Neutral Milk Hotel – Communist Daughter

General CommentI think communist in this song represents the idea of sharing everything. In combination with songs like "Oh, Comely", you get the idea of a girl being used, and used by many people. She's passed between people, like a prostitute, as if she is one of the possessions the communists' share. The idea that the mountain tops are her breasts continues this...she's used and then left, and she has to see if she's still alive in the only way she knows to be alive--as a sexual object.

That's my take on it, anyway.

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  @FayeValentine

General CommentI think the song is about rape. when it says Proves that she must still exist, She moves herself about her fist i think it means that she is upset but has to move on.

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  @empty_desk_seat
  +1

  Jeff Mangum said in an interview that this album was mean to be healing, and specifically mentioned a friend who had been molested by her father all her life.

  Flag zxcvbnm852on September 30, 2009  

General CommentI think the only useful thing my English teacher ever taught me, when I was doing poetry in high-school, was that after the poet has made his work public, it's meaning is no longer up to him. Whoever reads it creates the meaning - and the by-product of that is the fact that the piece is going to mean something different to everyone. The lyrics are going to have different connotations for everyone, and it's possible that Mangum is deliberately vague when it comes to explaining the meanings to his songs for this reason.

In the words of one of my favourite comedians, Dennis Miller, “The only thing separating holy writ from complete bullshit is your perspective. It’s your only weapon, keep the safety off”

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  @Electrical_Cucumber
  0

  Yes, finally!

  Flag Cortanaon March 14, 2013  

General CommentAnyone ever read 1984?

in it this girl named julia sort of used sex as her own way to rebel against an oppressive, omnipotent government.

I dunno, just popped into my head with all this talk about sex and communism.

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  @bluegrimlin2

My InterpretationThe song Communist Daughter is about use and abuse basically. A girl who is passed around like a prostitute to everyone (a reference to ideals on possession of communism) to do as they want with to the point that this becomes her only reality. The mountain tops are obviously her breasts, as well as illustrating what a "high" state an orgasm can put you in, making you feel alive and on top of the world, and the whole song plays on sexual themes because thats what her world has become. It plays on the idea that many girls try to find love and connection through sex. She wants to prove that she exists to a world that has seemingly forgotten or is simply not interested in her, and she does this in the only way she knows or feels is working, through sex.

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  @MrBigChees

General CommentIt is correct to analyze created works by what they are seen to do rather than according to an artist claims to intend.

The artist in this lyric befuddles listeners - hides intentions behind surreal phrases. At the outset the artist attempts to shock an idealized mainstream by identifying with an idealized foe of the current mainstream.

Reference to semen is another crude effort to shock readers who fail to join the artists hastily constructed proletariat - at once violating sensibilities of privacy with a notion that the writer knows better what is suited for public discourse, imposing the seed of his desire upon any who here, and implying esoteric knowledge - albeit void of any discernible meaning other than that of crude graffiti that creates group identity among vandals who spray walls with obscure messages.

We know the artist is not naive to political ideologies because he performs in politicized venues. In the most general sense, the artist claims a right to define communism as he sees it, then uses it as a garment to dress a person's best hopes for the future - as represented by the concept "daughter." This idealized daughter seeks to satisfy herself, but uses the fist - an allusion to force and violence -- that proves to her she still exists.

It is easy to get the sense that the song is about rape. The male artist constructs an idealized female to which he can do as he pleases - dress her in the communist attire that satisfies his sense of rebellion, ejaculate publicly on her fictional mountains, and act as a puppeteer who causes her to masturbate for his gratification.

In the final analysis, the song speaks to the reasons young people identify with some political ideals - not because the ideal makes sense to them, but because they feel empowered by embracing an ideal "better than yours" then enjoying the support of a peer mob to impose their ideals on what they see as an oppressive society. It is a society in which they failed to find the rewards and prestige they sought, so they set out in search of wealth, prestige and exclusive status in their own self-styled proletariat.

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  @joansky44

General CommentI think this is a beautiful, profound, albeit strange song about sexual discovery and loneliness. I can't speak for the meaning of the song as a whole, but I think at least one of the sections of the song refers to Anne Frank.

As most people know, this album is largely about the tragic life of Anne Frank, who had to hide in secrecy during the Holocaust. She had to keep quiet and isolated for a long period of time, something that would surely bring feelings of loneliness and disconnection from the world. Furthermore, she was at the age of sexual discovery (early teens), so to have little contact with human beings, let alone intimacy, would surely be very difficult. Thus she "bends toward herself" and "moves herself about her fist" - references, I believe, to masturbation - to "prove that she must still exist." How poetically sad can you get? She needs to feel intimacy and human love, but due to her isolation and confinement she turns to herself for those feelings. I teared up writing this. Kudos to Jeff for creating such a beautiful depiction of longing for intimacy.

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  @logan59

General Commentas usual, i don't claim to know what i'm talking about, and this song is very figurative and strange. the only lines i can try to decipher are "and wanting something warm and moving...moves herself about her fist." perhaps the writer speaks of a lonliness that someone feels and metaphorically masturbates to prove that she is still a person, still alive, still existing. i don't know.

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  @subverted0

General Commentdo you think communist might stand for her personality trait..? that reference always made me curious

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  @xnathanlanex

General CommentI was thinking the same thing. Except, the entire Communist reference, I think, just shows that she is different and misunderstood. I mean, let's face it, there aren't many Communists around. And since she feels so misunderstood, she has taken the casual sex/masturbation route to prove that she still feels, as opposed to cliche cutting. The mountain tops are a metaphor for her breasts, I think, which would sound silly and childish, except for the fact that most people wouldn't get this far in an interpretation. But, I could be/probably am wrong. At least I still have my looks...

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  @i'macliche