Jeff Mangum - Oh Sister (Live, New Year's Eve)

[CeleryMan3]

Jeff looks like Jesus in this one.

[iindierock]

I want to be inside his head.

[steve0619]

his lungs are endless!

[baraka1408]

I watch this video weekly. Jeffn is such a wonderful person.

[Floydfan101]

is the line "don't waste your sins again" or "don't waste your sentiment"?

I feel like it's sins again, but makes more sense to me the other way around

[LuLoZ1987]

just Great !!! NMH so fucking awesome

[WillyPlaidPants]

Neutral Milk Hotel completely changed my life and how i perceive it. To me, with the combination of abstract, emotional lyrics and beautiful melodies, this is as good as it gets.

[camelspider99]

i need a guild. one of the best nmh/jeff songs ever written. shoulda been on aeroplaneee

[deatheater459]

okay i want to hear this over and over

and with whatever other songs werent put on the aeroplane album

they all connect i love it

[zdskate21]

the chord progression change is genius

[IAmAnEngine1]

Absolutely beautiful.

[musicalpony]

This is truly my favorite NMH song.

[kolaoncoke]

what does he mean when he says an "age of empty rings?", i can think of some but im not sure of the exact meaning...i remember awhile back seeing a picture of an airship going through ring in the sky from aeroplane over the sea...?

[intheflesh316]

my fucking god. great

[musicalpony]

My favorite NMH song. So beautiful. Jeff Mangum is so talented.

[guilhermebaldin]

funny how jeff recycles various elements from Aeroplane on this song.

like the 'proves she must sill exist' line from Communist daughter, or the 'pretty, bright and bubbly' bit from Oh Comely...

great video!

[iloveyjc]

A fuckin' genius!

[onemistressshort]

i wish he didnt miss the "oh sister, sweet brown and comely" verse

[Skyfinity]

It's strange how the words are so beautifully arranged to reffer to the ugliest things. It's strangely appropriate though; it' so much more remorseful and sorrowful than how such lyrics are usually portrayed: loud and antagonistic. It is a testament to that all the ugliness is not searching to hurt, but to be nurtured and felt for.

[sleepyat2am]

my god, that sweater is haunting.

[coldcaptainess]

I think he looks cuddly in that sweater. seriously. I dig it. : )

[rocklobster1989]

ditto

*hug hug hug*

[Laura990044]

To me, he's reached the point of musicianship that he can pull it off.

Like, it's his thing or something; seems like he's always got something on that looks like your grandpa would wear. It's like how Jimi Hendrix would wear weird ass purple native-american garb on set.

Don't hassle the Mangum

[pggyyr]

I listen to Jeff Mangum and count the number of times I get goosebumps. Thank you for posting this.

[zdskate21]

does he say fuck your friends?

[EnRohbi]

Yes.

[jbruckus]

Yeah, he says "she don't need you and won't fuck your friends"

[pggyyr]

"She don't need you and won't fuck your friends."

[urskogen89]

Yes. "But don't you waste your sins again. She don't need you or won't fuck your friends"

[crees84]

I won't fuck your friends.

[zdskate21]

i just got sooooooo many replies haha well thank you all for so much clarity

[blackfoliage1]

What a fantastic song. Here's hoping NMH recorded this song and one day gets leaked or something....

[lloplop]

this one. it's out there. anyone can pull it off of here anyway and make an mp3

[dronsediti]

how?

[lloplop]

make a*

[dolemiteX]

Sorry to push the lyrics down, but I've been an NMH fan for awhile now and I just found this song. I think it's wonderful. It encompasses the feeling of Aeroplane quite spectacularly.

[alexfuckingleach]

oh sister "bright and bubbly wonderful scene"

oh comely "bring and bubbly terrible scene"

[terdymang]

It's still "bright" in Oh Comely.

[alexfuckingleach]

yea it was the companion song it was written first and was played at his first acoustic gig in san fransisco

[volcomsurf]

beautiful. i dont think theres one jeff mangum song that i didnt find intriguing and inspiring. he has this this way of writing where he can make a song sounds so tragicly joyous. thanks for posting!

[MajestySnowbird]

Some pretty, bright and bubbly, beautiful dream you'd like to claim for your own...

It's like it triggers some emotion I never knew I existed.

