could feel that deeply about anything love this album the more i listen and learn about
sputnikmusic.com/review/46577/Neutral-Milk-Hotel-In-the-Aeroplane-Over-the-Sea/
i wish i could feel that deeply about anything love this album the more i listen and learn about
two sides of the brain.. plus a cock joke thrown in for good measure.
first stanza seems to be about the two headed boys loss of faith in the world.. feeling trapped and alienated by life.
second stanza could be about the boy trying to fit in.. accordian being the word that sticks for me in that one. jm then talks about how he is paying attention to the two headed boy.
third stanza seems to be about the two headed boy being pulled about.. feeling pressured and doing things he doesn't want to.. trapped in a relationship with a girl.. he's sad.. she's sad.. and who wouldn't be with the moon across her face? hmm? jm adds that he (and his friends) will reveal the truth to the two headed boy.. and people will stick their fingers into the gaps they make in his spine (strength of belief in his reality)
fourth stanza could to be about the two headed boy being told that life is ok inspite of his percieved troubles.. he'll find some saviours in music.. and once the clouds have parted (spirals of white) - he'll let go and be free, finally.
it's a superb song about the love jeff feels for a boy who is trapped in his own head. a prisoner of his own mind.. and about the struggle to free him. touching moving song. and one day i will be jeff.. mark my words.
it could also be about anne frank.. being gay.. about records and vinyls.. star wars.. or it could be an attempt at a christmas number one hit.
but then again it could, just be.. about a boy.. who had two heads.. maybe?