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.
Whatever truth will reveal tomorrow, it's a lie
A cup of poison will always join us, for a while
And we'll laugh for a while
And we'll die, for a while
And then we'll blame us self for a wild routine
Ground zero, we're back to one
We can't combine
We can't combine
Happy with the life they gave us, from day one
What disappears without a trace, reappears and we just approve
What we need, is a waist, solutions dissolves in our hands
We won't except that we understand
Destruction completes the man
No matter what time will give us
No matter if it slips away
You should have burned me blind
Now I'm shining through
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
We can't combine
Shadows merging
People laughing
The sun shines threatening
Concrete tasting
Steel avoiding
Love exploiting
Hate awakening
Missing, can't hide
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
We can't combine
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
A cup of poison will always join us, for a while
And we'll laugh for a while
And we'll die, for a while
And then we'll blame us self for a wild routine
Ground zero, we're back to one
We can't combine
We can't combine
Happy with the life they gave us, from day one
What disappears without a trace, reappears and we just approve
What we need, is a waist, solutions dissolves in our hands
We won't except that we understand
Destruction completes the man
No matter what time will give us
No matter if it slips away
You should have burned me blind
Now I'm shining through
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
We can't combine
Shadows merging
People laughing
The sun shines threatening
Concrete tasting
Steel avoiding
Love exploiting
Hate awakening
Missing, can't hide
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
We can't combine
We can't combine
This city laws regret with time,
This splintered doors even if fear remains tomorrow
Or if everything goes away
We can't combine
Lyrics submitted by liquidmercurial, edited by DodgerFuckYou
Regret Lyrics as written by Sebastian R. Komor Ole Anders Olsen
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
The ACTUAL lyrics are:
Whatever truth we'll reveal tomorrow It's a lie A cup of poison will always join us For a while And we'll laugh For a while And we'll die For a while And then we'll blame ourself for a wild routine Ground zero We're back to one We can't combine
We can't combine
Happy with the life they gave us From day one What disappears without a trace Reappears and we just approve What we need Is a waste Solution dissolves in our hands We won't expect that we understand Destruction completes the man
No matter what time will give us No matter if it slips away You should have burned me blind Now I'm shining through We can't combine These city walls regret with time These splintered doors Even if fear remains tomorrow Or if everything goes away We can't combine
We can't combine
Shadows Merging People Laughing The sun shines Threatening Concrete Tasting Still Avoiding Love Exploiting Hate Awakening Missing Can't hide
We can't combine These city walls regret with time These splintered doors Even if fear remains tomorrow Or if everything goes away We can't combine These city walls regret with time These splintered doors Even if fear remains tomorrow Or if everything goes away We can't combine
We can't combine
We can't combine
These city walls regret with time These splintered doors Even if fear remains tomorrow Or if everything goes away We can't combine