Origins
Jeff Mangum was a member of The Olivia Tremor Control, along with his friend Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, appearing on their first release, the California Demise 7".
Prior to recording for friends under the NMH moniker, Mangum recorded at least one cassette under the name Milk: the only known tape was called Pygmie Barn in E Minor. This is the earliest known recordings that Mangum initiated and executed himself, on the cover there is "all songs: j.m '89. art: w. cullen hart". There is only an estimated dozen or so copies ever made of this tape, none of which have been made public. The tracklist etc. are also unknown.
Neutral Milk Hotel began life in Ruston, Louisiana, United States in the early 1990s, simply as a recording project for Mangum. He produced several demo cassettes, among them 1991's Invent Yourself a Shortcake, 1992's Beauty and 1993's Hype City Soundtrack, along with two more from this period, seemingly unnamed. Although easily found on the internet, these demos capture the project at a very embryonic state: songs are played in between various sound collages and tape experiments, and even, at one point, a six minute conversation between Mangum and Hart.
During this period, Mangum was wandering the country, staying in the closets of friends, and in a state of permanent unemployment. It was in these circumstances that the band's first formal releases took shape. Strictly speaking, however, the 'band' usually consisted of Mangum and whoever else was present at the time. This is obvious on Neutral Milk Hotel's first release, a 7" entitled Everything Is, recorded when Mangum was spending time in Seattle, Washington, released on Cher Doll Records in 1994.
On Avery Island
A full album, On Avery Island, followed, this time recorded mainly in Denver, Colorado, where Mangum was backed by Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo, Rick Benjamin of the Perry Weissman Three and Lisa Janssen of Secret Square. Merge Records released it in 1996. On On Avery Island, Mangum's unique vocal style and the band's quirky but playful arrangements create a carnival atmosphere of moods ranging from excitement, suspense, and melodrama.
After the release of On Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel became a fully-fledged band, as Julian Koster, Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes joined Mangum, the band now being based in New York. Soon after this, they moved to Athens, Georgia, where many of Mangum's friends had begun to settle, and the Elephant 6 recording company began, fully, to take shape. After this, the band went back to Denver, to record a proper follow up to On Avery Island.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The band's second LP, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998, is notable as a critically acclaimed work and a widely popular recording. It is a spiritually motivated work, conceptually based on the beauty to be found in the horrific fate of Anne Frank and similarly overwhelming tragedies. (Mangum has, during live performances, including the one released under the title "Live at Jittery Joe's", described some of the songs off this album as based on urgent, recurring dreams he had of a European family during the 1940s.) The album was highly praised by critics for its wildly inventive instrumentation and Mangum's provocative and impassioned lyrics. Although it met with scant response from the general public when it was released, the recording has continued to gain momentum in indie music circles and has become a cult classic, selling well over 100,000 copies according to Merge Records. However, the record along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it took its toll on Mangum. The band quite abruptly went on hiatus turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for R.E.M.. All of a sudden, the band appeared to go silent and very little has been heard from Mangum since 1999.
Hiatus
Although all the members are still active with one another in other projects, it is unknown whether any more Neutral Milk Hotel albums will be released. There were plans to release a Neutral Milk Hotel rarities album on the Orange Twin label; however, after an announcement in 2005 on the Orange Twin website claiming that Jeff Mangum had in fact eventually decided against the project, it is unclear if this will ever happen.
There has been, however, some activity since In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. First, Orange Twin re-released Everything Is...., complete with extra bonus tracks, as well as Live at Jittery Joe's, a bootleg recording of a show Mangum played in a coffee house in Athens in 1997. The Major Organ and the Adding Machine album, a rather secretive project released by Orange Twin in 2001 and consisting mainly of experimental musical collage, features Mangum, along with Julian Koster, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, Elf Power's Andrew Reiger and the Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System's Will Cullen Hart and Eric Harris. There was also the release of Orange Twin Field Works, Vol. 1, Mangum's field recording of a Bulgarian folk festival, also on Orange Twin in 2001. Additionally, he plays drums on the first Circulatory System album.
Since the start of the hiatus Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum has only played live properly again once, under the pseudonym 'World of Wild Beards, Inc.', at the Kings Arms pub in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of the Tall Dwarfs' Chris Knox. He has also made appearances with Elf Power, and appeared onstage at the first of The Olivia Tremor Control's New York shows on their 2005 reunion tour, to sing briefly. Further releases from Neutral Milk Hotel, however, are indicated to be unlikely.
