1
The motel lights were blinkin'
On my chartreuse four door Lincoln
On the dock the fish were stinkin'
I simply didn't have a care
And the old men sit 'round the cracker barrels
The children hum their Christmas carols
The train tracks all run parallel
But they'll all meet up one day
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
We used to tell each other lies
With our orange plastic button eyes
In a former life on a motel chair
I was Charlie Parker's teddy bear
Yeah, me and Bird we'd stay up late
I used to watch him contemplate
While his horn would sit by the window and
Wait till it was time for him to blow it
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
The only song I ever knew
Was "Moonlight Bay on the Avenue"
These are the tales from the Devil's chin
Charlie I could've been a contender
And the old men sit round the cracker barrels
The children hum their Christmas carols
The train tracks all run parallel
But they'll all meet up one day
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
Who forgot that it was Sunday.
On my chartreuse four door Lincoln
On the dock the fish were stinkin'
I simply didn't have a care
And the old men sit 'round the cracker barrels
The children hum their Christmas carols
The train tracks all run parallel
But they'll all meet up one day
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
We used to tell each other lies
With our orange plastic button eyes
In a former life on a motel chair
I was Charlie Parker's teddy bear
Yeah, me and Bird we'd stay up late
I used to watch him contemplate
While his horn would sit by the window and
Wait till it was time for him to blow it
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
The only song I ever knew
Was "Moonlight Bay on the Avenue"
These are the tales from the Devil's chin
Charlie I could've been a contender
And the old men sit round the cracker barrels
The children hum their Christmas carols
The train tracks all run parallel
But they'll all meet up one day
On a dusty pew in a vestibule
Sits the Devil playing pocket pool
He's waiting for the next poor fool
Who forgot that it was Sunday
Who forgot that it was Sunday.
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More Featured Meanings
misty vapors & volatile chemicals
Cassette, The
Cassette, The
this ain't for everyone
Pas/cal
Pas/cal
1
what's love got to do with it (remix)
Warren G
Warren G
1
I don't get it
Cowboy Junkies, The
Cowboy Junkies, The
1
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
Probably just something off the top of Prine's imagination. Other possiblility: In the song, a bored devil sits alone in the entry-way (vestibule) of a dusty, empty cathedral playing pocket pool--perhaps a game of marbles. The empty cathedral is a picture of modern American religion. The irony is that this devil has apparently come to steal souls away from within the church, but turns out nobody's even there; they've all forgotten that it was Sunday because they've in many ways turned to the more mundane and universal joys and pursuits of everyday life: the rails of human industry running into eternity, the joys of human conversation and fellowship over a cracker barrel, the childlike grace and sacredness of humming Christmas carols together. And most have faith that these common things will all "meet up together one day" that is in some sort of final heavenly redemption or conclusion. For these cherished everyday joys of life, the ordinary folk have en mass moved beyond the walls of the song's archaic cathedral. Their perspective on life has changed and they have thus forgotten that it was Sunday. In essence, for some of them everyday has become Sunday and everyday has become a cherished day. Moreover, in so living their lives, they have discovered a fundamental and personal inspiration much as Charlie Parker (in the song) spontaneously played his horn at all hours simply for the joy of playing it. The teddy bear--a lifeless, stuffed animal--represents the unenlightened" audience of mass humanity who don't "get it," see through plastic eyes, and can't comprehend what it is that makes someone pick up a trumpet or a paintbrush or a pen and actually dare to dream. "I could have been a contender" the teddy bear sadly laments. Don't be the bear! Come out of your cave! Ironically, the devil for his part at the end of the song has also apparently forgotten that it was Sunday. For his part, he has become a bit trite and obsolete himself in the song, because he's forgotten that in this day and age fewer are actually present within the dusty cathedral for him to ensnare. He's lost his focus and is absently playing a solitary game of pocket pool, obsessing on the conventional rules of the game---the traditional rule of the game: that the opponent gets to keep whatever targeted pool balls happen to fall into a pocket other than what was expected. God wins the souls who in faith and inspiration find him OUTSIDE of any previous era's lifeless traditions. As the Bible says, we must "keep in step with the spirit." And that's my interpretation of the song.