Oh Comely

I agree that there appear to be some of his famous Anne Frank reference in this song, but I remember hearing that this song is about a girl he once knew, and he wasn't there for her in a time of need, and he has a lot of regret about it. He won't talk about it any more than that because it is so personal, so here is how I interpret what happened with that girl as he describes it in this amazing song: it seems to be about a girl who lives a really crappy life ("trailer park", her dad left her family and is "making fetuses" with trashy ladies). She thinks she has friends, but they aren't even there for her ("letting you blow", "there isn't such one friend that you can find here"). She tries to stay "bright and bubbly" because she has hope that things can get better ("chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left"), maybe because of him (the narrator of the song). Her memory may be of him as her first love--he took her out to football games, had sex with her, but then he dumped her. She was still trying to believe in him, but he let her down ("all you were needing when you still believed in me") and she is now totally alone.

He's looking back on all of this now, thinking about how he let her down, and regretting it, wanting to make things better, but she is dead. And he wishes he could go back and make things better ("wished I could save her in some sort of time machine"), but it's too late. He now realizes he was actually her enemy, not her friend--There's something about how he sings "we know who our enemies are" that seems to say, "No, we don't, and sometimes the people we think are our friends are just the opposite".

This is such a sad, beautiful song. I have thought for a long time that it is similar in tone and plot to an amazing novel called "The Book of Ruth". If you love this song, you might be amazed when you read the book by how strikingly similar it feels. And no, seeing the crappy TV movie they made based on the book doesn't count.

Am I the only one who notices his AMAZING use of alliteration? I really dont know how he does it.

There seems to be multiple story lines throughout the album. Two clear ones are A.) Anne Frank and B.) reincarnated conjoined twins. These two stories very well might merge. It's hard to say. I'm figuring all this out as I write it.

 As I piece the story together I find that the songs aren't in chronological order.  If we change the order of some of the songs, a through line begins to present itself.  So, this is me trying to understand the story of the conjoined twins and what, if anything that has to do with Anne Frank.  

1.)King of Carrot Flowers Part 2. The time before. Limbo. Purgatory. The rhythym here and the instrumentation create a feeling of being stuck in time. The lyrics are spiritual. "I love you Jesus Christ." Floating suspnended in a mother's womb.

2. Oh Comely "But now we move to feel For ourselves inside some strangers stomach Place your body here Let your skin begin to blend itself with mine"

   "Inside some strangers stomach" could be how someone reincarnated as a fetus could look at their present situation. The "let your skin begin to blend itself with mine" line could refer to growing together in the womb as conjoined twins.

3.) The King of Carrot Flowers part 3: "Up and over We go through the wave and undertow I will float until I learn how to swim Inside my mother in a garbage bin Until I find myself again, again"

The birth. Being birthed. The music here is frenetic and charging. The imagery in the lyrics as clear as any on the album. "Until I find myself again" referring to being reincarnated. The next two verses the baby (ies) getting older. The following three lines, one from each verse, takes us through the first few phases of life: "I will float until I learn how to swim I will spit until I learn how to speak I will shout until they know what I mean."
There is also something in the third verse about a "synthetic flying machine." I have no idea what this means. It's only of note because of another line in Oh Comely: "I wish I could save her in some sort of time machine." Are these thoughts related? I don't know.

4.) The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1: "When you were young you were the king of carrot flowers." This song also has some of the most straightforward lyrics on the album.

It's about two young people who shared a (shitty) childhood (twins? brother and sister?) and how they dealt with it (imagination, solace in each other, etc.) "And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder And dad would throw the garbage all across the floor As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for

And this is the room One afternoon I knew I could love you And from above you how I sank into your soul Into that secret place where no one dares to go" The two seemed to have shared a sexual relationship of some sort. (Also noteworthy but ambiguous is the referring to "your" mother, but when talking about the father, just saying "Dad".) It also could be that the mother and father in this song are talked about more in Oh Comely: "Your father made fetuses with flesh licking ladies, While you and your mother were asleep in the trailer park".

5.) In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: One song on the album that potentially seems like a stand alone, but if you listen to the lyrics with the conjoined twins theme in mind, there are some interesting connections: "What a beautiful face I have found in this place; Let me hold it close and keep it here with me. And one day we will die and our ashes will fly. Love to be in the arms of all I'm keeping here with me." Just a selection of lyrics from the song. Didn't to want to post all of them. Particularly of note, expecially when trying to build the conjoined twins theme is the last line above "love to be in the arms of all I'm keeping here with me."

6.) Two-Headed Boy: (the events in this song are out of chronology, much like the entire album) Upon first listening I assumed two-head boy to be symbolic for something else (someone consumed with sex, someone who's bi-polar, etc.) but I now see that it's possible the title is meant to be taken literally and the two-headed boy refers to a set of conjoined twins. In this light, I believe the second verse and the third verse are about the twins enjoying life and each other's company\falling in love:

"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 And in the dark we will take off our clothes... 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"

I believe the chorus is about the twins having surgery to seperate them (likely against their will) and one of the twins dies during the procedure:

"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"

The last line of the third verse also support this: "Made for his lover who's floating and choking with her hands across her face."

