Melody

While recklessly driving his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost one night, the album's unnamed narrator is distracted by the silver statue on his car's hood and collides with a young red-haired girl on a bicycle. The two exchange information after the accident, and the girl introduces herself as Melody Nelson. The narrator falls instantly in love with Melody, who is revealed to be only fourteen years old, but who nevertheless makes the narrator happier than he could have ever imagined. He plans to take her virginity, knowing she has never been in love before, and they travel to a secret hotel where they have sex. Afterwards, Melody boards a cargo plane to return home to Sunderland, England, but an autopilot malfunction causes it to crash, killing her. The narrator laments Melody's death and compares his misguided hope that she might return one day to the cargo cults of Melanesia, wondering if they caused the plane's crash and finding himself unable to think of anyone or anything else.