Little Birds by Neutral Milk Hotel
lovely, intense, and unreleased; post Aeroplane tune
standard tuning
intro: Am
Am
Little birds born without a mother or a father
I can watch their bodies forming in the running water
G
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
Em
A hundred altogether within me now
Am
Little bird, little bird come into my body
Am
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Bodies multiplying 'til they finally overtake me
G
Open up my mouth but all you'll ever hear is singing
Em
Put you hand within me and you'll know what I'm feeling
Am
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Am
Daddy come to touch me but he seen his hands a shaking
Look into my eyes and he could see their bodies breaking
G
Push me to the floor and in his hands I started beating
Em
I don't want to hear it anymore, he kept repeating
Am
Do you really want the burning hell that we believe in?
Am
Did you know the burning hell it took your baby brother?
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
G
Another boy in town at night he took him for his lover
Em
And deep in sin they held each other
Am
So I took a hammer and nearly beat his little brains in
Knowing God in heaven would have, never could forgive him
G Em
So I took a hammer and I nearly beat his brains in
Am
Little boy born without a father or a mother
Am
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
G
And the priests are singing that the hell is getting hotter la la la la la
Am
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
G
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Am G
And here beneath the water I can see
Em Am
How the lights distort so strange
G Em
And I think this is how I would like to leave my body
Am
And start again
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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Brett Professional |
#1 by Brett Czap at Dec 31, 1971 at 2:32 PM EST |
| no the song is not funny. The conceptual irony is what's funny, but in a dark way as I stated before. Darkly funny, Darkly ironic. | |
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calvin Wanna Be |
#2 by calvin maynard at Jun 12, 1977 at 10:06 AM EST |
| This song is interesting. It's one of my favorite NMH songs. The one thing that annoys me is that lady that says "Come on..." when he's saying "... and it's not done yet..." in the beginning. I hate that! The vocals are great in this song. It's a deep song. | |
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camilo Average |
#3 by camilo velasquez at Sep 7, 1978 at 12:34 PM EST |
| Deep man. | |
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Kubota35 Professional |
#4 by Kubota35 at Dec 12, 1979 at 11:36 PM EST |
| Mr.Wuggs, your analysis of "Two Headed Boy Pt. 2" is stunningly sad. In fact the part about Jeff trying to put his brothers face together brings me to tears when I hear it now. However, Jeff Magnum's father is still alive and Jeff keeps close to him. In fact I read an interview of Jeff talking about living at his dads house when he wrote "Oh Comely" and being amazed and playing it for his dad. So while your interpretation is the best I've ever heard for Two Headed Boy Pt. 2, I very much doubt it applies exactly to Jeff's life. It's much more likely to be based on someone else. | |
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Prince Alex Lead Player |
#5 by Prince Alex at Apr 17, 1981 at 6:01 PM EST |
| I agree with subvert over there. The idea of ending your life being baptized is darkly ironic, juxtiposing suicided (impure) with an important religeous ritual (pure). very funny kinda. in a dark dark way. | |
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Joe Average |
#6 by Joe Miller at Mar 5, 1988 at 4:00 AM EST |
| This song put me into a trance-like state the first time I heard it. I just stared slack-jawed at the ceiling for ten minutes. Jeff Mangum is...everything. | |
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Josh Lead Player |
#7 by Josh Ripley at Sep 2, 1989 at 1:09 PM EST |
| Subverted, I don't think "how far he fell" is literal, I think it means they believe he fell into sin. If the brother is in fact supposed to be dead, it would be at the father's hands (beating his brains in with a hammer). | |
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Forrest Average |
#8 by Forrest at Feb 22, 1994 at 3:32 PM EST |
| I always thought that in the imagery throughout the song could double as his body actually BEING the river... "Now there is another in the middle of my mouth A hundred altogether within me now Little bird, little bird, come into my body" A river has a mouth, and is a body of water. "Put you hand within me and you'll know what I'm feeling I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them " also makes me think of a river. So it seems to go back and forth, but comparing his body to a river, I think. Whether or not that's intentional, I enjoy listening to it with that interpretation. :] It's a beautiful song. | |
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RoBsN Average |
#9 by RoBsN Stalder at Aug 29, 1997 at 9:37 PM EST |
| mrwuggs, I like your explaination. It makes me see major connections between all of the songs...but how do you know any of it is true? | |
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Bye! Average |
#10 by Bye! at Mar 11, 1999 at 5:21 PM EST |
| I had heard this song before but today i've been listening really hard to all my NMH songs and paying attention to the lyrics and sweet jesus this is the most depressing song I have ever heard, but more songs must be made like it, in the form of a narrative. | |
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chris Average |
#11 by chris jenko at Jul 10, 1999 at 9:01 PM EST |
| This song is absolutely chilling. One of my favorites. | |
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Alex Lead Player |
#12 by Alex Russo at Feb 15, 2002 at 11:43 PM EST |
| this honestly has to be one of my favorite nmh songs. | |
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Nick Average |
#13 by Nick Vanderstelt at Jan 26, 2003 at 6:02 AM EST |
| I definately agree with yossarian about the death coming at the hands of the boy's father. To understand what is meant by "the light distorts so strange" we have to understand what Jeff percieves the light to be. It could be as subvert stated..."through the eyes of a christian, he sees things don't make sense". I would like to offer this alternate explanation: The boy is looking up through the water at those who forced the baptism on him. Jeff could be saying that it's not Christianity that is wrong...just the way that these people distort it. | |
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The Mexican Who Average |
#14 by The Mexican Who's Living Under Satan's Wing at Mar 11, 2003 at 6:08 AM EST |
| Story: Kid sees water turn into birds, he sees it as a miracle. His parents see it as a sign of evil, like they did his gay brother (a direct link to Jeff's life). In the end, his father drowns him. Yeah, Jeff. It's good to say goodbye to your music. This was the best way to stop. | |
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Rosa Wanna Be |
#15 by Rosa Beauchamp at Sep 27, 2007 at 10:35 PM EST |
| This song is an anomaly. It is not only a much more straightforward narrative than any other Jeff Mangum song, but also the only one to surface after the trauma he faced in the wake of Aeroplane's success. Though very little exists in the way of biography on Jeff, recordings of song explanations like this one point to the obvious fact that in the years preceding his much-obsessed-over musical career, he was living his life on the ropes. At the beginning of “Wishful eyes” he states “I wrote this song when was getting out of Seattle …when I first got back … that was … my life was coming apart at the time.” He pauses and chuckles ruefully. “I was really bad then. I was fucked.” Anyone familiar with Jeff’s art, lyrics and life knows that his entire existence has been riddled with trauma. Everything he produces comes out as a fermented, childhood fever-dream, bottled up for years and allowed to grow into something strange, terrible, and not-a-little beautiful too. As such, most of his material seems to be autobiography, thickly shrouded in hallucinatory extended metaphor. “Little Birds” was created at a time in his life where he felt very exposed, which does much to explain its uncharacteristically direct approach. However, what immediately jumps out at me about this song is something that didn’t occur to most of my friends, probably because I’m the only one who’s gay. “Do you really want the burning hell that we believe in?” is a question directed at the boy in the song who is having a new, wonderful, strange feeling welling up inside him like little birds. This question is followed by a lecture on the evils of homosexuality and its consequences, namely that his father was so grieved by his son’s sexual alignment that he killed him with a hammer. I think this is the same father who hurled a garbage can at Jeff’s mother when she stabbed him with a fork, while Jeff and his brother would “Lay and learn what each other’s bodies were for.” Two brothers, clinging on to each other for dear life, trying to survive a “not-so-very-nice situation,” inseparable, like a two-headed boy. Most importantly, on Jeff addresses “Two-Headed Boy part two” directly to his father. After listening to “Little Birds” I read the lyrics with a sickeningly clear eye: “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 In my dreams you're alive and you're crying, as your mouth moves in mine soft and sweet, rings of flowers around your eyes and I'll love you for the rest of your life... 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” Jeff watched his dad do it. Jeff watched his brother’s brains fall out through his teeth, then pushed the pieces of his head back together in an effort to fix him. Wanting his face on his cheek … God, it makes you cry. One online reviewer observed: “While the lyrics to "Little Birds" are certainly unsettling, Mangum's voice on the recording is perhaps even more so. Mangum has always pushed the limits of his vocal range, but on "Little Birds," the high notes are so pregnant with pain that one can barely listen to them without wincing. It's a powerful song, and not difficult to see why Mangum chose not to release any of his post-Aeroplane material-- it's too purely despondent to be nearly as affecting as his more emotionally complex material.” Assuming Jeff’s father is still alive is at all aware of his musical career (neither of which are very likely, all things considered) I can’t even imagine the ruin his life is. He killed his own son because he loved him; loved him so much that he couldn’t stand to see him as a homosexual – something he hated deeply enough to kill, “knowing God in heaven could have, never could forgive him.” This does much to explain the death and sex motif found through Jeff’s catalog. I might also point out that Jeff grew up in Louisiana, and that Louisiana Baptists are somewhat famous for their … uncompromising … outlook. Which brings me to the end of the song; where Jeff’s father, after giving his son vigorous but fortunately non-lethal beating, subjects him to a forced baptism – during which Jeff speculates that drowning might not be such a bad way to go. Jeff’s thoughts on suicide are a whole new can of worms. See “Song Against Sex” for starters. God, I’m going to go throw-up or something. | |
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Erin Rhythm Player |
#16 by Erin at Sep 30, 2007 at 2:16 PM EST |
| Jeff and his Dad are amazingly close and from everything I've read, his Dad seems to be a really nice guy. I really don't think this song is literally about his relationship with his father. Maybe it's not as specific. | |
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Squats Average |
#17 by Squats at Oct 1, 2007 at 2:10 AM EST |
| This is a rare neutral milk hotel song that i found out about at a site (http://www.knerd.com/~sashwap/). it's available for download in the sounds page. its only available live as far as i know. jeff offers and explanation before playing, but i feel that there is more to the song. a boy is born into a christian family, and begins doing something that they view wrongfully as evil. the boys father threatens him with the christian concept of "hell." the parts that mention "the burning hell that took your baby brother" seem to be about the boy's brother, who was a homosexual, and commited suicide by jumping from a high place, because his family couldn't accept him. the second last paragraph involves a forced baptism, and the family's strong belief in their holy righteousness. "here beneath the water i can see how the light distorts so strange" may be a reference that through the eyes of a christian, he sees things don't make sense. an ironic reference to suicide and reincarnation by drowning ends the song. i don't mean to offend christians. this is the song as i see it. i apologize for the long entry. by the way, i don't know what i'm talking about. | |
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Snap! Crackle! Average |
#18 by Snap! Crackle! Josh!! waldenmaier at Oct 5, 2007 at 3:06 PM EST |
| spooky and deep... | |
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Cohen Wanna Be |
#19 by Cohen B at Oct 6, 2007 at 11:15 PM EST |
| I wonder what he says before "And here beneath the water I can see"... I can't clearly hear it out. | |
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KISS is the gre Average |
#20 by KISS is the greatest at Oct 9, 2007 at 3:44 PM EST |
| I believe that this song is about how we come up with our ideals, and our beliefs, and then how some try to convince us that what we believe is wrong... just because it is not what they believe, or what they hold to be true and right. Also, the struggle to retain these ideals and protect them from the scrutiny of others. I also agree that it centralizes around Christian beliefs. This is only what I believe though... and don't claim it to be right at all. | |
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I fought the la Average |
#21 by I fought the law and the law kicked my ass I never learn do i...?? at Oct 9, 2007 at 6:27 PM EST |
| this song is incredible. but i still dont get it. | |
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Joan Average |
#22 by Joan Rius at Oct 14, 2007 at 7:59 AM EST |
| Going back to mrwuggs' intepretation of two headed boy pt 2, I always imagined the "brains fell out through your teeth" line to be a wierd and characterstically wonderful metaphor for speaking, rather than anything physical. | |
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ian Average |
#23 by ian mckinly at Oct 15, 2007 at 11:35 AM EST |
| It reminds me a little bit of the book "Drawing Blood" by Poppy Z. Brite. | |
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Subhash Average |
#24 by Subhash Shady at Oct 16, 2007 at 10:37 AM EST |
| How exactly did you come to the conclusion that Mr. Mangum is singing about his life, and not that of another person? | |
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Randy Lead Player |
#25 by Randy Lott at Oct 18, 2007 at 7:21 PM EST |
| Here's what Jeff says before the song is played in the version I have: "This is a new song. It's kind of twisted, I'm sorry, but there are really sick parts and I haven't really worked all that out. But it's new and we just have to figure those out. It's about the beginnings of a story where a boy lives in a not-so-very-nice situation and one day either because of his mind or... because his mind thinks it's happening or it really is happening, Either way, little birds start to form around him in his room. They come out of the water coming out of the faucet and they start coming into his body and he's very happy about this. But unfortunately he tired to share it with other people and they get very upset. Because this is something that he finds to be very beautiful but since they don't find it to be very beautiful they want to destroy it... so... it's brand new so I'm probably really gonna screw it up. And it's not finished either." The crowd laughs at this point and the song begins. I'm not sure I got everything exactly right but for the most part it should be correct. Any mistakes won't have any impact on the meaning. | |
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