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 was feeling sick, losing my mind
Heard about these treatments by a good friend of mine
He was always happy, smile on his face
He said he had a great time at the place
Peace and love is here to stay and now I can wake up and face the day
Happy-happy-happy all the time, shock treatment, I'm doing fine
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
I wanna-wanna shock treatment
I was feeling sick, losing my mind
Heard about these treatments by a good friend of mine
He was always happy, smile on his face
He said he had a great time at the place
Peace and love is here to stay and now I can wake up and face the day
Happy-happy-happy all the time, shock treatment, I'm doing fine
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
I wanna-wanna shock treatment
Heard about these treatments by a good friend of mine
He was always happy, smile on his face
He said he had a great time at the place
Peace and love is here to stay and now I can wake up and face the day
Happy-happy-happy all the time, shock treatment, I'm doing fine
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
I wanna-wanna shock treatment
I was feeling sick, losing my mind
Heard about these treatments by a good friend of mine
He was always happy, smile on his face
He said he had a great time at the place
Peace and love is here to stay and now I can wake up and face the day
Happy-happy-happy all the time, shock treatment, I'm doing fine
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
Gimme-gimme shock treatment
I wanna-wanna shock treatment
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment Lyrics as written by Jeff Hyman Douglas Colvin
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
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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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.
ramones started punk, but they lost their way in trying to make money. i think the real problem is the american dream, and that they focused too hard on north america, where punk can't really take off - there is too much hope. they stayed around way past their welcome, trying to succeed. that's why the brits succeeded so much (and why they are so popular in south america) - because if you were born in the slums, odds-on are that you were going to die there. whereas american you always hear stories of the poor bloke getting the football scholarship etc. people in american can't truly understand punk - you have to be british. and who cares what they music is like? punk isn't about that.
and what the hell is the song about?
England is a very small place and it is easier to become famous there then in America. America being ruled by a huge corporate music industry and the moral majority types kept punk in the underground for years. Personally I wish it had stayed there. I hate dealing with the masses thinking that stupid bands like blink 187 are punk. They are not and never have been.