1
Upon the sand, upon the bay
"There is a quick and easy way" you say
Before you illustrate
I'd rather state
I'm not the man you think I am
I'm not the man you think I am
And sorrow's native son
He will not smile for anyone
And pretty girls make graves
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
End of the pier, end of the bay
You tug my arm, and say
"Give in to lust, give up to lust
Oh, heaven knows we'll soon be dust"
Oh, I'm not the man you think I am
I'm not the man you think I am
And sorrow's native son
He will not rise for anyone
And pretty girls make graves
(Oh, really?)
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
I could have been wild and I could have been free
But nature played this trick on me
She wants it now
And she will not wait
But she's too rough
And I'm too delicate
Then, on the sand
Another man, he takes her hand
A smile lights up her stupid face
And well, it would
I lost my faith in womanhood
I lost my faith in womanhood
I lost my faith
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
Hand in glove
The sun shines out of our behinds
Ooh-oh, ooh-oh
"There is a quick and easy way" you say
Before you illustrate
I'd rather state
I'm not the man you think I am
I'm not the man you think I am
And sorrow's native son
He will not smile for anyone
And pretty girls make graves
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
End of the pier, end of the bay
You tug my arm, and say
"Give in to lust, give up to lust
Oh, heaven knows we'll soon be dust"
Oh, I'm not the man you think I am
I'm not the man you think I am
And sorrow's native son
He will not rise for anyone
And pretty girls make graves
(Oh, really?)
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
I could have been wild and I could have been free
But nature played this trick on me
She wants it now
And she will not wait
But she's too rough
And I'm too delicate
Then, on the sand
Another man, he takes her hand
A smile lights up her stupid face
And well, it would
I lost my faith in womanhood
I lost my faith in womanhood
I lost my faith
Ooh-ooh-oh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh-ooh
Hand in glove
The sun shines out of our behinds
Ooh-oh, ooh-oh
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Pretty Girls Make Graves Lyrics as written by Johnny Marr Steven Morrissey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
"Pretty girls make graves" is said in "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac (p.29), during a chapter that talks about this little orgy that the main character is reluctant to take part of, partly because the girl was someone who persued him a lot the year before.
Oh, and the character is celibate.
It's an awesome book, you should read it. I'm talking about chapter 5.