1
Such a drag to want something sometime
One thing leads to another I know
Was a time wanted you for mine
Nobody knew
You arrived like a day
And passed like a cloud
I made a wish, I said it out loud
Out loud in a crowd
Everybody heard
It was the talk of the town
It's not my place to know what you feel
I'd like to know but why should I?
Who were you then, who are you now?
Common laborer by night, by day highbrow
Back in my room I wonder, then I
Sit on the bed, look at the sky
Up in the sky
Clouds rearrange
Like the talk of the town
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
You've changed your place in this world
You've changed your place in this world
Oh but it's hard to live by the rules
I never could and still never do
The rules and such never bothered you
You call the shots and they follow
I watch you still from a distance then go
Back to my room, you never know
I want you, I want you but now
Who's the talk of the town?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
You've changed your place in this world
You've changed your place in this world
One thing leads to another I know
Was a time wanted you for mine
Nobody knew
You arrived like a day
And passed like a cloud
I made a wish, I said it out loud
Out loud in a crowd
Everybody heard
It was the talk of the town
It's not my place to know what you feel
I'd like to know but why should I?
Who were you then, who are you now?
Common laborer by night, by day highbrow
Back in my room I wonder, then I
Sit on the bed, look at the sky
Up in the sky
Clouds rearrange
Like the talk of the town
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
You've changed your place in this world
You've changed your place in this world
Oh but it's hard to live by the rules
I never could and still never do
The rules and such never bothered you
You call the shots and they follow
I watch you still from a distance then go
Back to my room, you never know
I want you, I want you but now
Who's the talk of the town?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday
You've changed your place in this world
You've changed your place in this world
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Talk of the Town Lyrics as written by Christine Hynde
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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.
I love this song. And do you know what ? Shirley Manson liked it too (in case you d'ont know who Shirley Manson is, she is the singer of the group Garbage). In fact she is a big fan of Chrissie Hynde. That is why she sampled this song in their song "special". At first they did not get the autorisation from the labels etc, but then she asked directly Chrissie Hynde, who answered that, of course she could sample her song, and that she could even "sample [her] very arse" if she wanted to ! lol
What is the wish that she makes out loud to result in her being the 'Talk of the town'? Is it just some basic loin longing?
She's a daring person, so I think probably what she wished in loud voice when she was younger was something really able to provoke a big scandal in the town while he seemed to be the 'perfect guy' of the town and this turned the things even harder to her in the town, whose residents should think "don't mess around with him, bitch!". But the time always brings new 'exciting' gossips to those ones and she leaves to be the 'talk of the town' but she still owns hope about her chances with him and she expects one day he makes himself more human and less perfect... Then on another day he becomes the 'talk of the town' on calling a group of shots for making something...
Believe it or not , some pretenders experts agree , even Chrissie herself has eluded to it i think,,,,thet this song stems from her late 70s early 80s crush on Johnnie Rotten.....YES!!! that Johnnie Rotten from the sex pistols.......Chrissie claims that part of the saong is about a roadie or part of the crew that would always stand outsidetheir rehearsals or when they were leaving for a show and she would watch him stand there as they drove off....Interesting
saw the pretenders in concert aug 16th, 2009. she said this song was about a hanger on in their early days who would never speak, she wanted to get to know him but she never did.
I believe I heard before that this song was about someone she was on the road with. I can't recall if he was a fellow musician or what, but she could never tell him exactly how she felt at the time.
It would make sense... She wants him, but can't have him... wants to understand him and what he's been through, but knows she shouldn't ask too much. To me, the song seems like a mental struggle of "living by the rules" of what is acceptable.
Reminds me of the perfect guy I had a major crush on back than, than drugs took him and he 'changed his place in this world'...real sad song for me.