1
Why can't I lay low?
Why can't I say what I mean?
Why don't I stay home?
And get myself into some boring routine
Why can't I calm down?
Why is it always a fight?
I can't get unwound
Why do I throw myself into the night?
I'm on the outside
I don't fit into the groove
Now I ain't a bad guy
So tell me what am I trying to prove
Why can't I cool out?
Why don't I button my lip?
Why do I lash out?
Why is it I always shoot from the hip?
I cruise from Houston to Canal Street
A misfit and a rebel
I see the winos talking to themselves
And I can understand
Why is it every time I go out
I always seem to get in trouble?
I guess I made an impression on somebody
North of Hester and south of Grand
And so in my small way
I'm a big man on Mulberry Street
I don't mean all day
Only at night when I'm light on my feet
What else have I got
That I'd be trying to hide?
Maybe a blind spot
I haven't seen from the sensitive side
But you know in my own heart
I'm a big man on Mulberry Street
I play the whole part
I leave a big tip with every receipt
I'm so romantic
I'm such a passionate man
Sometimes I panic
What if nobody finds out who I am?
Why can't I say what I mean?
Why don't I stay home?
And get myself into some boring routine
Why can't I calm down?
Why is it always a fight?
I can't get unwound
Why do I throw myself into the night?
I'm on the outside
I don't fit into the groove
Now I ain't a bad guy
So tell me what am I trying to prove
Why can't I cool out?
Why don't I button my lip?
Why do I lash out?
Why is it I always shoot from the hip?
I cruise from Houston to Canal Street
A misfit and a rebel
I see the winos talking to themselves
And I can understand
Why is it every time I go out
I always seem to get in trouble?
I guess I made an impression on somebody
North of Hester and south of Grand
And so in my small way
I'm a big man on Mulberry Street
I don't mean all day
Only at night when I'm light on my feet
What else have I got
That I'd be trying to hide?
Maybe a blind spot
I haven't seen from the sensitive side
But you know in my own heart
I'm a big man on Mulberry Street
I play the whole part
I leave a big tip with every receipt
I'm so romantic
I'm such a passionate man
Sometimes I panic
What if nobody finds out who I am?
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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.
This song was written for the hit TV show "Moonlighting" starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd and appears in the season 3 episode entitled "Big Man on Mulberry Street". Bruce Willis plays David Addison, a wisecracking, live-life-to-the-fullest party guy who is secretly in love with conservative, uptight former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd). This song (and episode) gives us a glimpse into David's sensitive side and hints at his true feelings for Maddie... "What if nobody (i.e. Maddie) finds out who I am?" Great show if you haven't seen it by the way.
@kmaudk Maddie was the liberal, not the conservative, David in the show is the christian (a few episodes he admits to being a believer in the man upstairs, Maddie is not a believer) and believes in helping people, Maddie is the model rich-bitch atheist who is very selfish and vain. It is their conflicting beliefs that make them an unlikely match-up and that kept the drama between them fresh until the writers made Maddie double down on being a bitch