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.
Gold road's sure a long road
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
Gold road's sure a long road
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
I'm no clown, I won't back down, don't need you to tell me what's going down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
I'm standing alone, I'm watching you all, I'm seeing you sinking
I'm standing alone, you're weighing the gold, I'm watching you sinking
Fool's gold
These boots weren't made for walking
The marquis de sade never made no boots like these
Gold's just around the corner
Breakdown's coming up round the bend
Sometimes you have to try to get along dear
I know the truth and I know what you're thinking
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
I'm standing alone, I'm watching you all, I'm seeing you sinking
I'm standing alone, you're weighing the gold, I'm watching you sinking
Fool's gold
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
Gold road's sure a long road
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
I'm no clown, I won't back down, don't need you to tell me what's going down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
I'm standing alone, I'm watching you all, I'm seeing you sinking
I'm standing alone, you're weighing the gold, I'm watching you sinking
Fool's gold
These boots weren't made for walking
The marquis de sade never made no boots like these
Gold's just around the corner
Breakdown's coming up round the bend
Sometimes you have to try to get along dear
I know the truth and I know what you're thinking
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down
I'm standing alone, I'm watching you all, I'm seeing you sinking
I'm standing alone, you're weighing the gold, I'm watching you sinking
Fool's gold
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
I heard it's about ian's brother who was in the army, 'pack on my back in aching, straps seem to cut me like a knife' and 'these boots were made for walking' are lines which could certainly back this up. maybe he's emphasising on the fact that people want glory for fighting for their country, 'I'm no clown I won't back down' is the opinion of people who don't want to be called a coward for not going to war. It's what propaganda did to people, made them believe they were cowards for not fighting (or should we say dying?) for their country. But really, the're not going to get glory for going to war, the're getting a fool's victory. Fool's gold.
boomp bomp bubba bubba bomp bubba bubba bubba bu bomp bomp.. the bass line is bitchin'
Its about avaracious desire and rejecting the selfish greed that surrounds us all.
It's based around the character development of Humphry Bogart and co ithe classic Treasure Of Sierra Madre film from the 1940s. "I'm standing alone, I'm watching you all.." Bogart and his friends go gold prospecting in the mountains and slowly greed turns him insane and jealous. If you think about it on another level it's also Brown commenting on the band's slow and rocky rise to fame. In hindsight it's his greatest set of lyrics ever as it really shows what happened to the Roses. The greed of manager Gareth Evans and the drugs and fall-outs which destroyed the band. He wrote it before his fallout with Squire but now it just speaks volumes about Squire. Incidentally it's the greatest single of all time, almost 20 years after I first heard it still.
withnails...you hit it right on<br /> Brown could see what was coming & put it into a great dance/rock/pop song...arguably their best<br />
No way do I think this song's about addiction. To me this song's about greed and capitalism and how people set themselves up for a fall by trying to climb "the greasy pole" of success and the disdain that people with money and success feel about others below them. I think it uses prospectors in the gold rush in the US as a metaphor for this.
just think it's about greed.
If you want to hear a song about smack, listen to Hey Jude.
Anybody heard from Squire?
To me this song is about how good it is to be right, in a kind of "told you so" way. You know it's fool's gold and you just sit back, relax and watch them sink into the mire.
Sure some of you know this song was used for the last scene of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells"
And any other song would have ruined the scene, in comparison. It's that good.
Squire and Brown went hitching round europe, im sure i read that this refers to that in some way. My take is that its telling some girl to stop being so money obsessed. Got to be one of the most poetic dance songs ever recorded and the de Sade line is sh*t hot.
I'd have to agree with hipshot, the Marquis de Sade reference is absolutely fantastic. If there's one good example of Ian Brown and ohn Squire working together, it's this. Classic Roses, if I were to compile my own personal Stone Roses greatest hits this would be on it, no mistake.