[frontrowsopro]

Oh sister, won't you believe in me?

I only wanted to be hard on the family

Here with you now in your silly infirmary

Your mother makes frantic and drunk calls from Germany all of the time

(Oh sister, sweet brown and comely

I will be milking with you making fun of me

Now that my moods are not what they used to be

there is but no one alive laying next to me

for such a long time)<-- missing verse taken from the above website

[frontrowsopro]

And oh sister, sweet, round and beulahry

milk from your blisters on your grandmother's jewelry

there in the parlor all naked in front of me

Watching the lights from the cracks making archery animal designs

Rose Wallace Goldeline just moves her mouth over anything

Fleshy free and flowering with oranges out in the open

[frontrowsopro]

And oh sister now that you're leaving I can not imagine there is any meaning forgetting you ever could once have the feeling that made you keep on And pretend you were breathing of all of this world And in an age of empty rings I don't want to feel the thing I don't even want to know oh Rose Wallace Goldeline don't you hang your eye/line? on me all the way it ???

[frontrowsopro]

Sister, now that we're grieving

Our fingers will falter

Our lungs will be leaking

All over each other and without even speaking

We'll just know that it's over and smiling go greeting whatever comes next

And oh sister, you're getting married to some angry twister

That you'll have to carry home drunk every evening from the cemetery

If he makes it back half alive you can bury him under your sheets

[frontrowsopro]

Sister, now that we're grieving

Our fingers will falter

Our lungs will be leaking

All over each other and without even speaking

We'll just know that it's over and smiling go greeting whatever comes next

And oh sister, you're getting married to some angry twister

That you'll have to carry home drunk every evening from the cemetery

If he makes it back half alive you can bury him under your sheets

[frontrowsopro]

And oh sister, now that you're leaving

I can not imagine there is any meaning forgetting you ever could once have the feeling that made you keep on

And pretend you were breathing of all of this world

And in an age of empty rings

I don't want to feel the thing

I don't even want to know

oh Rose Wallace Goldeline

don't you hang your eye/line? on me

all the way it ???

[BlueTrain7]

it has lyrics from Oh Comely and Communist Daughter. are you sure this wasn't from before ItAOtS came out?

[gilchrist]

quite sure. he acknowledges elsewhere that "oh sister" was written while writing the rest of aeroplane, but wasn't included for the very reason that it overlaps those songs so much in terms of lyrics and imagery. still, so powerful on its own.

also, you can see "99" behind him and aeroplane came out in early 98. ;)

[darrinrasberry]

Likely he wrote this song right before splicing the lyrics to the other two and doing away with this version.

[Floydfan101]

i think this was written as the companion song to oh comely

[bazmanj]

thanks for uploading, he's fantastic

[ivanmatthew]

This guy pretty much reinvented music with his insane warbling.

[tzlive7]

Kind of sums up "Aeroplane" in a strange way...  Excellent.

[WereMasturbateInc]

Damn.

[lars3939]

Incredible, it was my birthday then, I had a lovely day, now the joy shared seems ironic and too sad but this song is a beautiful thing and an appropriate echo

[fraulobsto]

Holy crap. I've never seen Jeff with whiskers before..

[adamsegerman]

best songwriter in the world, easily.

[eyeball226]

Agreed, many times over.

[eyeball226]

Absolutely and wholeheartedly agreed.

[thepimpsofgore]

agreed! though he's totally and completely underrated and not recieving the glory he obviously deserves.

[Y2Kevo]

Yes.

[smurfdogssing2]

i am pretty sure some organization thing voted him "Best Songwriter of the 90's" but then again i could be wrong. either way he deserves it.

[Esjacado]

This song always gives me chills at the part where the chord progression switches to Em , C , G , D...This is my favorite NMH song...I think it would've fit in perfectly either as part of Oh Comely or coming after it but...that album was his vision, not mine.

I love this video.

[MoPPsychotik]

I agree with you toddmusic.

[goldustwoman8]

one of my top 3 favorite NMH songs ..just lovely

[toddmusic]

he is amazing....such an underated talent in this world. Fuck the radio, this is real music

[xGambitx]

lol underrated yeah right. he has been and will continue to be a god to indie hipsters.

teehee.

[brianheffronjr]

my god...

[steelsdigital]

...here it comes