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.
Here is the sound that photographs make
When I see them
When I hear them
I see regions of sharp precision
Over abundance
Over indulgence
Tied together with rope and twine
Stuck together with paste and glue
Two old planks of knotty pine
A couple of nails that poke right through.
When I see them
When I hear them
I see regions of sharp precision
Over abundance
Over indulgence
Tied together with rope and twine
Stuck together with paste and glue
Two old planks of knotty pine
A couple of nails that poke right through.
Lyrics submitted by wrat
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COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
i think the lyrics describe a picture. "When I see them When I hear them I see regions of sharp precision" meaning its a sharp picture and "Tied together with rope and twine Stuck together with paste and glue Two old planks of knotty pine A couple of nails that poke right through" is the picture. i dont know, thats just my interpretation.
and the whole song is "the sound that photographs make"
applestew, I think you're on the right track. To me, the sound that photographs make is something like nostalgia or a flood of memory. In this case, the nostalgia or memory has some mixed feelings associated with it. There are moments of clarity (i.e. "sharp precision"), but also captured in the photo are moments of reckless behavior (such as over abundance & indulgence - maybe getting too comfortable with a situation, taking a person for granted, or just being young & stupid). The clarity and the other stuff are all tied together in the photo and merged into one "sound" or memory. Perhaps the speaker uses the word sound to cleverly mask the meaning of the song, or maybe it is sound because it is a memory or an association of someone involved with music/the band/etc. Anywa, the two old planks of knotty pine seems like a metaphor for people who were once familiar to each other or familiar to the speaker - the fact that they're old suggests the passing of time, and the knotty part suggests that they've become hardened, more imperfect. I also like the use of the word pine as it has two meanings - pine as in the tree, and pine as in to pine away. As for the nails poking through, to me it means that looking at the memory (or hearing it - maybe sound = video) makes it sting a bit, and evokes a pain like nails puncturing through your skin. Just my thoughts, and a rather rough interpretation.