Stephen Colbert Chose Neutral Milk Hotel for the Final Episode of ‘The Colbert Report’
While anyone watching Stephen Colbert take his final bow on his Comedy Central show, ‘The Colbert Report,’ last night (Dec. 18) saw his huge, celeb-filled singalong to ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ fewer may have noticed that Colbert chose Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘Holland, 1945’ to play as the credits rolled.
Back in April -- around the time it was announced that Colbert would be taking David Letterman’s spot in CBS' late-night lineup -- Colbert told the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd he thought Jeff Mangum’s words were “strange, sad poetry.” The comedian even sent Dowd the ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ song’s lyrics. Dowd zeroed in on these verses:
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry onAnd here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentions in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
Dowd made a connection between the lyrics and Colbert’s own history: At a mere 10 years old, Colbert’s father and two older brothers died in the Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 plane crash in 1974 in Charlotte, N.C.
Take a listen to the meaningful Neutral Milk Hotel song in the video above.