At the neutral milk hotel?

I thought it would be easier to write about an album that I love so much.  The more I really care about something the more difficult it is for me to talk about it in plain English.  I think that is one of the main reasons poetry was developed in the first place.  People have such a difficult time expressing their deepest feelings they needed it to be invented to articulate their emotions.  At times this breeds ambiguity.  Deciphering the true significance behind a cryptic poem can strengthen emotional ties.  The ground work may, however, induce discouragement.  Allow me to take you back to my first thoughts upon listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's sophomore album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.   "Man his voice is high and nasally.  The production sucks.  All the songs seem like they would be super easy to play.  Why all the hype?  I thought this was supposed to be about Anne Frank..."   This album is not easy to love.  The meaning of the lyrics are not easy to discern.  The singing is distressing at best.  But man is it ever sincere.  It is not often that I can hear someone singing about God (other than a hymn) and not roll my eyes.  I cannot roll my eyes at Jeff Mangum.  I have tried.  I just can't.  He sounds so vulnerable, even fragile.  He constantly uses alliteration (song, sing, spark, scream) and assonance (please, hear, screams, bring, sleep) it seems to me as though he is wishing for days of playful innocence to return.  He says "When we break" not if.  Breaking is inevitable and God is literally the only thing left to give us hope.  I could go on describing the intricate metaphors and imagery in Two Headed Boy Pt. 2, but I do not think I will for this post.  Just read it, then listen to it, and if you want to really get it, listen to the album.


 Two Headed Boy Pt. 2 by Jeff Mangum

Daddy please, hear this song that I sing.
In your heart there's a spark that just screams,
For a lover to bring a child to your chest,
That could lay as you sleep and love all you have left,
Like your boy used to be, long ago,
Wrapped in sheets warm and wet.


Blister please, with those wings in your spine.
Love to be with a brother of mine.
How he'd love to find your tongue in his teeth,
In a struggle to find secret songs that you keep,
Wrapped in boxes so tight, sounding only at night as you sleep.

And in my dreams you're alive and you're crying,
As your mouth moves in mine, soft and sweet.
Rings of flowers round your eyes and I love you,
For the rest of your life (when you're ready).

Brother see, we are one in the same.
And you left with your head filled with flames,
And you watched as your brains fell out through your teeth.
Push the pieces in place.
Make your smile sweet to see.
Don't you take this away.
I'm still wanting my face on your cheek.

And when we break we'll wait for our miracle.
God is a place where some holy spectacle lies.
And when we break we'll wait for our miracle.
God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life.

Two-headed boy, she is all you could need.
She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires,
And retire to sheets safe and clean,
But don't hate her when she gets up to leave.