A Thematic Analyzation of the Cult Classic "In The Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel

Neutral Milk Hotel created the beloved, cult classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in 1998. Ever since, it has become one of the most recognizable albums in the last 20 years and one of the most highly regarded works of music to come out of the 90s. Coupled with surreal lyrics and manic singing, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a unique musical experience that mixes Eastern European folk music, with jazz, punk, and bizarre instrumentals. Themes of young love and relationships shown through a lens of whimsical surrealism are featured on this album. 

Lyrically, lead singer and songwriter Jeff Mangum constructs an album made up of historical imagery, vague reflections on religion, and personal experiences. The album appeals to young adults as a formative album. “King of Carrot Flowers” describes the connection, coming of age story, and love shared between two young people, contrasting it with a dysfunctional adult relationship. Mangum emphasizes that while adolescence is enjoyable, it contains limited life experience. The title track, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” analyzes life and the human condition, which always freaked Mangum. Plus, “Two-Headed Boy” is a vivid, descriptive song about two bodies blending into one. 

A strong sense of disillusionment runs throughout the entire record as Mangum’s lyrics involve a sort of tiredness and disappointment in the nature of life. The fast paced punk song, “Holland, 1945”, depicts ‘burning pianos’ ‘circus wheels,’ and the ultimately corruptible nature of reality. The gentle ballad “Communist Daughter” creates a metaphor between human sexuality and the struggle of communism. The eight-minute epic “Oh Comely” tells the story of an adulterous father through the lens of a child. The powerful song ends with the album's central theme: the life and death of Anne Frank.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a confusing tale. Indeed, on a deeper level, the main theme of the album is actually about the life of Anne Frank, the German born Jewish girl who documented her experience hiding from Nazis during World War Two. Inspiration for the album came when Mangum wandered into a bookstore and bought a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank. After reading the book, he flipped out and obsessed over her story. He spent days crying and experienced recurring dreams about going back in time, saving her life, and falling in love with her. This strange relationship is much of what makes In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as vivid and unsettling as a real dream. 

The song “Ghost” continues the discussion of Anne Frank, explaining that her ‘ghost’ lives on within Mangum. And the finale, “Two-Headed Boy, Pt. Two” reverts back to the theme of the two headed boy and Mangum’s lover as seen in part one. At the end of the final track, listeners hear Mangum gently put his guitar down and walk away from the microphone. This could symbolize him concluding his music career, as Neutral Milk Hotel has never made another album. He could also be expressing something about himself and life as a whole, describing life as a ‘concluding circle.’ We’ll never truly know, but it can mean that if you want it to. 

And that is the true beauty of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea: It can be interpreted in many different ways. I interrupt the album as a source of the universal thoughts of growing up, then living a meaningful life, and being content at the end of your life. Growing up and living an eventful life is overwhelming. But, knowing the reality of how fragile our lives are and how quickly they pass is immensely overwhelming. I think Mangum wanted to express that if you think about that for too long, you might find yourself in disbelief and wonder “how strange it is to be anything at all.”