The first verse is a case of en media res. The song starts with the twin already dead and the boy being alone in his room, reaching out and trying to connect with her:

"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"

The fourth verse is the boy saying goodbye to his sister/love: "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"

6.) The Fool: A funeral dirge.

7.) Holland 1945: "The only girl I have ever loved...." and he then goes on to describe Anne Frank (but then they buried her alive with just her sister at her side and only weeks before the guns all came and rained on everyone) So if the narrator of this song is the same narrator from the first 5 songs, then it stands to reason that the only girl he ever loved is his twin and is also Anne Frank. So was Anne Frank reincarnated as his twin sister? Some lines that support this:

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: "Anna's ghost all around, Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me." Oh Comely: I wish I could save her in some sort of time machine. Ghost: Ghost, ghost I know you live within me I feel you as you fly In thunder clouds above the city Into one that I love" "And she was born in a bottle rocket, 1929" (Anne Frank was born in 1929 and died in 1945, just a couple of months before the allied forces invaded the beaches at Normandy i.e. only weeks before the guns all came and rained on everyone.)

(Also from Ghost) "With all that was left within me Until we tore in two Now wings and rings and there's so many Waiting here for you."

Until we tore in two could refer to their seperation talked about in two-headed boy.)

To be honest, this is just one possible theme in album with many themes. I haven't been able to really crack (yet) Oh Comely and Two Headed Boy part 2. I have a feeling that a lot of the answers to the mystery that is this album lie within those two songs.

Any thought? Do you agree there is a conjoined twins theme? Reincarnation? Is it meant to be taken literally or just symbolic? Share what you think. This is the most complex, layered album I have ever listened to, and I love that no matter how many times I've heard it, I discover something new with each listen.

Who could possibly decipher the stream of consciousness that flows from the mouth of Jeff Mangum? i have no idea what this song means, but it blows me away. it is such a powerful song in 2 movements. Jeff Mangum takes the ugly and makes it beautiful in an ugly way. there's a lot of talk of semen, death and reincarnation. but without a doubt, Neutral Milk Hotel is one of the most interesting and innovative bands I've ever heard.

If you turn about the volume very loudly, you hear at the end of the song a man in the background yell "holy shit!"

I think that about sums it up.

This could possibly be the greatest song I have ever heard in my entire 17 years of existence, not to mention the greatest band. Jeff Mangum is pure genius.

WOW. Does no one seriously get this? I'm not claiming to absolutely know what this song is about, but here's a wild guess: a random, trashy girl has sex with a man living a shit hole of a home with his family. She's insignificant, it seems, and their reltionship is purely sex out of desperation. I imagine he's older and disgusting and she's this 'bright, bubbly thing'.

"Your father made fetuses With flesh licking ladies While you and your mother Were asleep in the trailer park Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums The music and medicine you needed for comforting So make all your fat fleshy fingers to moving And pluck all your silly strings And bend all your notes for me Soft silly music is meaningful magical The movements were beautiful All in your ovaries All of them milking with green fleshy flowers While powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines Smelling of semen all under the garden Was all you were needing when you still believed in me "

The relaltionship is purely sexual trash. Perhaps the relationship broke off, hence 'when yous till believed in me' - when they're having the affair. The man is probably intensely obsessed with her, his sexual energy totally focused on this young girl. He wishes he could be with her 'save her in a time machine'.

Again, she's insignificant, 'buried with...500 families'. She's trash, just a person. But their primal, sexual connection left them together.

The Goldaline lines seem to be about Siamese twins, but perhaps his infatuation with her is maternal as well. It's almost Freud-like, a sexual, phallic obsession. The semen, the ovaries. It's so primal and natural. Impregnation, being a twin (being together forever [Siamese]), an affair in a bored marriage, obsession, a revival of youthful sexual hormones, 'know who your enemies are' (she has moved on from their affair). etc. more later.

Yeah, Anne Frank again. It's a concept album. Anne Frank is a constant throughout the entire thing. You can look in every song on Aeroplane and find some reference to Anne Frank. As to what this song means, give me a break, nobody knows. Mangum is fucking brilliant, and this song is simply beyond me or you. Yeah, there's plenty of ideas that make partial sense, but in the end, it's best to just sit back and listen to perhaps the greatest song you will ever hear. And for the record, Mangum is a fucking poet... just listen to all the wordplay going on, especially alliteration. This song blows my mind.

i believe that this song is an ironic juxtaposition between beauty and rancor/impurity. the title itself implies a certain degree of attraction and attachment to the serenaded. the lyrics, however, suggest sexual perversion. instead of reflecting the tenderness of the title, the lyrics and the contrasting imagery of natural beauty [the asexual reproduction of flowers]and human sexual corruption imply an inherent flaw in human nature. the emphasis upon the repulsion of the female sexuality suggests guilt, sexual repression, and/or bitterness on the part of the male narrator. the repitition of "pretty" and "beautiful" followed by unpleasant imagery and diction further cements this concept. even the most natural aspects of human nature can be, and are, perverted. this leads to the last couple stanzas which suggest an inhumane atrocity and further veil any purity in the human race, or so viewed by the speaker.

so, yeah, i think that's pretty much what the song is saying... heh.

Anne Frank and semen

ugh, this is such a terribly wonderful epic song.