1
There's a stranger in a car
Driving down your street
Acts like he knows who you are
Slaps his hand on the empty seat and says
"Are you gonna get in
Or are you gonna stay out?"
Just a stranger in a car
Might be the one they told you about
Well you never were one for cautiousness
You open the door
He gives you a tender kiss
And you can't even hear them no more
All the voices of choices
Now only one road remains
And strangers in a car
Two hearts
Two souls
Tonight
Two lanes
You don't know where you're goin'
You don't know what you're doin'
Hell it might be the highway to heaven
And it might be the road to ruin
But this is a song
For strangers in a car
Baby maybe that's all
We really are
Strangers in a car
(Driving down your street)
Just strangers in a car
(Driving down your street)
Strangers in a car
Driving down your street
Acts like he knows who you are
Slaps his hand on the empty seat and says
"Are you gonna get in
Or are you gonna stay out?"
Just a stranger in a car
Might be the one they told you about
Well you never were one for cautiousness
You open the door
He gives you a tender kiss
And you can't even hear them no more
All the voices of choices
Now only one road remains
And strangers in a car
Two hearts
Two souls
Tonight
Two lanes
You don't know where you're goin'
You don't know what you're doin'
Hell it might be the highway to heaven
And it might be the road to ruin
But this is a song
For strangers in a car
Baby maybe that's all
We really are
Strangers in a car
(Driving down your street)
Just strangers in a car
(Driving down your street)
Strangers in a car
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Strangers in a Car Lyrics as written by Marc Cohn
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.
saw marc in concert tonight. he was awesome! he said that this song was about a dream he had one night about a decade ago. said that he still doesn't know what it means either. :)
I found this explanation on a marc cohn forum: "I do recall with certainty Marc explaining that the song came about from a dream he was having where someone was abducted. He woke and went straight to the piano where the wonderful chords progression emerged. He then started singing the song and wrote the lyrics in about 20 minutes."
I'm not a fan of marc cohn, but this song is one of my all time favourites...
i can't believe there are so few comments on this song. from the moment my boyfriend played it me, i've loved it and it is in my opinion one of the best songs ever written. the chord progression is amazing, and the way he changes it on the "intense" moments from D/F G to G D is fantastic. ilove the lyrics because they could apply to so many things, such as two lovers and how no one really knows what will happen - "You don't know where you're goin' You don't know what you're doin' Hell it might be the highway to heaven And it might be the road to ruin"
"Baby maybe that's all We really are" - this line is delivered so emotionally and together with the music, it moves me to tears every time i hear it. i love this song.
xUnbreakablex, I agree that this song is underrated. I'm a big Cohn fan, especially of his latest and his very early works. This song means so much to me, no matter what inspired it. I think it is such a beautiful song and I find that every time I hear it, it evokes such strong emotions in me.
I always thought (even though he made a comment about an abduction, which casts quite a different light on things) that this was about taking a chance on someone, taking a chance on that stranger who "might be the one they told you about." For me, it is about that person always standing in the background, who knows you so well, and all that it would take was taking that leap, trusting that the person will be there to catch you. I also think that his line at the end, "Baby, maybe that's all we really are," is a dooming of the relationship--he realizes that maybe this love that seemed to fated isn't going to happen; that maybe it is meant to be but people's fears hold them back, so they are left with just two hearts and souls on different paths.
Man, comments around here are sparse! This song needs some more love.
To me, as to other people on here, this song is largely about taking risks in life. You have lots of choices to make in your life, but you can't choose all of them. You have to take a chance and make a singular choice, the "one road".
The part about "...that's all we really are: strangers in a car" means to me that we're all in the same boat, so to speak. We don't really know many other people in this world as we drift along in our lives and most of us are strangers to each other, but we're all human beings who have choices to make and lives to lead.