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.
I wouldn't sell my belt to industry
So they carded me
And they carted me off.
Naked with that belt around my waist
It was my father's once
I still see his face
They carted me off.
But I managed to escape the good gendarme
And I fled through field and farm stripped of natural charm
Naked but that belt I wear so well
Past the pyramids
And the liberty bell
Hey this is something I have to do for myself
I have to for myself.
I ignored the sheep and shepherds on my way
What could their small words say
When they say them that way
Bathed in sweat and feathered as a crow
I laid a beating on the sleet and snow
With my frostbitten toes.
I remained unrecognized in my home town
Beneath my monstrous gown
Of feather and down
But I gathered up and army made of those
Who aimed to shake them
From their repose
We took up weapons
And took off our clothes
So what say you
And all your friends
Meet all of my friends
In the alley with knives
What say you
And all your friends
Step up to my friends
In the alley tonight
So they carded me
And they carted me off.
Naked with that belt around my waist
It was my father's once
I still see his face
They carted me off.
But I managed to escape the good gendarme
And I fled through field and farm stripped of natural charm
Naked but that belt I wear so well
Past the pyramids
And the liberty bell
Hey this is something I have to do for myself
I have to for myself.
I ignored the sheep and shepherds on my way
What could their small words say
When they say them that way
Bathed in sweat and feathered as a crow
I laid a beating on the sleet and snow
With my frostbitten toes.
I remained unrecognized in my home town
Beneath my monstrous gown
Of feather and down
But I gathered up and army made of those
Who aimed to shake them
From their repose
We took up weapons
And took off our clothes
So what say you
And all your friends
Meet all of my friends
In the alley with knives
What say you
And all your friends
Step up to my friends
In the alley tonight
Lyrics submitted by trinket, edited by ModestVillain
Belt Lyrics as written by Max Bemis
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
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Okay. So I think this song is about howeverything is all screwed up in the world, and you have to do everything by yourself, not many people will really beleive in you and you have to keep beleiving in yourself. But then you will find people who do beleive in you, and themselvvves, and you realize that there are actually good people in the world, and not everyone is trying to stop you.
Yeppers.
=]