A photo of an old boy/girlfriend, that you want to forget about; or perhaps a loved one that is now gone, that you don’t want to be sad about anymore. You wish the memory were a secret to you, but you just can’t throw it out. In Jeff’s case, the object perhaps isn’t a picture, but instead a copy of Anne Frank’s diary. The book literally represents the person, because she is dead.

Shortly after the release of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Puncture Magazine had a cover story on Neutral Milk Hotel. In it Mangum told of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl’s influence on the record. He explained that shortly after releasing On Avery Island, he read the book for the first time, and found himself completely overwhelmed with sadness and grief.

The last line in this verse is not only a callback to “tumbling through the trees” from The King of Carrot Flowers, pt. One but also a foreshadowing of “bend all your notes for me” from “Oh Comely”.

John Lennon is encouraging unity among the human race, suggesting that we are all one. This is exactly the kind of truth you recognize on acid, and indeed, “The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend,” Lennon told Playboy in 1980.

The structure seems to be based on lyrics from The Weavers' “Marching To Pretoria,”, where various lines read, “[X] with me, I’ll [X] with you, and so we will [X] together”. The cadence is based on the siren of a British emergency vehicle, though Lennon would admit, “You couldn’t really sing the police siren.” This fact also ties to the repeated references to policemen in the early verses.

Hendrix’s drug-induced perceptions are similar to an out of body experience where he can kiss the sky. However, this line is an extremely famous mondegreen, with being commonly misheard as “excuse me while I kiss this guy.” There is even a website called kissthisguy.com specializing in mondegreens.

It has even been documented that Jimi perpetrated this mondegreen by miming kissing bassist Noel Redding while singing “Purple Haze” live in concert, and/or by poking fun by singing the mondegreen itself:

The line went on to be re-used by several notable artists, including Mike Shinoda in “Watching as I Fall”:

Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of lies

Not having your lover by your side can be like having a tremendous void in your life that needs to be filled, despite it only being one person.

Mercer has said he wrote this song sitting next to his wife on the floor of their new home. In those moments, nothing felt more important than their home together.

I wrote the majority of it in 10 to 15 minutes, sitting on the living-room floor with my wife, and then it sat like that.

While it’s origins were simple, Mercer knew that song had potential:

…I knew it was going to be something that was fun to get into. And, to be honest, the night before we let go of that song, I was really nervous about it. … I was really anxious and wanted people to like it.

Everything in Mercer’s life – including his ambitions, band, and past – had stepped down in importance in comparison to what he’d just created. Not just a simple song, but a home and new life with his woman, which he sees as the most critical part of his life.

This song is just another day at the office for The Shins' James Mercer. Backed by stadium-status guitar riffs, Mercer unspools a tale filled with complex emotions and lovelorn imagery…y'know, the simple stuff.