The other members are all still releasing or recording material: Julian Koster as The Music Tapes, Scott Spillane as The Gerbils and Jeremy Barnes as A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Bablicon and Marta Tennae.
In 2005, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea saw its re-release by Domino Records in the UK, in a sleeve featuring praise from, among others, Franz Ferdinand and The Arcade Fire, both very much influenced by the band. On Avery Island was re-released in the US in January of 2006 with live bonus tracks. Mangum has also been fairly busy creatively - following a charity auction on eBay of an acoustic guitar decorated by Mangum himself, more guitars hand-decorated by Mangum were sold via Orange Twin Records for $900 apiece. In addition, a number of Mangum's original drawings, this time costing only $10 each, were sold via Neutral Milk Hotel's website.
In 2013, made a reunion tour of the United States, Australia, Taiwan and Japan. The band subsequently played concerts sporadically until going on indefinite hiatus in mid-2015.
06 Holland 1945
Neutral Milk Hotel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening in 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
On empty rings around the sun
I'll sing to say my dream has come
But now we must pack up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart
But now we must pack up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentations in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces filled with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes
The lyrics to Holland by Neutral Milk Hotel describe the tragic love story between the singer and a girl who died in the war. The girl was special to the singer because she was born "with roses in her eyes," which could symbolize innocence, purity, and beauty. Sadly, the girl was buried alive in 1945, possibly by bombing or other attacks during the war. The singer mourns her loss and imagines her reincarnated as a little boy playing fiery pianos in Spain, on empty rings around the sun. This may be a metaphor suggesting that her spirit is still alive, but has been reborn into a new form.
The song then takes a darker turn, with the singer acknowledging that they must pick up the pieces of the life they used to love, and carry on even though everything has fallen apart. The singer references a "circus wheel" that they ride with the "dark brother wrapped in white," possibly alluding to death. The "comet's flame" and the view of Earth from a star suggest that this dark brother is now traveling through space and will never return. The song ends with a description of a room where the singer's brothers were born, but now their bodies no longer move. The singer laments that the world would rather see their faces "fill with flies" instead of keeping them pure and beautiful like the girl with roses in her eyes. This could be interpreted as commentary on the futility of war and the destruction of innocence and beauty.
Line by Line Meaning
The only girl I've ever loved
The singer has only ever loved one person.
Was born with roses in her eyes
The girl the singer loved was special.
But then they buried her alive
The beloved girl was buried alive.
One evening 1945
The girl was buried in 1945.
With just her sister at her side
The girl's only companion during her burial was her sister.
And only weeks before the guns
The burial occurred close to the time of war.
All came and rained on everyone
War broke out and affected everyone.
Now she's a little boy in Spain
The girl is now reincarnated as a little boy in Spain.
Playing pianos filled with flames
The boy is playing burning pianos.
On empty rings around the sun
The boy is playing on a celestial plane.
All sing to say my dream has come
The event is a fulfillment of a previous dream by the singer.
But now we must pick up every piece
The artist and his companions must pick up the fragments of their lives.
Of the life we used to love
The singer is gathering what's left of a life they once loved.
Just to keep ourselves
They are doing this in order to persevere.
At least enough to carry on
They're gathering the pieces to be able to continue living.
And now we ride the circus wheel
The artist and his companions move forward in life.
With your dark brother wrapped in white
The artist has a deceased brother.
Says it was good to be alive
The deceased brother lived his life with purpose and was satisfied with it.
But now he rides a comet's flame
The deceased brother has passed on and his spirit flies around in space.
And won't be coming back again
The deceased brother is gone forever.
The Earth looks better from a star
The world looks beautiful when viewed from space.
That's right above from where you are
The artist is referring to the star where his deceased brother resides.
He didn't mean to make you cry
The singer's brother didn't intend to cause sadness.
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
The brother's life was full of passion and danger.
On empty rings around your heart
The singer and his companions' hearts are empty after their loss.
The world just screams and falls apart
The world around them is falling apart and it's overwhelming.
And here's where your mother sleeps
The singer visits the place where their mother rests.
And here is the room where your brothers were born
The artist reflects on his brothers' birthplace.
Indentations in the sheets
There are impressions left on the sheets where his brothers once rested.
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
The brothers no longer inhabit the world.
And it's so sad to see the world agree
It's disheartening to see everyone come to the same sad conclusion.
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
The artist is saddened that people would rather see his brothers decay than keep them preserved.
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes
The artist would like his brothers to be remembered in a more beautiful way.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Jeffery Nye Mangum
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind