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.
"We've done four already but now we're steady
And then they went: One, two, three, four"
Singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain
Hitting on the moonshine, rocking in the grain
Got no time to pack my bags, my foots outside the door
I got a date, I can't be late, for the high hopes hailla ball, uh uh, uh uh, yeah
Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar
Play for free, I play for me and play a whole lot more, more!
Singing about the good things and the sun that lights the day
I used to sing on the mountains, has the ocean lost its way
I don't know, oh oh, yeah'
Ooh, yeah
Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day
Used to sing about the mountains but the mountains washed away
Now I'm singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart
She is only three years old and it's a real fine way to start
Oh yeah!
It sure is fine!
Ah blow my mind!
When the tears are goin' down!
Yeah! Yeah, yeah
Oh so, oh so, oh so good!
Oh so good!
And then they went: One, two, three, four"
Singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain
Hitting on the moonshine, rocking in the grain
Got no time to pack my bags, my foots outside the door
I got a date, I can't be late, for the high hopes hailla ball, uh uh, uh uh, yeah
Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar
Play for free, I play for me and play a whole lot more, more!
Singing about the good things and the sun that lights the day
I used to sing on the mountains, has the ocean lost its way
I don't know, oh oh, yeah'
Ooh, yeah
Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day
Used to sing about the mountains but the mountains washed away
Now I'm singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart
She is only three years old and it's a real fine way to start
Oh yeah!
It sure is fine!
Ah blow my mind!
When the tears are goin' down!
Yeah! Yeah, yeah
Oh so, oh so, oh so good!
Oh so good!
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Love in a Vacuum
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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?
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
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.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
The song isn't just about the crowds or his daughter, it's about both.
Plant narrates this exultant image of the crowds he sings to. He sang for the oceans and mountains of people, but now he sings for his daughter. This doesn't mean that he doesn't sing to oceans or mountains of people any longer, it just means that the emotion he is putting into his music is now for his daughter.
The song basically compares his daughter to the ocean, showing that he loves her more than any ocean or mountain (real or metaphorical) you could conceive of. Even if the mountains and oceans were or are great.
@nephos i like your interpretation
Has anyone ever put on their head phones, and cranked up this song extremely loud. Did you ever notice the squeek in John Bonhams bass drum pedal. Just an interesting little fault in a great album. This can also be heard in the song "Since I've Been Lovin You"
I had noticed it in Since I've Been Loving You but not this. I've noticed it in a couple of other too since but i don't remember which ones
Also on "Since I've been loving you" the most famous of squeeky bass pedal... here's what it said on Wikipedia about Since I've been loving you... lol<br /> <br /> This was one of the first songs prepared for the Led Zeppelin III album.[1] The song was recorded live in the studio with very little overdubbing. It was reportedly the hardest to record. Audio engineer Terry Manning called it "The best rock guitar solo of all time."John Paul Jones played Hammond organ on the song, using the bass pedals for the bassline.<br /> <br /> This recording was done using John Bonham's Ludwig Speed King model 201, the pedal he used for his entire career and which was known as the "Squeak King" because of the excessive squeaking that can be heard on some recordings, especially on this track.<br /> <br /> “ The only real problem I can remember encountering was when we were putting the first boxed set together. There was an awfully squeaky bass drum pedal on 'Since I've Been Loving You'. It sounds louder and louder every time I hear it! [laughs]. That was something that was obviously sadly overlooked at the time. ” <br /> —Jimmy Page, from Guitar World Magazine, 2003<br /> <br /> <br />
this is a song about Robert Plants 3 year old daughter.
"Now I'm singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart She is only three years old and it's a real fine way to start."
read that and then the lyrics again and it will all fall into place, hes just telling us all the fun hes had with her.
@Ben2k9 Thanks for a sec I thought Robert Plant was a pedo. I’m glad to know the real meaning now.
actually in response to "hometown_boys" it is about his daughter because in the later years during concerts he would add years for each one of her birthdays, some of the bootlegs he even elaborated on this topic...
What's with your name?
I can't believe none of you Zep fans out there have said yet how the line, "Singing to an ocean..." is a metaphor for the huge crowds (oceans of people) at their shows(Plant said so himself). So what do they mean by "Has the ocean lost it's way?" Does anyone know what the hell, "high hopes hailla ball" means? It doesn't even sound like what he actually says.
"The Hellhound" refers to Blues musician Robert Johnson, who according to legend, sold his soul to the devil. On the lyrics sheet that came with the album, the word "hellhound" was replaced with "high hopes hailla.
alright i got it. "we've done 4 already" they've done 4 albums. "singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain" have a good time rockin on stage. "i got a date for the high hopes hailla ball" means i got a date with millions of fans."has the ocean lost its way" means after 4 albums are u still my fans? and it ends up with them having their consert.
I think that bonham's count in might be referring to how many takes they've done of the song. "we've done four already but now we're steady" I just thought that might be it because page seems to be hanging on by the skin of his teeth during the solo. but hey, that's just me.
@metallica buff . Exactly. That's what I get too. I think its the years the band have been together too because it changes from 3 years old (studio version) to four on the tour.
this song is SO underrated, why don't more people talk about it?? i LOVE it!
This song rocks, I love when it comes on the radio at work. Such a catchy riff, great happy song that can put you in a good mood.
Awesome solo, as always.
Pantera - I'm broken's riff was taken from this song and elaborated.