| The Shins – New Slang Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Amazing song, I\'m seeing the Shins in NYC tonight! It just fits better than any song and it\'s amazing when that happens. So good I can\'t even start to explain. | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I was really surprised someone described this as a "feel good" album...I would think of something a little more shallow and just happy...like early Beatles stuff could be a feel good album and althought this might make you feel good it's in a kind of bitter sweet way when you think about all the sad things about life they're talking about. I think it is about Anne Frank specifically, who could just represent any person who remains an idealist even when facing the bitter hateful realities of life. In the world of an idealist that is strong enough or whatever enough to believe good in the world the world can stay beautiful which is why this is a beautiful song (I think) "What a beautiful face I have found in this place That is circling all round the sun" I love how he uses "This place that is circling all round the sun" to describe Earth...very poetic. The beautiful face is Anne Frank or who she represents and it's amazing that he found her in "this place" when it was so full of sadness during WWII (or during just about any given time) "And one day we will die And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea But for now we are young Let us lay in the sun And count every beautiful thing we can see Love to be In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me " I think a common theme in this entire album that is also seen here is the escaping of the harsh realities being the only way to survive and be happy. But it's not just an escape, it's a way of living. Yeah, one day we'll all die but you just can't think about that all the time, for the moment you must believe things are good and promising so you can enjoy anything. "Now how I remember you How I would push my fingers through Your mouth to make those muscles move That made your voice so smooth and sweet " I think this could just be a weird/artistic way to describe the fact that Anne Frank was dead and therefor could not talk or share her story, but rather it was through her father's publishing of her diary and then even... Jeff's songs about her that made her "speak", she only was heard through other people making her voice heard. I think Jeff is in love with Anne Frank. Honestly. If not her he is in love with the idea of her. And the last verse is about dying and getting to meet her finally. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Love You More Than Life Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| It's I will sing a "sweet" surprise | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – Communist Daughter Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Ok...I had a very different idea about this song, closer to Electric Cucumber's idea. I think the communist daughter represents pure communism...the daughter being used to represent it because you might see a young girl as one who has not been corrupted yet. It is about an idealist trying to exist in a world of realism, capitalism, and greed and this idealist trying to hold on to the idea of communism, or at least a definition that includes peace, equality, caring about others, and sharing with everyone. During WWII, which if some of the ideas being said about Anne Frank being Jeff Mangum's muse makes sense that perhaps his songs take place during that time, I think the war is trying to chip away at the Communist Daughter, the Idealistic Representation of Communism and the Communist Daughter is still just their trying to exist when everything around her is falling apart. To me the first part had the same effect of Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night 7 o clock news where Simon and Garfunkel are singing Silent Night over top of a news caster reporting on the conflict in Vietnam and the assassination of Martin Luther King and all these terrible things. There's cars crashing and bombs being dropping, competition and greed causing countries to fight against each other and then there's this idea...the communist daughter...all by herself untouched (she is an idea) I always thought of the lines as just beautiful imagery but maybe it could mean more. I just can't think of Communist daughter as a slut because I don't think she would be described as sweet. Even if she did "share herself" with lots of people maybe she genuinely cared for them and it wasn't just a vulgar thing...although I agree with Elective Cucumber that the seamen could represent corruption (in more ways than one, obviously) |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Communist Daughter Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I always thought it was "She moves herself WITH OUT her fist" not "about her fist" | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – A Baby for Pree Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Another idea after look at the title... A Baby for Pree Perhaps she had abortion's early on with out thinking of the consequences, and when she grew and actually wanted a baby... "Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen Makes babies to breathe With their hearts hanging open" She finally did get pregnant when she wanted to be pregnant but this line foreshadows that the abortions of her past ended up destroying her ability to have babies come to full term in the future and she miscarries in the bathroom... "It made her swallow all her sweat" and then she comes to realize all those babies she aborted in the past is why she can't have one when she really wants one and now, the swallowing all her sweat is her being forced to swallow the reality and consequences of her actions and which is why she swims with them all forever more, all the babies she made but never had. