Candy Coated Dream

Haha. I think it's "EYES of green", but I guess he could be talking about some Incredible Hulk type figure.

Anyway, I think the song is about the illusion of happiness, or a child's idea of it, particularly one coming from a bad situation. Maybe referencing a child who grows up in a violent or tumultuous household, their fantasies and dreams of escape, possibly through death on occasion, but never being able to make that decision, ending up just living a very internal and isolated life. Perhaps someone who is stuck in childlike state in adulthood, while the world and all its problems continues on around them.

Well he's obviously dealing with some sort of aleiniation from his family, but he wants to hang one.

and will you hang up high a family portrait smile ... this figure i will frame a life without a name but this thought i proclaim i'm just romancing now I'm only chancing now

So he's hanging up a family photo thats really empty and meaningless to him, but he is taking the chance to romanitize his fmaily life that isn't there.

The solo at the end is so happy and uplifting while the lirics end on what feelings to me to be a minor note, it's very uplifting.

This song makes me smile and brings back great memories for me, its the first neutral milk hotel song I ever heard;

Does anyone know in what album this song is in?

None, it's a demo :( So it was never officially released, luckily enough some guy ripped it from cassette and put it into mp3 format and shared it with us!

this is the first NMH song i heard, and i fell in love from here.

the idea of a "candy coated dream" suggests that he's romanticising aspects of his life, to make them seem more appealing and to ignore the less desirable things "cracks that follow you and me" in favour of the sweeter and simpler images "toy guitar that's out of tune/eyes fixed on morning-time cartoons"

perhaps the narration is on about romanticising childhood as the first commenter said, and the later parts "will you kiss my child/as she is dancing now" and "the cracks that follow you and me" are about how now he's older and knows he didn't have the best past he wants to provide that for his family and lover because his past are the cracks that follow him and threaten to repeat themselves?

i'm not sure, but it is a lovely song. :)

I think this is about a dream of a life with the someone you love. It's romanticizing about being with that person forever and having a wonderful, happy, candy-coated life and then knowing that things probably won't end up that way.

That's my take on it, at least.

I thought the meaning of this was pretty straight forward in that he's had a daughter with a woman whom he loves but she no longer loves him, and wants to seperate, so his dreams of a family ar dashed, and he fears for his daughter's stability because of this void "And her life will fall between The cracks that follow you and me "

And as he says, hanging up the portrait of the family smile is just him romancing, chancing, a candy coated dream.

This song was released on the "Everything Is" EP, but on there, it's titled "Unborn". That title makes me think maybe its about a miscarriage or abortion.