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Neutral Milk Hotel – Engine Lyrics 16 years ago
on the merge 10th anniversary recording it goes:

for i am an engine
and i'm rolling on
through endless revisions
to state what I mean
for sweetness alone that flew out through the window
and landed back home in a garden of green

you're riding alone in the back of a steamer
and steaming yourself in the warm shower spray
and water rolls on off the round captain's belly
who's talking to tigers from his cafeteria tray

and sweet babies cry for the cool taste of milking
that milky delight that invited us all
and if there's a taste in this life more inviting
then wake up your windows and watch as those sweet babies crawl
away
oooh
de de de de de de de de

submissions
Neutral Milk Hotel – Engine Lyrics 17 years ago
I'm pretty sure that in most versions, at least in the Merge Records aniverssary version it goes:

"for I am an engine and i'm rolling on,
through endless revisions, to state what i mean,
for sweetness alone who flew out through the window,
and landed back home in a garden of green."

to me, he means engine as a human, who just goes and goes and goes and continues, as is a human life. and as we try to convey who we are to the world, we revise ourselves and change as we grow and learn. this song should mean a different thing to each person, and I think it's a song that relates to every single person alive, for we are all engines

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