Voices Carry

I read these lyrics to my husband, who is a song writer and he immediately said " the guy is married and doesn't want anyone to find out about the other girl or he just wants to play around and not get deeply involved" Makes sense to me. I didn't hear any abuse until the other readers suggested it, just the fact that he was keeping her a secret from others.

It's a story about what happens all the time. A woman is with a man and wants more from him than he is willing to give. Most women have been in a relationship like that.

I remember hearing that this song was about her relationship with Al Jourgenson from Ministry.

"Mann acquired this unflappable composure over a tumultuous career, which began in Boston’s punk scene (her first band, The Young Snakes, featured college chum Al Jourgenson, with whom Mann briefly played in an early incarnation of Ministry). The Berklee College dropout formed the New Wave outfit ’Til Tuesday in 1983 with then—boyfriend Michael Hausman. The band struck gold two years later with “Voices Carry,” a wrenching account of an oppressive love affair."

She's afraid to know the truth of his mind. He only wants her part of the time. He tells her "she" might overhear. To mention "Tear him away," "trouble I'll get," and the mention of the other woman, who is to be feared by both speaks to the fact that she is acquainted with his wife/ or other woman.

She's obviously his mistress and he likes her but he wants to keep it a secret because it would mean trouble if his regular girl found out.

I thought she said "Oh hush, keep down now, This is Carrey" Errrr I know... Finally I found out on VH1 that it was Voices Carry. Hah!

yeah, not really because Wikipedia says it was originally about a woman and they were made to change the gender.

I wonder if Aimee Mann is gay/bi or if it's just made up or from the perspective of someone she knows.

I agree with the user before me. She's singing about what it's like to be a mistress. The guy is to preoccupied with getting caught they will never have a deep connection.

I think it is about Michael Hausman, it's great because she told him she's falling in love with him, and his response is "keep it down, someone (another girl I'm interested in) might find out, keep it a secret", and she made a hit song about it and shouted it all over the radio! Voices do indeed carry! I always thought he was trying to keep her "on the down low" so he could date other women ("she might overhear"). He is abusive in trying to "keep her in line", make her hide her feelings, her tears, etc. "He said shut up." Good art in that she had trouble dealing with this in her life but was able to shout about it in her art.

This is an exquisite song and the video for it was equally exquisite—odd for a song about a controlling relationship. I agree in thinking Mann wrote this about her love affair with Michael Hausman—a band member who later became her manager and remains so. In many ways it depicts a kind of Svengali deal where Hausman was no doubt trying to mold a reluctant and frustrated Mann into a star. She wanted a lover while Hausman was doing what he does best—managing the business and I don’t say this with criticism for either one of them. We are what we are and we do what we can do best.

I ran into this song ironically with my angel who showed up in my life much to my surprise and bewilderment, behaving like such a Svengali. In our performance art chapters, we could perform this song with our eyes closed. Not a direct analogy, the hush hush was more a joke—with me saying, for an angel who claims he wants to keep this private, you are certainly broadcasting like a foghorn.

Being fairly dramatic and feeling put upon often, I was fond of shrieking at him—when I would play the song—“he wants me but only part of the time … he wants me, if he can keep me in line”. On the other hand, he never told me to shut up although he would remind me that this Sicilian I had worked for did—and of course I didn’t shut up. Where the hell did he think he was? Sicily? And I didn’t wish the angel would let me talk—we talked enough for two and then some.

I always thought it was about abuse and keep it down was like the neighbors are gonna hear. now tha i know the story of the relationship with the drummer it makes perfect sense. No doubt that's the real motivation. Anyway one of the greatest songs of the 80's. takes me back to my childhood memories of that particular summer. One of the songs high on my list of the soundtrack that is my life