1
Airplanes
Take you away again
Are you flying
Above where we live
Then I look up a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night
I'm not but I like rivers that rush in
So then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead
For you the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net
You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I don't hold on
To the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly then boy
Balloons
Look good from on the ground
I fear with pins and needles around
We may fall then stumble
Upon a carousel
It could take us anywhere
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly boy
Take you away again
Are you flying
Above where we live
Then I look up a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night
I'm not but I like rivers that rush in
So then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead
For you the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net
You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I don't hold on
To the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly then boy
Balloons
Look good from on the ground
I fear with pins and needles around
We may fall then stumble
Upon a carousel
It could take us anywhere
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly boy
Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce
Sleeps with Butterflies Lyrics as written by Tori Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
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.
This song is about the aftermath of a larger-than-life one-night stand seen from the perspective of a girl who’s very clear-headed about what she did.
For some reason, they knew in advance the sparks would fly sky-high once they engaged. And so it was.
She is fully aware the guy may have trouble committing, probably due to geography or his career: he’s the acrobat, and even though they were together just the night before, he’s already flown away; that’s his routine.
She won’t push. She won’t hold him down.
Maybe she’s not like the girls he’s used to, in the sense that she is not as rich or famous or accomplished. But she sleeps with butterflies.
And this is why, upon reading the other comments, I chose to add my two cents. To me, this is a purely lyrical image. Butterflies are no metaphor to explain the kind of guy she sleeps with; neither is it about change.
It’s the scene: a simple yet pretty girl lying down in peaceful sleep as beautiful, colorful butterflies gently hover over her. It’s her little peace of magic; her being wrapped in some sort of wonder.
She’s not like the girls he knows, BUT she’s worth coming home to. The night will be kissing away (that is, people will be kissing away in the night), but she’ll be at peace, wrapped in her own wonder, waiting for him.
And then comes the best part: the very lyrical, dreamlike thought of flying away with him in a balloon, balanced by down-to-earth considerations (balloons look good from the ground, but they may get pierced by needles and pins scattered around), and then an incredibly lyrical final nod to chance — if their balloon gets pierced and falls to the ground, they may stumble upon a spinning carousel that may take them anywhere. If their story won’t always be high-flying, the spinning wheel of chance will tell where it goes when it hits the ground.
And she’s okay with that.
It’s the tale of a humble yet magical girl who was never afraid to give her all.