Oh Comely
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| “Oh Comely” | ||
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| Song by Neutral Milk Hotel | ||
| Album | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | |
| Released | February 10, 1998 | |
| Recorded | July - September 1997 Pet Sounds Studio - Denver, Colorado |
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| Genre | Indie rock, indie pop | |
| Length | 8:18 | |
| Label | Merge Records | |
| Writer | Jeff Mangum | |
| Composer | Jeff Mangum | |
| Producer | Robert Schneider | |
| In the Aeroplane Over the Sea track listing | ||
"Oh Comely" is the eighth track of the Neutral Milk Hotel album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
The longest song on the album, "Oh Comely" is comprised of two distinct pieces. The first is in the key of E major and lasts about six minutes, the second is introduced with a horn arrangement and is in A minor. The second piece is actually a verse from the unreleased song "Goldaline", a song Jeff Mangum has described as concerning Siamese twins lost in the woods.[1]
The song is one of a few on the album (notably, "Two-Headed Boy") to be recorded with mostly just Mangum's vocals and acoustic guitar present. The take for "Oh Comely" used on the final album actually started as a test;[1] producer Robert Schneider, the three other members of Neutral Milk Hotel and various Elephant 6 performers were listening to Mangum play the song in the Pet Sounds Studio control room, assumming he was just checking how the microphone sounded. The crowd was surprised when Mangum ended up playing the entire eight-minute song in one go, and the room erupted in cheers and applause when he finished. At the very end of the song, an almost inaudible exclamation of "holy shit" can be heard, believed to be Scott Spillane.[1] Mangum's track remains a sparse production on the final album, with only a few overdubs near the end (including Spillane's horn part).
There existed a "companion" song to "Oh Comely" entitled "Oh Sister" which contained lyrical elements that can be seen in "Oh Comely" (including a character called Rose Wallace Goldaline and the phrase "bright and bubbly"; the line "moves herself about her fist" would also appear in the song "Communist Daughter"). Mangum performed the song on December 31, 1998 with Julian Koster and Scott Spillane, and this live take has been released on multiple bootleg tapes .[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Cooper, Kim [2005] (2007). In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, 33⅓. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1690-X.
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