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.
Close my eyes and then I count to ten
Shake some hands and then I feel ashamed
I'm in control but I am out of time
I've lost the need for any desire
Any desire
I had a vision but it slipped away
Inherited goodness, it is here to stay
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
I close my eyes and then I count to ten
I open them and then I shut them again
Look at the crowd and then forget my parts
Back to memory and then back to the start
Back to the start
I'm back to the stuff that made us all
Back to reality back to fuck all
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
Close my eyes and then I count to ten
Sign some papers and then they are my friends
Attempt to make up and my skin aches
Not even massage can make my body straight
My body straight
Count to ten and then pretend I'm home
Just a job I get well-paid for
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
Shake some hands and then I feel ashamed
I'm in control but I am out of time
I've lost the need for any desire
Any desire
I had a vision but it slipped away
Inherited goodness, it is here to stay
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
I close my eyes and then I count to ten
I open them and then I shut them again
Look at the crowd and then forget my parts
Back to memory and then back to the start
Back to the start
I'm back to the stuff that made us all
Back to reality back to fuck all
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
Close my eyes and then I count to ten
Sign some papers and then they are my friends
Attempt to make up and my skin aches
Not even massage can make my body straight
My body straight
Count to ten and then pretend I'm home
Just a job I get well-paid for
It's not about us anymore
It's not about us, 'bout us anymore
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
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Love in a Vacuum
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Jesse with the long hair....
Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
Classic love story true to his western tx roots. One of my favorites as a story, but I think there are alot of songs that are amazing not even listed on this site. I guess I should figure out how to add them, because I have about 8 REK cd's.
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
Step
Ministry
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
I was listening to this and thinking it just sounds like the chore of being in a band. It was exciting when they were young, and rebellious and wanted to change their surroundings, but now "Shake some hands and then I feel ashamed", is as though he feels like being in a band and having a public persona has made him guilty.
"Count to ten and then pretend Im home Just a job I get well-paid for Its not about us anymore Its not about us, bout us anymore"
Basically, being in a band has become more of a chore and is becoming alot less enjoyable as when they first started out. Reminds me of a Mansun lyric, "Life is a series of compromises anyway", compromises with the record label, producers, etc, it isn't really about what the band stand for, it's about selling records and the pressure of being nice and "shaking hands" with the fans.
Yes, I agree. It's actually quite an intelligent take on the situation the band had found itself in, and any band finds itself five, ten years into its career. The key line is "it's not about us any more". You get swept along in the journey of what it is and when you look up you realise it's turned into something quite different and even from the very heart of the band you can't tell if it's got anything to do with you anymore.<br /> <br /> I love this because it's not self-indulgent, it's got that tinge of honesty that 'The Everlasting' has, admitting to your fans that you're maybe not what you were, but in doing so they create a new language of what's lost. It's like that Beckett quote "maybe my best years are gone..." finding strength in what's gone. The Manics are particularly good at this when they get it right.