In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Lyrics

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
Soft and sweet
Let me hold it close and keep it here with me

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

What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anna's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees

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
And now we keep where we don't know
All secrets sleep in winter clothes
With one you loved so long ago
Now we don't even know his name

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
And when we meet on a cloud
I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all
Song Info
Copyright
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Writer
Jeff Mangum
Duration
3:22
Submitted by
planes On Nov 26, 2001
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163 Meanings

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Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

<i> 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 </i>

that's one of my favourite lyrics of all time. this song is just so wonderful. its message is to live in the present, and enjoy everything in life to the fullest, rather than worrying about the future, and how wonderful the simplicity of life can be.

Its about a spiritual connection with Anne Frank, reincarnation, realization, memorization, and the knowing that there is much more than a physical existence on earth(: reread paragraphs une, deux, trois and cinq

Not Valid
Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

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.

Right on, Rainsong, I think you nailed it.

Not Valid
Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

I don't know if "optimistic" is really how I'd describe the lyrics - haunting perhaps since the central metaphor of the song is of a dead girl who was exterminated by the Nazis. Her diary has become world famous since, even after enduring two years in hiding in Amsterdamn, even after members of her family were taken to Auschwitz, she still wrote of her belief in the basic goodness of mankind. The images of floating on clouds after death, laughing, having our ashes scattered from an "aeroplane" instead of an "airplane", make me think that he's talking about anachronistic thought - i.e. that the beauty of life is a mirage, nothing more than an adolescent imagining. By putting his fingers into the mouth of a young girl who is now a ghost, he forces her to speak soft and sweet - that is he gets her to say what he wants to hear, he controls her voice so that all of her horrific secrets can sleep in winter clothes, i.e. hibernate, be pushed to the back of their minds while they are happy and young. The song becomes atonal, it breaks down into nothing but sound and then suddenly we're back to the beginning stanza but the dream is over, it has flashed on the screen and is gone, but it was never there, it was only in his mind (on a "screen"), and you cannot hold onto a dream. It's as meaningless as floating on a cloud and laughing. Nothing in this song actually exists except the strange muscles of Anna's mouth and his fingers. We are "nothing at all." And it is all told under the guise of such sweet refrains, that is while we are alive we must believe in the beauty of life, we have to fool ourselves and let those images sleep in winter clothes. Or as Mr. S said, "We are the stuff that dreams are made of." Without those dreams we "aren't anything at all."

My Interpretation

That's really beautiful

@athenamuses I know this is an old comment, but "Amsterdamn"?

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

everything.

exactly.

Not Valid
Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

also..a famous anne frank quote is.."in spite of everything, i still believe that people really are good at heart." sorry if i botched that.

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

maybe it's just on my computer but the lyrics

'what a curious life we have found here tonight there is music that sounds from the street there are lights in the clouds'

are missing from the beginning of the third verse

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

i really cannot believe how strange it is to be anything at all.

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

So I'm saying this is one of the best love songs in the world.

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

Best Love Song Ever no one comes close, or ever will.

Cover art for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea lyrics by Neutral Milk Hotel

this is song is most deffinatly about hope, and finding the beauty in both life and death that we so often overlook and take for granted. Jeff Mangum often spoke of often having dreams about Anne Frank and her family. And how he believed Anne Frank was in a strange way connected to him. 'Anna's ghost all around'