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.
Supervisor guy turns off the factory lights,
So the robots have to work in the dark.
And there's a car load of kids, with beer and cigarettes,
Burning out and doin' lawn jobs in the park.
And there's a shitty limousine parked in front of the bar,
It never got to drive, any movie stars.
But the guy in the drivers seat don't care,
With his weird cologne and his magic hair, its magic!
The sofa and the fringe are on the car,
But they're not strapped down,
And we are drivin' all over town.
And the used up krylon cans that the farmer found,
Were used to paint the foot-hills brown.
So there's a high school football coach sittin' on the couch,
With a tooth pick in his mouth.
And the stray down won't forget the day,
He tricked him with a chocolate shake, a little trick!
So the robots have to work in the dark.
And there's a car load of kids, with beer and cigarettes,
Burning out and doin' lawn jobs in the park.
And there's a shitty limousine parked in front of the bar,
It never got to drive, any movie stars.
But the guy in the drivers seat don't care,
With his weird cologne and his magic hair, its magic!
The sofa and the fringe are on the car,
But they're not strapped down,
And we are drivin' all over town.
And the used up krylon cans that the farmer found,
Were used to paint the foot-hills brown.
So there's a high school football coach sittin' on the couch,
With a tooth pick in his mouth.
And the stray down won't forget the day,
He tricked him with a chocolate shake, a little trick!
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Love in a Vacuum
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Gadjits, The
Gadjits, The
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.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
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.
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
I can't remember the exact wording but i read and interview or article with Jason and he mentioned that he always wanted to write a song that had heaps of different statements that weren’t really cohesive or didn’t concatenate in anyway but had a nice play of words that flowed well. Damn nice song.
The song really is a bunch of random statements. I guess he's "Trying to sing it funny like Beck" to borrow from Jed's other Poem.
I really like the beat in this one, very easy to bop along to bop. This and AM 180 were the only songs that got people moving when I saw them in concert last year.
the lines "supervisor guy turns off the factory lights so the robots have to work in the dark" are my favorite in the song. sarcastic view of technology. ha ha...i laugh everytime i hear this song
It's stray dog by the way.. not stray down. Hence the name of the song being "stray dog and the chocolate shake"
Who was it that said that this song is about Jason's prom?
wow, what an incredible song.