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.
Standing on the edge of the palisades cliffs
In the shadow of the skyline very far away
A lightning rod that couldn't pull the storm from me
I was 5 years old my best friends older brother died
He fell from these cliffs
The river washed him away the current pulled him downstream
In our eyes, floating in the headlights, so we parked these cars
Parent's garage
Listen to the lullaby
Of Carbon Monoxide
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The sun doesn't rise
We replaced it with an h-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of blood in the sky like Three Mile Island
Nightmares on TV they used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field
Or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and not just fade away
All those nights in the basement the kids are still screaming
On and on and on and on
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
And we're blowing in the wind
We don't know where to land
So we kiss like little kids
We used to be very tall buildings
We've been falling for so long
Now your eyes follow the sign on the edge of town
They offer a welcome when you are leaving
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The pieces fall it's like a last day parade
And the fires in our streets start to rage,
so wave, to the people that long to wave back,
from the fabric of a flag that sang "love all of the time"
War all the time War all the time
All of the time
War all the time
War all the time
All of the time
All of the time
War all of the time [Repeat: x4]
In the shadow of the skyline very far away
A lightning rod that couldn't pull the storm from me
I was 5 years old my best friends older brother died
He fell from these cliffs
The river washed him away the current pulled him downstream
In our eyes, floating in the headlights, so we parked these cars
Parent's garage
Listen to the lullaby
Of Carbon Monoxide
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The sun doesn't rise
We replaced it with an h-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of blood in the sky like Three Mile Island
Nightmares on TV they used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field
Or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and not just fade away
All those nights in the basement the kids are still screaming
On and on and on and on
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
And we're blowing in the wind
We don't know where to land
So we kiss like little kids
We used to be very tall buildings
We've been falling for so long
Now your eyes follow the sign on the edge of town
They offer a welcome when you are leaving
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The pieces fall it's like a last day parade
And the fires in our streets start to rage,
so wave, to the people that long to wave back,
from the fabric of a flag that sang "love all of the time"
War all the time War all the time
All of the time
War all the time
War all the time
All of the time
All of the time
War all of the time [Repeat: x4]
Lyrics submitted by prayingmantis84
War All the Time Lyrics as written by Geoffrey Rickly Iii
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think that it does have some of 9/11 in there, along with the memories of his friends. I think the overall message is "gone but not forgotten" * , both for his friends and the people who died in the attacks. If it didn't have anything to do with the 9/11-war deal, he wouldn't have written "nightmares on TVs", "burn on an on like an oil field", "used to be very tall building", "now we're falling apart", "when the pieces fall", and "the fires in our streets." I mean, maybe one of those could be a coincidence, but more than five? And if he was only talking about his friends who he lost, then why would he write about "War all the time" and "Ashes of American flags"? Thats about a country, and isn't unintentional.
It's because 9/11 and his friends' suicides are both instances that happened to innocent people who had so much to live for, and both events struck close to home, making it so much more personal. Geoff linked these together because they were each a great loss, and by writing about them he could put his jumbled confused thoughts into words, a memorial to them.