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – A Baby for Pree Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Agree with alot of this but has anyone ever considered it could possibly a miscarriage? So far, it could be a woman that DID have her babies or that aborted them, or I think a miscarriage as well, although it seems less likely that Jeff Mangum would write about that but who knows, I mean I don't know him.. It's hard to tell which it is but there are some interesting things to point out either way "Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen Makes babies to breathe With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets " This part is hard because Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen is a pregnant person, and most abortion occur before any signs like blisters, and swelling, but she's smiling too. Because she's ignorant or because she's happy? Makes babies to breath with their hearts hanging open...god, what imagery it makes me want to cry but it does sound like abortion, and so sad the way she makes them with abortion as birthcontrol, aborting them before their hearts have developed. But that still be because of miscarriage, although the miscarriage could have occured because she was too young or not ready to give birth or not getting proper care because it was an accidental pregnancy "They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating Till wonderfully wet she will get Until she's soaked inside her clothes And there is no sorry to be sorry for For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft" This does show that it was probably an accidental pregnancy, it evokes the idea of a girl and a guy having sex, just a "roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft". They'll sting through her chest...if she aborted the baby this could be her conscience, or it could be why she decided not to have an abortion and still be her conscience. Or it could be the lust before they had sex, the force hard and beating being her reason why it was ok to have sex. "It made her swallow all her sweat With every bit of breath she coughs And when the day it came to pour all her babies All across the bathroom floor She will be swimming in them all forever more" Sounds alot like a difficult pregnancy to me. Like maybe she was trying to hide that she was pregnant and one day in the bathroom she gave birth and miscarried. It could have killed Pree and the baby, or maybe that's why baby is always plural, as a multiple childbirth with out care would be more likely to end in a miscarriage. If it killed both her and her babies perhaps she died on the bathroom floor with them, and that's why she will be swimming with them everymore. I could feel Fugazi's idea as well, the lone woman giving birth in a trailor trash home, or the conscience finally and hopefully catching up to a woman who has had multiple abortions, but however I think I'll judge Pree a little less harshly and consider the miscarriage idea as well. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 and 3 Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This was the song that first turned me on the NMH. We used to hang out in a friends "house" that was actually a garage behind his parent's house in highschool. His dad was a theology major and the garage's downstairs was just wall to wall bookcases full of nothing but books about god. Being that athiest/agnostic I was me and the kid would get in lots of debates about everythough, though I believe he was an agnostic as well, he put this song on (I had never heard NMH) and I was like "Woah...what the hell is this!?" I think he expected me to be sarcastic or teasing but I think I first described it in my ignorance to all the lyrics as totally amazing (especially after hearing how Jeff Mangum really thought of Jesus in the album's insert) and the first thing I said was "This is so cool...it's about Jesus but it sounds like a Hindu chant or something! What a great mix" Now...on to the real meaning (or what I have interpreted) I think Jesus Christ is seen as human in this. Not as in half human half deity but really human. Jesus was just like us, like all humans, and all humans are like him, so perhaps he represents any individual in humanity...just a guess... "Up and over we go Through the wave and undertow I will float until I learn how to swim Inside my mum in a garbage bin Until I find myself again again oh oh" I loved how someone mentioned earlier about how the song for part three gets fast paced and they compare it to... dun dun dun... A BIRTH! That's because it is a birth! It could be litterally or metaphoricall, or after being a birth it could just be life as that very same process of being created and creating ourselves...look at the lines... "Through the wave and undertow I will float until I learn how to swim" This could be representative of just an egg or a sperm or something (to get real ridiculously literal, although this isn't the main point that's supposed to get across) but ALSO, think about it...you start out in life just a little kid who doesn't know what to do and everything is done for you and once you grow and learn a little bit you start to figure things out and be able to do stuff for yourself...before that...you're floating until you learn out to swim, and can control a bit of your own life. "Inside my mum in a garbage bin Until I find myself again again oh oh"" "Inside my mum" makes this literal meaning of the birth process so literal...but the garbage bin part...woah. That brings us back to Jesus Christ...who was born in what? A stable? Where the animals lived? And his first bed was a manger? Basically a dog bowl. And it's kind of funny because think of this diety, the holy beautiful thing (that could either be jesus or just any baby before it is born and introduced to the flaws of world...it is still perfect) being born in to a world being described as a garbage bin, full of flaws and trash. Until I find myself again brings us to how life is just the birth over and over again, or learning and creating oneself and all the identities one might take and all the rough patched between those times when we know who we are. "Up and over we go Mouths open wide and spitting still And I will spit until I learn how to speak Up thru the doorway as the sideboards creek With them ever proclaiming me me ohh" "I will spit until I learn how to speak" parrallels the I will float until I learn how to swim, only floating verse swiming differs from spitting vs speaking because speaking means you are actually creating something else. You are putting together words and ideas. It's more of a complex action than action (swimming) alone. Or at least that's how I saw it. Obviously the proclaiming him part brings us back to this be Jesus Christ. But you can think of way that it could be a metaphor, I'm sure. "With them ever proclaiming me me ohh Up and over we go The weight it sits on down and I don't know I will shout until they know what I mean " When these parts are put together it's almost the crisis...Jesus's crisis as well as many people's crisis, of not exactly being understood. Those proclaiming him saying things about him, they don't know exactly what he means, perhaps...think of maybe he's not claiming to be the son of god, and they're saying this, and he's shouting, he's just trying to be understood. And isn't that a universal problem? The attempt to be understood when everyone wants to take what you say how they want to take it? "I mean the marriage of a dead dog sing and a synthetic flying machine machine" Haha, I may talk alot of talk, but I honestly am not sure what this means. My only guess is synthetic flying machine is the resurection still being what everyone wants to believe but what he really means is that's synthetic, but I have no clue. It probably means something much better and clearer than that. The fact that it was originally titled that just throws me off completely. Maybe I'm not supposed to get it and it's still the point that I'm sitting here trying to understand someone else when it's impossible and that's the whole point. Aren't we all just a bunch of hipocrites. Haha. Another thing that is intersting is that King of Carrot Flowers part 1 is said to be based on Anne Frank who was Jewish and this part starts off with "I love you Jesus Christ" when the separation between those that believed and those that did not was what got her in to the situation she was in that caused her to possibly be Jeff's muse in the first place. Maybe Jeff really is just laughing as was said early, why we try to depict what he means when one of the points of this song is that "we" don't. Who knows...any thoughts? |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I agree with alot of the things being said. Where I've never heard the Anne Frank thing before (although it sounds familar so I'm sure someone told me in passing) I get the main ideas in the song and feel they're simalar... It seems the first verse is as someone earlier said, just little kids playing make believe, however I don't think many serious song writters, especially those as good as Jeff Mangum would have anything with out a specific reason so I'm still open to interpretation there. I think part of it is escapism, so that it could be a little kids but others who aren't young can relate... it's escaping from the "realities" of life where you really can believe you are the king of carrot flowers. I think "king" and building a "tower" is used to offer some control over something, even if it's make believe, when in the "real world" they don't have control over anything. "And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder And your dad would throw the garbage all across the floor As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for " This is one of the first things that grabbed my attention, it's very beautiful and eerie. Especially the concludion of "learn what each other's bodies were fore" because from the first two lines, where the parents are obviously unhappy and fighting to the point that they're fighting, you'd the the "children" (or just the speaker) would learn this violence because that's how they see bodies being used, however with this other person, his/her friend, they lay and learn separatly from the parents. "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" From above you how I sank into your soul into that secret place where no one dares to go is an absolutely amazing line. Yes, it is obviously sexual...from above sinking into that secret place, that an the earlier line about learning what each others bodies were for show that these "friends" have a discovering phyical relationship and I think it's important and wonderful when you think about us as human being, it's what we do, we are physical people and touching another person in this way is what we were made for and as much as our souls crave fulfilment I believe our bodies do too. (If you contrast this to song against sex, you'll see the important differences in the way sex is discribed...something beautiful when there is love or care involved, and something crude when it is with out) And then the emotional aspect of sharing souls, that secret place where no one dares to go is the emotional intimacy that can be very scary. Very few people really 'know' each other like that, very few dare to go there, but that afternoon where he knew he could love her...that intimacy comes from this beautiful love... ...this beautiful love within a world, their world, or any world that can seem so depressing and violent. (Another way I can see that this song could most definetly be based on Anne Frank) "And dad would dream of all the different ways to die Each one a little more than he could dare to try' Another very eerie and beautiful line in the song... it seems outright depressing and in way it is, but with the last line their is a little glimmer of hope, although it depends on how you look at it. Obviously the "parents" (or whatever they may represent) are the saddest most broken characters in this song that on a literal level serve as a contrast to the friends. Though the dad is a very sad and broken man who dreams of all the different ways to die, each one is a little more than he could dare to try... it is not human nature to kill oneself. If you try to hold your breath, you will pass out and start breathing again before you could suffocate yourself. The dad dreams of these ways he would never dare to try because he doesn't really want to die. Maybe he feels this was but what he would probably really prefer would be to see the beauty that the "children" see, and have the world be the beautiful place they escape to instead of the grim reality of the situation before them. Very nicely it shows that love can spring in any situation. So there's hope. Beautiful song! |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Sweet Marie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I don't understand all of it. Like why "raspberry" sunshine. I don't think anything is written with out a reason, or it very rarely is. Do you really think raspberry sunshine was just the way to describe the sunshine because it sounded good or is their a real reason. If anyone has an ideas, please post! | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – Sweet Marie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think this is a song about life and living and any connection between two people that might be possible with in this life and consciencness that we as human beings are able to have. "Everything is made of water Seeping deep within your soul And as you’re sleeping safe tomorrow The flowers in your heart will overflow" I think "Everything is made of water" is refering to every influence in your enviroments effect on your life. Everything you see, everything you are a part of, EVERYTHING effects what you know and how you interpret the world and who you are, and you indentity and life is represented by the flowers in your heart. The more you take in the more you grow (perhaps) "Sweet Marie with your raspberry sunshine Won’t you take me where I’ve never known" This gets a little existential. The first verse makes it clear that every influence we experience in life makes us who we are, and it's a very personal and individual thing because no one else has the exact same influences (they can't, no one else has lived the exact same life). So when you meet someone else it's kind of like you live in two different worlds. So this second verse is a request that someone else might share their influence "take me where I've never known" that's their life, their influences, that they could have never known. "I love you, love you, love you, love you, love you Like the weeds grow in my mind I know you, know you like the wind as it's blown" The idea of love is hard to understand and define in a world where everyone is so separate, however I think Jeff Magnum is suggesting that a "love" is possible. Think about when you've ever loved someone...you think about them all the time. SOON, THEY become an influence on who you are, just by knowing them. They too...are "water" and the flowers in your hearts that grew are growing but the mention of weeds is interesting. Weeds aren't something you want. Your flowers are something that is all you. The weeds is the other person's influence. It's not necessarily bad (are dandilions) but it's something different than the flowers you grew on your own. "Dream of me when the day sings of sunshine Dream of me when your lucks gone away I’ll show you, show you, show you, show you, show you How the snow falls in your mind I know you, know you’re gonna find it some day" It's another request to be as much a part of the other person as they are a part of him. You become an influence in someone's life in the flower in their heart just by being in it and effecting them and having them think about you or... "dream" of you. "The fall" he talks about could be "falling in love". It is hard, and for some people who are really individual and appreciate of their solitude, it can be scary because maybe they don't WANT someone to influence them. So the speaker is saying that it isn't as hard, and love will soon define a place to grow...the weeds will be flowers too...this love, this influence on who someone is can be good. "Lonely child of dreams Won’t you ever dream of me Won’t you love me like a ship Setting sail upon the sea And don’t you ever feel afraid Of falling like a hate parade Hoping someone will love you Someone will love you soon Lonely child of eyes Won’t you ever follow me Into an evening sky Into a make believe Where hands they hold on true And flowers blow tiny balloons And no ones lonely When no one is an only one" I feel like I'm writing too much, but I think this kind of shows the existentialism in the song. Lonely child of dreams is a reference to this person one is requesting the love from, because they are still alone in their own world with out his influence, and unless the person lets the speaker's influence effect them, unless they "dream of" him he can not be water to the flowers in her soul. He worries her loniliness and desire to stay along can cause her to fall in to a nihilistic hate perhap (the hate parade) and that deep down she really wants someone to love her and for her to love them back. Perhaps the snow falls in her mind mentioned in the second verse is the speaker saying that she is confused about this aspect of life and he wants to show her love. Following someone in to a land of make-believe is interesting because if everything is personal and in a way, in your head, it is kind of make-believe, but it's all you know. To attempt to combine and be one with someone who has not had the same life as you is impossible, but trying is similar to love, trying to become one would have to begin with make believe that it's possible...where hands they hold on true is more imagery of love...where no one is lonely. "The sun will fall The day will fade And I will join the hate parade And I will love a heart untrue That's slipping softly from my room" In the end the person being pursued never gives in. The speaker has speant all this time letting them influence them and letting them be "water" to the weeds in his heart and he never meant something to her "a heart untrue" so perhaps existential love is impossible, he joins the nihilistic hate parade he thought she would become a part of and it all ends. Just a thought...I love this one...The everything is made of water part is my favorite. Listen to NMH sober or stoned....it's an amazing experience either way. I think music like this you have to really really sit down and listen to and have it be the main focus, it's definetly not backround music (although it could be, but it wouldn't be as appreciated as it should that way) |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Song Against Sex Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Woah, I don't know if I think the same as anyone else, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right just by looking at the title of this very song... SONG AGAINST SEX! People call it an anti-drug song, and maybe there are a few anti-drug lines ("don't take those pills your boyfriend gave you" and "all the drugs that I don't have the guts to take to free my mind") but MAINLY it is against sex...it's not against making love or ALL sex, he's against loveless sex for the pure purpose of pleasure...he's against everything that is a facade and everything that isn't real (which could include drug induced feelings) Look at the first stanza...it's about losing your virginity. One of the best lines in this is "Lost like a bell that's tipping over with two cracks along the side" Can a bell that's cracked ever ring again? No! Can you get your virginity back after you lose it? No! Wonderful metaphor. Anyway, so at first (as seen in the first verse) it's all young and it's the loss of innocence. "And the first one tore a picture of a dead and hanging man Who was kissing foreign fishes who flew right out from his hands" AND WHO IS IS A FISHERMEN OF FOREIGN FISHES? WHO WOULD BE KISSING THEM? WHO IS DEAD AND HANGING AND WHY WOULD ANYONE HAVE A PICTURE OF A DEAD AND HANGING MAN?" Simple...it's Jesus. And Christianity is clearly against pre-marital sex, so the tearing of the picture of Jesus is an act of rebellion against that. The fished flying right out from his hands is the idea that even though Jesus cared about everyone, he has no control over them, and like the person in this song, whose act of rebelion is sex, they're just flying away. So the next few lines are all about the lust and "crush" and "attraction" of the lost of virginity, and sometimes the possesiveness it creates "enough to wrap tight in rice paper string" and that the possessiveness is the first sign that this isn't actually love... The second verse is coming to terms with two disapointments that paralel each other. Love and Life. First this "love" that was so exciting, isn't really and isn't carrying through. It's all a show "flower stands" "pretty girls and their burning men hanging out on the hooks in the window display" and life is the same way...everything that was thought to be real, if it's not real it just won't carry through, and it's a dissapointment that can be so overwhelming, there's no reason to live. The third verse brings it full circle with the parrallels between the first lines of the first verse and the first lines of the third. "And the last one tore a pictures from a pornographic page And all the pleasure points attacking All the looks of love were stage" You can get to a point where you have sex as much as you want...you know how to stimulate a person so that they have the most physical pleasure, but with out love that's ALL you have. You can have the best sex in the world...but it ends there. The looks of love were staged is the way some people my try to have sex to convince themselves that they are in love. And the more you try to convince yourself of something that isn't true (the reoccuring underlying theme here is against fakeness) the more it hurts you and the deeper you get in to a lie the harder it is to get out. "So why should I lie here naked when it's just too far away from anything we could call loving any love worth living for so I'll sleep out in the gutter you can sleep here on the floor" Once it's realized that the "love" or meaning you gave something is fake, it's natural to after enough contemplation want nothing to do with it. It hurts. This lie of sex as love is so far away from real love that once you get too far you can't go back, and when one sees this it's so disturbing that sleeping out in the gutter is worth it just to be far away from it. And eventually all fake things will end. This is a song against sex...or maybe to be a little more clear... This is a song against fucking. This song is saying that fucking is not the same as love. Everyone saying it's an anti-drug song...first and foremost it's against sex, you might be able to claim it's indirectly an anti-drug song or secondly it's an anti drug song (because it's against fake things that people try to convince themselves are real) but the ironic thing is that I finally figured out what this song was about after smoking a crucial amoung of marijuana. Ciao, Mary |
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