The recording of a conversation between Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum and Will Cullen Hart. Here's the conversation written out for all those interested. www.songmeanings.net/songs/vie...
Jeff Mangum doesn't hide his fragility- not many people have the courage to admit that their flowers are not together. I think this is the reason why his music touches people. Its the sound of the admittance of fragility and the freedom of feeling and imagination this creates. Its being able to sing about two headed boys and semen-stained mountains without embarrassment. Not many people would even permit themselves to think these things, let alone bellow them out from the depths of their soul.
Jeff is saying he had a goal for his life set out when he was a kid, and doing something normal, like a college, was part of that. But his life didn't go as he planned, and when he looks back on his life, it isn't what he wanted, or what he thought he had. This is why he doesn't play music anymore. It's sad, really.
It was chilling to hear them talk about pictures in magazines making it look like "you've got your flower put together" and you see this smiling, happy, seemingly normal Jeff Mangum.
I don't want to do that because then all these people with their flowers pressed together would be coming to me like, treating me like I was someone who had my flower put together when I don't, and it would be a big lie. And then I'd be doing Swanson TV Dinner ads when I was 15 and be real smug and commit suicide on the Brooklyn Bridge. There wouldn't be much point in that, would it?
how is it obvious that they are joking around? Listen to it.. There is an underlying message.. Its just like his music.. Kinda disjointed thoughts that flow together to create a bigger picture. I'd imagine that this conversation was recorded as ART. This is a beautiful creation by these two men.
@Swiftlygothedays this is a tape made for synthetic flying machine (most-likely and according to robert schneider) before olivia tremor control's 1st 7". the synthetic flying machine tapes had small conversations, plays, and later noises and sounds in collage. a lot of this is about just exploring what a band can become in people's heads. all good art is thought provoking, but the problem is most people don't think about it. all the e6 bands are so good at putting on people.
Some try to be sideburn-wearing, rebel-types...and that fits into an established stereotype that people can understand. But he can't even fit in by standing out in a crowd. Maybe that's one of the things that makes for a true artist. If you become enough of an outcast you can see the world from a distance and recognize what makes it what it is, with all its quirks and stupidities and inadvertent beauties.
I have noticed that also and I have almost asked this same question on here but I keep forgetting. It sounds to me like Will Cullen Hart is taking shots of alcohol, or is taking some sort of drink. If you listen closely you can hear a clinking noise that sounds like someone slamming a shotglass on a table every time he makes that noise. Jeff Mangums lack of any kind of reaction is a clear indication that he is not choking on anything.
you can make sense out of nonsense, i mean yeah the conversations comical but it also has depth to it. like the last part about the flower, and being able to take a picture and make everything look perfect. yeah it's sort of nonsense but it's also a really great metaphor for how people work. so what if they're on acid. you can still relate to what they're saying.
me and my friends have conversations just like this, and we are usually messing around, but sometimes it randomly takes some philisophical tone. I think that is the case here. Most of it is just messing around
that's basically what he's saying... his "flower" isn't put together, like everyone elses. I'm not saying all of the conversation is something to be picked apart but people can take whatever they want out of it, like song lyrics or things.
The puzzle/flower all has to be metaphors for something else. I believe having "Your flower together" is having your life organized. Jeff was saying, "I didn't realize how off I was until I pulled my pieces of my puzzle out of my pocket and saw it for what it really was" thus meaning, He didn't know how messy, and bad his life was until he sat down and looked at it.
>I grew up as someone who used all the vocabulary and quirks as everyone else >by middle school, I realized how conforming everyone was in their own way, be they basic, tumblry, edgy, etc >by that point, I had to pull away from step back, evaluate, and recognize everyone else and "keep my eyes open" as to how I can not follow those quirks >"it was too late," you can't remove the "stuck puzzle pieces" that are there already >now I can't fit in as a flower, because I recognized that that isn't what I want to be >I can't just "grow sideburns" and stand out, because then you don't belong with the rest of the flowers
This is hilarious and awesome, and it's obvious they're joking around. Come on, kids, must we downvote campfc4'd comment because we're so convinced EVERYTHING Jefferson says is the secret to life? Give the guy a break.
Joking around does not necessarily mean that they are being sarcastic or lying. Enjoy it or base your life around it-- I don't really care. I was only commenting because I felt like people were downvoting campfc for no reason.
i think i understand most of it. i think the flower puzzle is a metaphor for your life, and everyone is trying to assemble the flower puzzle/get a good life and good looks. and some people use computers to make it look like they have their flower puzzle together but they don't. i think when they both come to the realization that they should be in college is when they break the metaphor, because you generally need to go to college to get a good, easy life. not sure about the sideburns and the blood wafers and the animal parts though.
If you live your life devoted to and fervent about Jesus or Allah or even humanity or love or beauty...without any room for compromise, a sudden disillusionment makes for a heartbreaking and confusing transition. The purity, the 'flower', the 'big picture' that is your reason for living becomes fractured and disjointed and ugly. And you can't undo all of the pieces once they fit that way.
I think there may be some relavance to what they are saying, but mostly it just sounds like a bunch of inside jokes between them. I think they are mostly just joking around, not speaking in some forbidden language that only elite indie musicians can understand.
No, invasionbegins, it's the representation of their lives and the parallels between their experiences and the puzzle. It's themselves, not the actual puzzle. I think it's ironic how you say "oh yeah man deep...whatever bullshit" when you yourself are trying to prove the same concept to them.
Its not that i dont respect your toughts on what the conversation was about, the only thing is that why does it matter? What needed to be said was said by the people having it. I only say this b/c this is what people do with nmh music and it kinda sucks.
