So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
I want to be the one you wanna be with and if I get a chance then I'll show you
I just look at all this time we've spent getting nowhere near it
So much shit's gone down I don't know what to do
Well, honey, I could cry 'til you come over but it's me who needs to comfort you
Sometimes in my way you'll sense I'm sober
I got just enough time to make it through
Make up your mind if you want out
I'll help you climb your own way out
I couldn't find a reason to get out
If I'm left behind you won't be late now
I wanna touch the god that made you baby
I want to walk a thousand miles
Just to be there when the shit gets crazy and serenade you with my smile
I want to "fuck it all" and turn to starlight
I want to scream the world your name
I could live or die and maybe I might
Our love would still be the same
I wanna kill the pain that scares you lover
I wanna throw it all away
I want to thank the earth and bless your mother for bringing you to me
Say have you ever heard an owl from my home?
Have you ever cried across my name?
Can you imagine me shaking on that hilltop and screaming away your pain?
Make up your mind if you want out
I just look at all this time we've spent getting nowhere near it
So much shit's gone down I don't know what to do
Well, honey, I could cry 'til you come over but it's me who needs to comfort you
Sometimes in my way you'll sense I'm sober
I got just enough time to make it through
Make up your mind if you want out
I'll help you climb your own way out
I couldn't find a reason to get out
If I'm left behind you won't be late now
I wanna touch the god that made you baby
I want to walk a thousand miles
Just to be there when the shit gets crazy and serenade you with my smile
I want to "fuck it all" and turn to starlight
I want to scream the world your name
I could live or die and maybe I might
Our love would still be the same
I wanna kill the pain that scares you lover
I wanna throw it all away
I want to thank the earth and bless your mother for bringing you to me
Say have you ever heard an owl from my home?
Have you ever cried across my name?
Can you imagine me shaking on that hilltop and screaming away your pain?
Make up your mind if you want out
Lyrics submitted by bananahero
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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.
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Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
when rules change
Life in Your Way
Life in Your Way
High life
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Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate