Chords for An Animated Look at Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[F] _ _ One of the [D] 1990s most [Bb] legendary albums, [F] Neutral Milk Hotels in the Aeroplane [D] Over the Sea,
matched surrealistic personal songwriting with experimental lo-fi [F] production, attached
[C] to a surrounding story [Bb] seemingly built for a cult [F] following.
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [C] Beginning [F] as the noise-loving home recording solo project of songwriter [C] Jeff Mangum, [F] Neutral
Milk Hotel evolved over several cassettes, [Am] EPs, and a well-received full-length [Bb] debut
into a noise [A]-loving home recording [C] quartet featuring [Bb] singing saw, euphonium, bowed [F] banjo,
and a small orchestra of inspired [C] weirdos.
_ [Bb] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _
[F] Far out from the moment the album begins, on King of [G] Carrot Flowers Part 1, towers and
holy rattlesnakes tumble and forks stick in shoulders.
[Eb] From his earliest tapes, [D] Mangum's lyrics had leaned towards the surreal.
An [Eb] aeroplane is built around almost literal transcriptions of his own [Bm] lucid dreams, [Eb] sometimes
so real his bandmates would find him sleepwalking.
[G] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ [D] _ [G] In the Aeroplane Over the [Bm] Sea's title track introduces many of the album's [C] distinct elements
in succession, beginning with [A] Jeff Mangum's over-amped voice and [G] equally overloaded [B] acoustic
guitar, followed by Julian [Ab] Costner's singing saw, and soon [Em] a trumpet solo by Scott Spillane. _ _
[C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [C] Mangum's hometown friend, [D] Spillane retaught himself brass so he could quit his job [G] making
pizzas and find a place in Neutral Milk [D] Hotel.
_ _ [Am] _ _ [Dm] In Ruston, [A] Louisiana, the two had been part of the [D] semi-imaginary Elephant [Am] 6 Recording
Company, a [Dm] collective of [D] music-making friends that began to actualize [C] when its members'
bands started to tour and release proper albums.
[Am] _ Like its predecessor, Aeroplane would land on established indie [Ab] label Merge Records,
but the Elephant 6 logo can be seen in the uppermost marching band drum on [G] its back cover.
_ _ [B] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [B] _ _
The [G] two-part Two-Headed Boy is a [Gb] miniature movie of its [C] own, with its moonlit parlors
[D] and silver speakers that sparkle [Em] all day, its [N] conclusion becoming a chilling bookend
to the album.
_ _ [F] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [Bb] The full [F] power of Neutral Milk [C] Hotel is unleashed during the explosive [G] King of Carrot Flowers
Part 3, a minute and a half of Mangum dream images, [B] uncontainable fuzz, [Db] and sprung-clock
drumming by Jeremy [C] Barnes.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Released in earlier drafts on [C] several cassettes, the song, and [F] entire album, were brought to
life [N] by Elephant 6 conspirator and Mangum BFF Robert Schneider.
In Denver, he'd overseen the building [Db] of the all-analog DIY PetSound Studios, where the
newly solidified Neutral Milk Hotel made camp in [C] summer 1997.
A _ _ _ [Abm] _ _
[C] good deal of the album's [G] conceptual mythos is centered around Holland 1945, [C] where Mangum
sings of a spirit figure, [G] not unlike Holocaust victim Anne [C] Frank.
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
[C] Turning up elsewhere on [G] Aeroplane, the spirit figure wasn't simply a theatrical writing trick.
Though Mangum had [Bb] read the Diary of Anne Frank, he would say that the songs were equally inspired
by a [D] series of subsequent lucid dream [A] encounters with the mysterious [Gb] Frank-like girl and her [Bb] family.
[E] This strange relationship is much of what makes In the Aeroplane Over [G] the Sea as vivid
[B] and unsettling as a real dream.
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ Performed live, [Em] the album's penultimate untitled and [E] unlisted track became an all-hands-on-deck
[Abm] blowout when the band hit [B] the road following the album's release in early 1998, their lineup
[E] fluidly expanding to include members of Elephant 6 tourmates like the Olivia Tremor Control
and Elf Pal. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ While the album and tours [E] were received rapturously, Neutral Milk Hotel [D] closed down quietly in
late 1998, when Mangum took to bed with a series of illnesses that he would describe
as leading to a sort of [Fm] spiritual breakdown.
[F] _ _ [Db] _ _ _ _
With [Eb] Mangum's bellowing voice and open-hearted lyrics, In the Aeroplane [Cm] Over the Sea wasn't
and isn't for [Ab] everybody, and its creator is [C] more than fine with that.
[Ab] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Mangum stayed out of sight until a series of unexpected comeback appearances and tours.
No new songs have followed, though, and there remains little music that approaches the strange
majesty and intensity of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _