dearexgirlfriend

You should feel special, I’m creating a whole new category for you.  The song I’m posting, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” is certainly not a breakup song; but the thing is it’s not really a love song either.  However, in the interest of seamless transistion, that is what it is getting filed under.  I’m posting this song for two reasons – 1. Not nearly enough people have heard it not nearly enough people know about you and your band, Neutral Milk Hotel.  So, by posting this…there is a disctinct possibility at least TWO new people will have heard you.  The second reason, and more important one, is that every time I meet someone new, who might be a potential significant other on any level, my imagination gets the better of me.  I compare her to women of my past, I think way too much about the future, instead of just appreciating the moment for what it is – getting to know someone who I’m hitting it off with.  I’m not talking about those crazy people who have a first drink with someone and start thinking about the kids they will raise together and white picket fences (read: many females I know); but smaller scale stuff – will she like my friends, will she like my parents, does she share my affinity for hatred of the Yankees?  All that crap and more was running through my mind last night when I was driving home after meeting a girl for a drink.  Stupid. But then I heard the song I’m posting below and really heard these lyrics for the first time,

“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”

Lyrics are written to mean different things to different people (seriously, you don’t think Britney actually meant she wanted to be struck by a fist, one more time), so I’m not trying to impose my belief about these lyrics on anyone else, but to me they allude to staying in and appreciating the moment.  I’ll try to remember these words next time I hang out with the aforementioned female…unless she turns out to be really cool and is a good kisser, then all rules are out the window.

Sincerely,

Not Jeff Mangum

PS – I’m posting three different versions of your song – your own, a beautiful cover by Fanfarlo, and a train wreck of a cover by some random dude that thinks he is good.  I hope you can appreciate all three.