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.
Ladies up in here tonight
No fighting
We got the refugees up in here (no fighting)
No fighting
Shakira, Shakira
I never really knew that she could dance like this (hey)
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body (uno, dos, tres, cuatro)
I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie (no fighting)
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see, baby, this is perfection?
Hey, girl, I can see your body moving
And it's driving me crazy
And I didn't have the slightest idea
Until I saw you dancing (yeah)
And when you walk up on the dance floor
Nobody cannot ignore the way you move your body, girl (just move)
And everything so unexpected, the way you right and left it
So you can keep on shaking it (let's go)
I never really knew that she could dance like this
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body (no fighting)
I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie (no fighting)
And I'm starting to feel you, boy
Come on, let's go, real slow
Don't you see, baby, así es perfecto?
Babe, I know I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see, baby, this is perfection? (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, boy, I can see your body moving
Half animal, half man
I don't, don't really know what I'm doing
But you seem to have a plan
My will and self-restraint
Have come to fail now, fail now
See, I'm doing what I can, but I can't so you know
That's a bit too hard to explain (uno, dos, tres, cuatro)
Baila en la calle de noche (yeah)
Baila en la calle de día (let's go)
Baila en la calle de noche
Baila en la calle de día
I never really knew that she could dance like this
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You know you got me hypnotized
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body
Señorita, feel the conga
Let me see you move like you come from Colombia
(Yeah, oh)
Yeah (ladies sí) (yeah yeah)
(Hey, yeah)
¡Mira en Barranquilla se baila así, say it! (yeah)
En Barranquilla se baila así (yeah)
Hey, brra
Yeah, she's so sexy, every man's fantasy
A refugee like me back with the Fugees from a third world country
I go back like when 'Pac carried crates for Humpty Humpty
We leave the whole club dizzy
Why the CIA wanna watch us?
Colombians and Haitians
I ain't guilty, it's a musical transaction
Bo bop so bop, no more do we snatch ropes
Refugees run the seas 'cause we own our own boats (no fighting)
I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel you, boy
Come on, let's go, real slow
Baby, like this is perfecto (no fighting)
Oh, you know I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
The attraction, the tension
Baby, like this is perfection
No fighting
No fighting
No fighting
We got the refugees up in here (no fighting)
No fighting
Shakira, Shakira
I never really knew that she could dance like this (hey)
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body (uno, dos, tres, cuatro)
I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie (no fighting)
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see, baby, this is perfection?
Hey, girl, I can see your body moving
And it's driving me crazy
And I didn't have the slightest idea
Until I saw you dancing (yeah)
And when you walk up on the dance floor
Nobody cannot ignore the way you move your body, girl (just move)
And everything so unexpected, the way you right and left it
So you can keep on shaking it (let's go)
I never really knew that she could dance like this
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You make a woman go mad
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body (no fighting)
I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie (no fighting)
And I'm starting to feel you, boy
Come on, let's go, real slow
Don't you see, baby, así es perfecto?
Babe, I know I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see, baby, this is perfection? (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, boy, I can see your body moving
Half animal, half man
I don't, don't really know what I'm doing
But you seem to have a plan
My will and self-restraint
Have come to fail now, fail now
See, I'm doing what I can, but I can't so you know
That's a bit too hard to explain (uno, dos, tres, cuatro)
Baila en la calle de noche (yeah)
Baila en la calle de día (let's go)
Baila en la calle de noche
Baila en la calle de día
I never really knew that she could dance like this
She make a man wanna speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? (Sí), bonita (sí)
Mi casa, su casa (Shakira, Shakira)
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
You know you got me hypnotized
So be wise (sí) and keep on (sí)
Reading the signs of my body
Señorita, feel the conga
Let me see you move like you come from Colombia
(Yeah, oh)
Yeah (ladies sí) (yeah yeah)
(Hey, yeah)
¡Mira en Barranquilla se baila así, say it! (yeah)
En Barranquilla se baila así (yeah)
Hey, brra
Yeah, she's so sexy, every man's fantasy
A refugee like me back with the Fugees from a third world country
I go back like when 'Pac carried crates for Humpty Humpty
We leave the whole club dizzy
Why the CIA wanna watch us?
Colombians and Haitians
I ain't guilty, it's a musical transaction
Bo bop so bop, no more do we snatch ropes
Refugees run the seas 'cause we own our own boats (no fighting)
I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel you, boy
Come on, let's go, real slow
Baby, like this is perfecto (no fighting)
Oh, you know I'm on tonight, my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
The attraction, the tension
Baby, like this is perfection
No fighting
No fighting
Lyrics submitted by xox_pandie_xox, edited by mamadiano
Hips Don't Lie Lyrics as written by Wyclef Jean Shakira Mebarak
Lyrics © LANFRANCO MUSIC, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
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He certainly did earn that reputation.
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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.
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
There's a side to all of us where honesty comes from. For Shakira, it is the hip and only from this endeavor does the essence of the soul leak out. "Oh baby when you talk like that..." She refers to how men make her hips move back and forth back and forth back and forth such as imitating the thrusting motion of a woman we all know intimately well. just imagine Shakira going back and forth back and forth and you will know that her Hips Don't Lie.