Neutral Milk Hotel

when you were young you
were the king of carrot flowers,
and how you built a tower
tumbling through the trees,
in holy rattlesnakes that fell
all round your feet.

and your mum would stick a fork right
into daddy’s shoulder,
and dad would throw the garbage all
across the floor,
as we would lay and learn
what each other’s bodies were for.

and this is the room one afternoon
i knew i could love you,
and from above you how i sank
into your soul,
into that secret place
where no-one dares to go.

and your mum would drink
until she was no longer speaking,
and dad would dream of all
the different ways to die,
each one a little more than
he could dare to try…

[i love you, jesus christ,
jesus christ i love you, yes i do.] x2
and on the lazy days
the dogs dissolve and drain away,
the world it goes and always waits
the day we are awaiting.

all i know
we go through the weight and undertow
i will float until i learn how to swim,
inside my mother in a garbage bin,
until i find myself again,
again, oh.

all i know
we go mouths open wide and spit
in stuff
i will spit until i learn how to speak
up through the doorway
as the sideboards creak
with them ever proclaiming me, me, oh

all i know
we go the way the steps fell down
and i don’t know,
i will shout until they know what i mean,
i mean the marriage of a dead dog sing
and a synthetic flying machine, machine,
oh.

ok.

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
thru 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 he don’t even know his name.

what a beautiful face i have found
in this place
that is circling all round the sun
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.

2 headed boy all floating in glass
the sun, it has passed,
now it's blacker than black
i can hear as you tap on your jar
and i am listening to hear where you are
i am listening to hear where you are

2 headed boy
put on sunday shoes
and dance round the room
to accordian keys
with the needle that sings in your heart
catching signals that sound in the dark
catching signals that sound in the dark
we will take off our clothes
and they'll be placing
fingers thru' the notches in
your spine and when all is breaking
everything that you could keep beside
no your eyes ain't movin' now,
they just lay there in their cli...

2 headed boy,
with pulleys and weights
creating a radio played just for two
in the parlour with a moon across her face
and thru' the music he sweetly displays
summer speakers that sparkle all day
made for his lover who's floating and
chacking with her hands across her face
and in the dark
we will take off our clothes
and they'll be placing
fingers thru' the notches in
your spine and when all is breaking
everything that you could keep beside
no your eyes ain't movin' now,
they just lay there in their cli...

2 headed boy,
there's no reason to grieve,
the world that you need is wrapped
in gold silver sheets
left beneath xmas trees in the snow,
and i will take you and leave you alone,
watching spirals of white softly flow
over your eyelids and all you did will
wait until the point when you let go...
ay de de...

2,1,2,3,4.
the only girl i’ve ever loved
was born with roses in her eyes,
but then they buried her alive one evening 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
playing pianos filled with flames
on empty rings around the sun
all sing to say my dream has come.

but now we must pick up every piece
of the life we used to love
just to keep ourselves at least enough to carry on.

and now we ride this 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 pick 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,
indentions in the sheets,
where their bodies once moved but don’t move any more.
and it’s so sad to see the world agree
that they’d rather see their faces fill with flies,
all when i’d want to keep white roses in their eyes.

sweet communist,the communist
daughter,
standing on the seaweed water,
semen stains the mountaintop,
semen stains the mountaintop.

with coca leaves along the border,
sweetness swings from every corner

cars careening from the clouds,
the bridges burst and twist around,
and wanting something warm
and moving
bends towards herself
the soothing proves that she must
still exist,
she moves herself about her fist.

sweet communist,
the communist daughter,
standing on the seaweed water,
semen stains the mountaintops,
semen stains the mountaintops.

de, de, de…

Oh comely I will be with you
when you lose your
breath chasing the only meaningful
memory you
thought you had left
with some pretty bright and
bubbly terrible scene
that was doing her thing on
your chest but oh comely
it isn't as pretty as
you'd like to guess
in your memory you're drunk
on your awe to me
it doesn't mean anything at all
oh comely all of your friends
are letting you blow
bristling and ugly bursting
with fruits falling out
from the holes of some pretty
bright and bubbly
friend you could need to say
comforting things in
your ear but oh comely
there isn't such one
friend that you could find here
standing next to
me he's only my enemy I'll crush him
with everything I own
say what you want to say
and hang for your
hollow ways moving
your mouth to pull out all
your miracle for me
your father made fetuses
with flesh licking ladies
while you and your mother were
asleep in the
trailer park thunderous sparks
from the dark of
the stadiums the music
and medicine you
needed for comforting so make
all your fat fleshy
fingers to moving and pluck
all your silly strings
and bend all your notes for me soft
silly music is meaningful magical
the movements were
beautiful all in your ovaries
all of them milking
with green fleshy flowers
while powerful pistons
were sugary sweet machines
smelling of semen
all under the garden was all
you were needing
when you still believed in me
say what you want to say
and hang for your
hollow ways moving your mouth
to pull out all
your miracle for me
and I know they buried her body
with others her
sister and mother and 500 families
and will she
remember me 50 years later
I wished I could
save her in some sort of time
machine know all
your enemies we know
who are enemies are
know all your enemies
we know who our
enemies are
Goldaline my dear
we will fold and freeze
together far away from here
there is sun and
spring and green forever
but now we move to
feel for ourselves inside some
stranger's stomach
place your body here let
your skin begin to blend
itself with mine

ghost, ghost,i know you were within me,
feel as you fly
in from the clouds above the city
into one that i
loved with all that was left within me
till we tore in two,
now wings and rings,
and there’re so many waiting here for you.

and she was born in a bottle-rocket,
1929,
with wings that ringed around a socket
right between her spine
all drenched in milk in holy water pouring
from the sky,
i know that she will live forever,
she won’t ever die,
she goes,
and now she knows she’ll never be afraid,
to watch the morning paper blow into a hole
where no-one can escape,
de, de, de…..

and one day in new york city baby,
a girl fell from the sky,
from the top of a burning apartment building
fourteen stories high,
and when her spirit left her body,
how it split the sun!
i know that she will live forever
all goes on and on and on and
she goes,
and now she knows she’ll never be afraid
to watch the morning paper blow into a hole
where no-one can escape,
de, de, de.

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 you love to find your tongue
in his teeth,
in a struggle to find sacred 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’ll love you for the rest of your life
(when you’re ready)

brother see we are one and 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 wire,
and retire to sheets safe
and clean,
but don’t hate her when
she gets up to leave.

push the pieces in place

"Your prettiness is seeping through
Out from the dress I took from you, so pretty
My emptiness is swollen shut
Always a wretch i have become
So empty
Please, Please don't leave me.

I'm watching Naomi, full bloom
I hope that she will soon explode
Into one billion tastes and tunes
One billion angels come and hold her down
They could hold her down until she cries

I'm tasting Naomi's perfume
It tastes like shit and I must say
She comes and goes most afternoons
One billion lovers wave and love her now
They could love her now and so could I

There is no Naomi in view
She walks through Cambridge stocks and strolls
And if she only really knew
One billion angels could come and save her soul
They could save her soul until she shines.

Until she Shines x4

So pretty x4
Please, Please don't leave me.

"

And the first one tore a picture
Of a dead and hanging man
Who was kissing foreign fishes
That flew right out from his hands
And when I put my arms around him
I felt the blushing blood run
through my cheeks
And an eeriness surrounded
when his tongue began to speak
And he said
Oh boy you are so pretty
Enough to wrap tight in
rice-paper string
And when I finally kissed him
the whole world began to ring
Lost like a bell
that's tipping over
With two cracks along both sides
And I knew the world was over so
I took a look outside
And watched the fires
that were reaching
Up to the weather vane and
the tops of trees
And the waiting scene and
the Sunday dream
They're all waiting here for me
Deli markets with their
flower stands
And pretty girls and the
burning men
Hanging out on the hooks next to
the window displays
And I took out my tongue twice
removed from my face
Across a bridge and across
the mountains
Threw a nickel in a fountain
To save my soul from all these
troubled times
And all the drugs that
I don't have the guts to
take to soothe my mind
So I'm always sober
Always aching
always heading towards
Mass suicide occult figurines
And wasted gas-station attendants
Attending to their jobs
And a nice drive in the country
Finds a nice cliff to drop off
Oh when this life just
gets so grating
All the grittiness of life
But don't take those pills
your boyfriend gave you
You're too wonderful to die
And the last one tore a picture
From the pornographic page
And all the pleasure
points attacking
All the looks of love were staged
And it's a lie that
you've been given
That just hurts you every day
So why should I lie here naked
When it's just too far away
From anything we could call loving
Any love worth living for
So I'll sleep out in the gutter
You can sleep here on the floor
And when I wake up in the morning
I forgot to lock the door
Because with a match that's mean
and some gasoline
You won't see me anymore

The lady is dying
She bends back like a wave
As her spirit is climbing
Through the hospital wall and away

And I wanted to hold you
As you made your escape
But now I should have told you
When your eyes were alive and awake
Always in life we all must make this mistake

And so I go it alone
And the pressure is great
I hold on to my own
Oh, please - oh, don't go away

I wanted to know you
Before you started to fade
But I gave everything to
A lie and a farce and a fake
Always in life we all must make this mistake

And so I go it alone
And the pressure is great
I hold on to my own
Oh, please - oh, don't go away
I'd like to see you when all these angry days flow away

Always someone is waiting
swallow all the halos out of you
As your face blows through
my windows
Sending pieces flying
all around my room
And I love you and I want to
Shoot all the super heroes
from your skies
Watch them bleeding
From your ceiling
As their empty anger falls out
from their eyes
All alone

Blistering Pree
all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging
open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some
brown dresser drawer
And with bees in her breath
and the rest of her ringing
They'll sting through her chest
with a force hard and beating
Until wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked
inside her clothes
And there is no sorry to be
sorry for
For a roll around the floor
some afternoon
so sound and soft
It made her swallow all her sweat
With every bit of breath
she coughs
And when the day
it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them
all forevermore

All I perceive is
wasted and broken
Silvery streams
sacred when spoken
Slam into me and
into the ditch of debris
And you smoke in the park
you sleep in the greenery
Everyone barks
They all still believing
To tear out your heart would
send all your secrets to me
But I let you down
Swollen and small is
where you'll find me now
With that silver stripping off
From my tongue you're tearing out
And you'll never hear me talk
Your teeth believe that
teeth are for tearing
Tear into me the scent of you
sweating smells good to me
As long as we keep in our clothes
And out in the dark the
world is still rolling
Kids in their cars
cigarette smoking
And all that they are just reeks
with the sweetest belief
But I let you down
Swollen and small is
where you'll find me now
With that silver stripping off
From my tongue you're tearing out
And you'll never hear me talk
All I could want is
silver and spinning
Out from your arms and
into the pretty
Pit of your heart so simply and
softly we'd flow
But I let you down
Swollen and small is
where you'll find me now
With that silver stripping off
From my tongue
you're tearing out
And you'll never hear me
talk Glow
Into you
I will glow
Into you

There are beads that wrap
Around your knees that
crackle into the dark
Like a walk in the park
like a hole in your head
Like the feeling you get
when you realize
you're dead
This time we ride roller
coasters into the ocean
We feel no emotion as
we spiral down to the world
And I guess it's worth your time
Because there's some
lives you live
And some you leave behind
It gets hard to explain
The gardenhead knows my name
Leave me alone for you know
this isn't the first time
In fact this is twice in a row
That the angels have slipped
through our landslide
And filled up our garden with snow
And I don't wish to taste of
your insides
Or to call out your name
through my phone
For the glory boys at your
bedside will love you
As long as you're something to own
will love you
As long as you're something to own
Follow me through a city of
frost covered angels
I swear I have nothing to prove
I just want to dance
in your tangles
To give me some reason to move
But to take on the world
at all angles
Requires a strength I can't use
So I'll meet you up high
in your anger
Of all that is hoping and
waiting for you
Of all that is hoping and
waiting for you

There is no dream
So wake up run your lips across
your fingers till you find
Some scent of yourself that
you can hold up high
To remind yourself that
you didn't die
On a day that was so crappy
whole and happy you're alive
And you seem so bruised and
it's beautiful
As it's reflecting off from
you as it shines
And you're in the bathroom
carving holiday
designs into yourself
Hoping no one will find you
but they found you
And they took you
And you somehow survived
There is no dream
So wake up and if the holidays
don't hollow out your eyes
Then press yourself against
whatever you find
To be beautiful and
trembling with life
Because I'm so happy
I'm so happy
I'm so happy
I'm so happy
you didn't die

"Your prettiness is seeping through
Out from the dress I took from you, so pretty
My emptiness is swollen shut
Always a wretch i have become
So empty
Please, Please don't leave me.

I'm watching Naomi, full bloom
I hope that she will soon explode
Into one billion tastes and tunes
One billion angels come and hold her down
They could hold her down until she cries

I'm tasting Naomi's perfume
It tastes like shit and I must say
She comes and goes most afternoons
One billion lovers wave and love her now
They could love her now and so could I

There is no Naomi in view
She walks through Cambridge stocks and strolls
And if she only really knew
One billion angels could come and save her soul
They could save her soul until she shines.

Until she Shines x4

So pretty x4
Please, Please don't leave me.

"

Crawl across towards your window
I'm calling softly from the street
Always a lonely widow
Half awake and sleeping on my feet
I'm of age but have no children
No quarter phone booth
calls to home
Just late night television
Inside my bedroom all alone
There is no use in waiting
Offer up your steps so I can climb
Show me all your figure paintings
Etched in the middle of the night
Let me stretch upon your carpet
Let me hear the rain tap
on your street
Knowing I am safe on the inside
Blankets wrapped and
drifting off to sleep