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The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening, 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentions in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening, 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentions in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes
Lyrics submitted by PLANES
Track duration: 03:12
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It's about one girl, one girl among millions killed, yet Mangum uses her so poetically that it can't help but be a metaphor for everyone who was killed in the Holocaust. Innocent people cruelly slaughtered for no apparent reason, with great irony in the guns which rained down on everyone and more specifically their late timing.
As the song progresses, we're reminded more and more of the cosmic significance of this - to keep a long story short, it's zero. "The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are"
The whole genocide is much more tolerable when you don't connect, or empathise, but just look at it from afar. Possibly a metaphor for the Allied powers who chose to do very little about the Holocaust until they actually had to (it's so sad to see... filled with flies)
Anne Frank was born with roses in her eyes because she had the eyes to see the beauty in this world, even during the difficult times she lived through. In her own words, "Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy!". The last lines of the song ponder at why would people rather have children like this dying ("their faces fill with flies"), rather than living through their innocent, beautiful perspective of the world (white roses in their eyes).
Anne wasn't literally buried alive. I think this line is more metaphorical in the sense that she was secluded and left to die in a concentration camp with only Margot at her side. The middle part of the song is less clear to me, but in general I understand that it's about injustice and the loss of youth's innocence and potential in the war.
"And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart"
R.I.P i love you ray.
"But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on"
Maybe after the Holocaust, or maybe something a little more simple, but thats just my opinion, because most likely this song is just about Anne Frank's death and the horrible tragedy that the Holocaust was -- like when he says:
"And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies"
I think that means how not only were the circumstances awful, but so were the mislead, violent, and hateful people of the Nazi regime. Overall this song is so amazingly, wonderful and puts me in a good mood regardless of the dark lyrics. I just love Neautral Milk Hotel so, so much they were such a good band. :) <3
I am certain this song is about her.
"The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes"
I think this means that he was in love with Anne Frank, or rather, the idea of her. The roses in her eyes represent the roses on her grave.
"But then they buried her alive
One evening, 1945
With just her sister at her side"
Anne Frank died in 1945, and they buried her with her sister.
"And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone"
I am positive this refers to the day when British troops liberated the camp. And "only weeks" was used because Anne perished a few weeks before the troops came.
Anyways, amazing CD that has changed my life for better.
the only girl I've ever loved,
they buried her alive,
one evening, 1945,
and only weeks before the guns
all came and rained on everyone.
To me, this is about how Anne Frank died only a few weeks before that particular concentration camp was liberated (the guns came and rained on everyone)- and "they buried her alive" is to do with how they put her in a gas chamber underground, and killed her stone dead. Well- potentially Anne Frank, and potentially another Jewish family that were caught up in the war.