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.
Well, I wonder
"Do you hear me when you sleep?"
I hoarsely cry (why?)
Well, I wonder
Do you see me when we pass?
I half-die
Please, keep me in mind
Please, keep me in mind
Gasping, but somehow still alive
This is the fierce last stand of all I am
Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive
This is the final stand of all I am
Please, keep me in mind
Well, I wonder
Well, I wonder
Please, keep me in mind
Oh, keep me in mind
Keep me in mind
"Do you hear me when you sleep?"
I hoarsely cry (why?)
Well, I wonder
Do you see me when we pass?
I half-die
Please, keep me in mind
Please, keep me in mind
Gasping, but somehow still alive
This is the fierce last stand of all I am
Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive
This is the final stand of all I am
Please, keep me in mind
Well, I wonder
Well, I wonder
Please, keep me in mind
Oh, keep me in mind
Keep me in mind
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its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
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Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
this is one of my all time favourites. what makes it even sadder is that he says ' do you see me when we pass' which suggests to me that the person whom he desperately loves does not even know he exists... thats the killer and also what makes it so pathetic...
unrequited love. simple as that.
Totally agree. It's plain, direct and beautiful. It captures everything about wanting somebody but being unable to tell the person. Passively hoping. Dreaming, but doubting.
gasping - dying - but somehow still alive this is the final stand of all i am
thank God for elizabeth smart, urging young morrissey on to write these words down and toy with the idea of throwing them into a song with a beautiful melody. please don't forget me, keep me in mind. oh how wish they would look back on us like we do them when we sit in our room and play this song over and over, tossing and turning in our bed, wiping the tears from our face, hoping the world would just swallow us and forget us. but they can't forget us. our obsession musn't forget us. please keep us in mind. keep us in mind.
oh God, it's raining outside.
Most likely one of the best songs of all time - So straight and to the point... The lyrics in combination with the music just refuses to leave me alone. Wonderful.
A not so well known or celebrated SMITHS Song, but quite possibly their best. The true SMITHS aficionados know its a gem. A perfect fusion of music and lyric. Simple, but raw. The Song is so beautiful, haunting, it never leaves you.. The last 30 seconds of Marr's guitar just get me, and Morrissey rarely sings better. Wonderful.
to me it is the saddest smiths-song... together with asleep, i guess. i don't know how many times i lay there listening to it and being depressed in a so sweet way.
To me. The lyrics sound like its about someone you were with and deeply in love with. And whenever you see them they seem like they have moved on. and you wonder if they still think of you.
This song never fails to make me teary-eyed. Beautiful music, and Morrissey singing mellifluously about unrequited love...the kind of thing that made the Smiths great.
Indescribably sad this one, this seems to be the fierce last stand of his attempt to force his will and his love on another person. I kinda get the sense too that his is a love that is not responded to or welcomed. the possibility that he might be remembered at least is the only thing keeping him slightly alive. so sad tears well up in my heart every time.
Yeah. If I was an actor I would listen to this or "Asleep" before doing a crying scene, . So sad.