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.
Is it still okay that I don't know how to be alone?
Would it be okay if I'd just came home tonight?
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
Woman downstairs just lost her mind
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
A storm hits the city and the lights go out
Before I can prepare
The whole downtown looks dark like no one lives there
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
The woman downstairs just lost her mind,
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
She'll be alright tomorrow
Neither of us is gonna sleep tonight
We've false hope
I hear you begging through the wall
A dying animal's last call
Is it still okay that I don't know how to be at all?
There's a party uptown but I just don't feel like I belong at all
Do I?
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
The woman downstairs just lost her mind,
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
Would it be okay if I'd just came home tonight?
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
Woman downstairs just lost her mind
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
A storm hits the city and the lights go out
Before I can prepare
The whole downtown looks dark like no one lives there
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
The woman downstairs just lost her mind,
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
She'll be alright tomorrow
Neither of us is gonna sleep tonight
We've false hope
I hear you begging through the wall
A dying animal's last call
Is it still okay that I don't know how to be at all?
There's a party uptown but I just don't feel like I belong at all
Do I?
We stay in the apartment on the upper west side
And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night
The woman downstairs just lost her mind,
And I don't care how, I surely don't care why
Why I know false hope
Why I know false hope
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More Featured Meanings
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Judging by the lyrics in paragraph two, this song takes place in late October or early November of 2012, when Hurricane Sandy knocked out electricity to the lower half of Manhattan.
I remember riding the bus into the city from Brooklyn at night (since trains weren’t running), marveling at how apocalyptic NYC felt without power. The most bizarre part was hitting 42nd St, which hadn’t been impacted, and seeing all the lights still blazing at Times Square. It felt so self-indulgent after the somber blackness of downtown, where so many people spent days in apartments and workplaces without power and hospitals struggled to keep patients alive on borrowed generators.
We see a similarly jarring disconnection with the song’s narrator. While the rest of the city deals with power outages and relief efforts, she stays in an apartment uptown (a relatively unimpaired area), and her “worst problem” is insomnia. Her downstairs neighbor, on the other hand, is literally losing her mind, but the narrator remains detached, dismissing her plight: “She’ll be all right tomorrow.”
Perhaps this is where the concept of false hope comes in. Maybe the narrator really is callous and disconnected, or maybe she recognizes a link between herself and the woman losing her mind. She realizes she doesn't belong uptown, where people and things are still normal, because she doesn't know how to be alone, or how to BE at all. She has more in common with the woman downstairs, and the neighbors downtown, who operate in darkness, disconnected from normalcy by a storm (internal or external) they didn't expect or have time to prepare for properly. The false hope is that this is a phase, a fleeting feeling. By tomorrow, everything will be back to normal. She'll feel ok, the neighbor will be all right, and the lights will come on across NYC, with no lasting damage to the city or its citizens. It's a false hope, and it allows her another sleepless night pretending not to care about the turmoil around and inside of her.
These are the lyrics as in the liner notes (some minor differences from above, which it won't let me edit):
Is it still OK that I don't know how to be alone? Would it be OK if I just came home tonight? We share an apartment on the upper west side And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night Woman downstairs, she's lost her mind And I don't care how, sure don't care why
Why no? False hope Why no? False hope
A storm hits the city and the lights go out before I can prepare The whole of downtown looks dark like no one lives there We share an apartment on the upper west side And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night Woman downstairs, she's lost her mind And I don't care how, sure don't care why
Why no? False hope Why no? False hope
She'll be alright tomorrow Neither of us are going to sleep tonight So it'll come slow I hear you banging through the wall A dying animal's last call
Is it still OK that I don't know how to be at all? There's a party uptown but I just don't feel like I belong at all Do I? We share an apartment on the upper west side And my worst problem is I don't sleep at night Woman downstairs, she's lost her mind And I don't care how, sure don't care why
Why no? False hope Why no? False hope