So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Please tell me what is taking place
'Cause I can't seem to find a trace
Guess it must have got erased somehow
Probably 'cause I always forget
Every time someone tells me their name
It's always gotta be the same
(In my World)
Never wore cover-up
Always beat the boys up
Grew up in a 5000 population town
Made my money by cutting grass
Got fired by fried chicken ass
All in a small town, Napanee
You know I always stay up without sleepin'
And think to myself
Where do I belong forever
In whose arms, the time and place?
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
I never spend less than an hour
Washin' my hair in the shower
It always takes 5 hours to make it straight
So I'll braid it in a zillion braids
Though it may take all friggen day
There's nothin' else better to do anyway
When you're all alone in the lands of forever
Lay under the milky way
On and on it's getting too late out
I'm not in love this time this night
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
Take some time
Mellow out
Party up
But don't fall down
Don't get caught
Sneak out of the house
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
'Cause I can't seem to find a trace
Guess it must have got erased somehow
Probably 'cause I always forget
Every time someone tells me their name
It's always gotta be the same
(In my World)
Never wore cover-up
Always beat the boys up
Grew up in a 5000 population town
Made my money by cutting grass
Got fired by fried chicken ass
All in a small town, Napanee
You know I always stay up without sleepin'
And think to myself
Where do I belong forever
In whose arms, the time and place?
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
I never spend less than an hour
Washin' my hair in the shower
It always takes 5 hours to make it straight
So I'll braid it in a zillion braids
Though it may take all friggen day
There's nothin' else better to do anyway
When you're all alone in the lands of forever
Lay under the milky way
On and on it's getting too late out
I'm not in love this time this night
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
Take some time
Mellow out
Party up
But don't fall down
Don't get caught
Sneak out of the house
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
Can't help if I space in a daze
My eyes tune out the other way
I may switch off and go in a daydream
In this head my thoughts are deep
But sometimes I can't even speak
Would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World
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More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
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.
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
Gadjits, The
He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I named my site after this song ^_^ landofforever.nl - not finished yet... Thanks Avril, you're great :)