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.
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
For me all day
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now lay me down
Oh yeah
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
For me all day
Our love is like angels
Pinned down and abused
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now, lay me down
All over you all over me
Pay me now, lay me down
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
Hey hey hey
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now, lay me down, yeah yeah yeah, hey ah oh
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
For me all day
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now lay me down
Oh yeah
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
For me all day
Our love is like angels
Pinned down and abused
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now, lay me down
All over you all over me
Pay me now, lay me down
Our love is like water
Pinned down and abused
For being strange
Our love is no other
Than me alone
Hey hey hey
All over you all over me
The sun the fields the sky
I've often tried to hold the sea
The sun the fields the tide
Pay me now, lay me down, yeah yeah yeah, hey ah oh
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
when rules change
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Life in Your Way
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Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I'm fairly confident these are Biblical references.
"Pinned down and abused For being strange" - Christ pinned to the cross for his beliefs.
"Our love is no other Than me alone For me all day" - Christ on the cross, alone in his thoughts, abandoned by the one he loves (God).
"Our love is like water" - it always rains, just not all the time, like our love for God. It could also be a visual reference to the blood flowing down the cross, like water.
"All over you all over me" - It could be visual imagery of blood flowing down the cross (all over you all over me); also "All over you", could be Jesus cursing God, for abandoning him ("all over me").
I've often tried to hold the sea" - it's a reference to Noah holding back the sea; but probably more a metaphor for Jesus' other great accomplishments.
"The sun the fields the sky" - God created all of these things; and this is probably what Jesus is looking at while he's speaking to God.
"Pay me now" - Jesus paid for our sins. "Lay me down" - Jesus laid to rest.