1
The whole place is dark
Every light on this side of the town
Suddenly it all went down
Now we'll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sun
Now we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moon
Someone must have set us up
Now they'll be working in the cold grey rock,
Now they'll be working in the hot mill steam,
Now they'll be working in the concrete
In the sirens and the silences now all the great set up hearts -
All at once start to beat
After tonight if you don't want us to be a secret out of the past
I will resurrect it, I'll have a good go at it
I'll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes
I can feel his ghost breathing down my back
I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever
I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever
The real truth about it is no one gets it right
The real truth about it is we're all supposed to try
There ain't no end to the sands I've been trying to cross
The real truth about it is my kind of life's no better off
If I've got the maps or if I'm lost
We will try and know whatever we try,
We will be gone but not forever
Come on let's try will try and know whatever we try,
We will be gone but not forever
The real truth about it is there ain't no end to the desert I'll cross
I've really known that all along
Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Long dark blues
Will o the wisp
The big star is falling
Through the static and distance
A farewell transmission
Listen
Every light on this side of the town
Suddenly it all went down
Now we'll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sun
Now we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moon
Someone must have set us up
Now they'll be working in the cold grey rock,
Now they'll be working in the hot mill steam,
Now they'll be working in the concrete
In the sirens and the silences now all the great set up hearts -
All at once start to beat
After tonight if you don't want us to be a secret out of the past
I will resurrect it, I'll have a good go at it
I'll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes
I can feel his ghost breathing down my back
I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever
I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever
The real truth about it is no one gets it right
The real truth about it is we're all supposed to try
There ain't no end to the sands I've been trying to cross
The real truth about it is my kind of life's no better off
If I've got the maps or if I'm lost
We will try and know whatever we try,
We will be gone but not forever
Come on let's try will try and know whatever we try,
We will be gone but not forever
The real truth about it is there ain't no end to the desert I'll cross
I've really known that all along
Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Long dark blues
Will o the wisp
The big star is falling
Through the static and distance
A farewell transmission
Listen
Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget, edited by Mellow_Harsher, embassyrow, Ant292
Farewell Transmission Lyrics as written by Jason Molina
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
The song is about a desperate sort of sadness and regret that drives you away from everyone you know and love. The lyrics - a Farewell Transmission - can be read as sort of an explanation why he's going off on into the desert, literally or metaphorically. Boiled down, Jason is basically saying "I give up; I'm moving on" - whether it's a relationship or life itself (he did pretty much drink himself to death).
Desert imagery is woven throughout the lyrics - "there ain't no end to the sands that I'll cross", as well as references to death and the coldness of nature - fossil fire, fossil blood, dead moon, "dust my feathers with his ashes". He is acknowledging that something major in his life is ending, and that "there's no end to the desert I'll cross" (to get away from his problems or himself), ,and worse, "I've really known it all along".
My favorite line - "Must be the big star about to fall" - imparts a sense of impending doom - something big and bad is about to happen.
"Long dark blues" is a beautiful phrase because it has the obvious meaning about sadness, but it also uses that same imagery he uses throughout the song that makes you feel like he's singing to you in the desert on a cold night.
The ending stanza, as the music fades away and the instruments break off one by one until just vocals are left, is Jason describing how he's fading away, as he fades away. "Will of the wisp" (a floating ball of light), making his final sign-off, "through the static and distance".
The repeated "listen" in between "long dark blues" at the very end is his last warning to you not to do what he's done, because this is what it leads to.
@sp00bydoo Yes, but the real weight comes when you think that he had that level of resignation fully formed 10 years before he died.