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You jump in front of the bullet The family put you to it You might survive the first thousand shots back to the end of the line You hold the will to survive them Answer to those you have failed Time to clean your room and show you are able to stop beating yourself down You've arrived A wealth of respect A world of regard You've always belonged You have to go on I just want you to feel the gun in your hand You used to hold aspiration You couldn't see the limitations Even in your youth you were unsurpassed but driven by grief and it couldn't last Sometimes promise sometimes goodbye Confessed to all through bloodshot eyes I just want you to feel the gun in your hand It only breaks you until you get off I'm not gonna watch you kill yourself to live It's all so average until you get off I'm not gonna wait here until the body's cold
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
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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.
So he has this friend whose family has pushed him into this life that he doesn't really want. He has failed initially ("answer to those you have failed..."), but with a lot of effort he turns his life around ("time to clean your room and show you are able to stop beating yourself down"). Now he has this life that everyone has wanted for him ("you've arrived, a wealth of respect, a world of regard, you've always belonged...").
But the message of the song is that it doesn't have to be this way. the next part is "you have to go on, i just want you to feel the gun in your hand". The next verse talks about the struggle this person went through to get all of his success etc. I think the most telling line is "... i'm not gonna watch you kill yourself to live". This guy is pleasing others by finding success ("living"), but killing himself in the process.
The end of the quote fits the song the most. "Before you run out and change the world, ask yourself, what do you really want?" The point is do what you want. Take control of your life. Although when I listen to this song I kinda feel like he's advocating suicide, giving his friend a gun to kill himself with.