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.
Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, "Be careful: his bowtie is really a camera,"
Toss me a cigarette I think there's one in the raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Kathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, "Be careful: his bowtie is really a camera,"
Toss me a cigarette I think there's one in the raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Kathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
Lyrics submitted by amgsl500, edited by georgeporter
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
when rules change
Life in Your Way
Life in Your Way
High life
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
I'm not sure what else to say about this song, except that it's truly a beautiful one, and very touching! I feel it refers to the elusive American Dream, the promise young people are assured as they set out on the world that they can conquer anything. A theme seen throughout the works of Hemmingway, Fiztgerald, and Kerouac, it is merely that: a dream. As the two lovers here progress on their journey, they run out of cigarettes, they grow bored, and they go to sleep. There is nothing left to do but count the cars in the turnpike, who are of couse all doing what they are doing- looking for America.
@carabiner86 - I agree wholeheartedly. I became an ardent fan of Simon & Garfunkel in the late 1960's when I was in high school (graduated in 1970). For me, this piece of Paul Simon's poetry in music definitely referred to a young couple trying to discover for themselves what life in America was all about. I was beginning to go through the process myself. I think it's all the more a poignant song in light of the Vietnam war which was claiming the lives of a great many people, including young American men who were being drafted. This song came right about the time when people were finally actively and publicly questioning why we were fighting that war. I love all the imagery contained in the lyrics. Paul Simon wrote so many poetic songs with deep meaning and lyrics that stood up as poetry and Simon & Garfunkel sang them so beautifully -- Songs like "America", "The Sound of Silence", "The Dangling Conversation" and "I Am a Rock", just to name a few. Their songs touched me in the center of myself, causing me to think and consider, and were, for me, a great help in my late teens and early 20's when I was struggling to discover myself. I still love this music -- I'm certain I always will.
@carabiner86, I agree entirely with your interpretation.
To me, Kathy is not with Paul in this song.
Paul mentions Kathy and, whilst it might seem like the way he is talking sounds like he's with her, if we delve deeper we could see that she isn't.
Kathy is Paul's lover who he met in England. However, she didn't want to know him when he was famous. In fact, she refused to talk to the media about him and refused to attend the re-opening of the train stop where Simon wrote Homeward Bound. She didn't want to be anything extraordinary. She was ordinary Kathy from round the corner.
Simon, on the other hand, wanted bigger things. He was going back to America (perhaps with Art as it mentions two people in the song) on a train. We can tell he missed Kathy who wasn't with him by the desperate phrases he uses - "Kathy, I'm lost," for example.
Back to my point: Kathy is not with him. This song is in the form of a letter. "Kathy, I sit" is him recounting his travels to her, action by action, in hope that she will respond and be interested.
"I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine." Whilst Simon is on his travels and all the way to America, she is at home, minding her own business, reading a magazine. Nothing special.
"Though I knew she was sleeping," is, to me, the most obvious. Whilst it might seem that she has merely become tired on this trip, what is actually happening (in my head, anyway), is Simon is yearning for her but, due to the time difference, she is sleeping. It is night time in ordinary England for ordinary Kathy but on the way to exciting Michigan, the day is nowhere near over for the thoughtful and almost desperate Paul Simon.
Anyway, that's my interpretation. If you have no idea who Kathy is (I Googled her because she features rather prominently in Simon's writings), then this is a beautiful love song. If you do, I hope you can understand the method to my madness. Even if we don't agree with each other, let's be honest: this is one of the best songs of all time, and we should admire it instead of bickering.
@georgeporter Not sure you're right but it's a really interesting interpretation!
@georgeporter - It's art. It's whatever you see it as. It doesn't belong in a box with a label. It we applied this thought process to everything in our lives, imagine what the world could look like.
@georgeporter I love your interpretation of this. Very plausible and gives the song a whole new meaning. Re your comment on knowing Kathy was sleeping, it may be that she is not hearing him. But as you say, a truly wonderful, tender, haunting, almost resigned but not completely without hope dues to its tenderness, enhanced by his velvet voice, and each snippet of a line is almost a short story in itself. As close to perfection as you can get.
@georgeporter Quoted from Wikipedia: "She was 16 and he was 22 when they began a relationship. Later that year [1964] they visited the U.S. together, touring around mainly by bus".<br /> <br /> Source: Jackson, Laura. Paul Simon: The Definitive Biography, Citadel Press 2004.<br /> <br /> I think your interpretation takes away the real pathos from this song. Just my 2 cents, of course. One of his best songs ever imho.
This song first came out when I was in high school, and it has been decades since I really paid any attention to it, but now - looking at the lyrics and singing the song in my head - I can appreciate the genius behind it.
Look at how the mood of the song slides from optimistic exuberance to a feeling of emptiness with each verse painting a slightly different mood among the two lovers. I especially like the transition from the silliness of “I said ‘Be careful his bowtie is really a camera’” to the impending gloom of "Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat".
WOW!! Absolutely beautiful.
I just love how from even the first few lines, there's this whole bittersweet feeling to it. Throughout the entire song, you can just feel it spiraling down...the cigarettes, the spy, the empty feeling...all leading up to that gorgeous line "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike." That line is absolutely beautiful, and it conveys such a profound feeling of chaos and being so lost in the midst of it. The lyrics are truly amazing.
Almost every time, like clockwork, I'm cruising through the beginnings of this tune, and as soon as I come to the lyric "...and the moon rose over an open field...", I well-up with tears. I don't even know exactly why. I think it is such a stark change in the tone of the song, that it smacks me in the face. It is just such an amazing song! When I heard David Bowie play this at "The Concert For NY" I was blown away. He sat in front of the audience, as an opener, crossed his legs and played the Casio synthesizer thing and sang this tune. It was amazing! Check it out on YT. Cheers to all you S&G fans out there!!
@thejabrother - I'm glad I'm not the only one! I listened to the song on the way into work, this morning, and had to gather myself, after that "...moon rose over an open field.." line, before leaving the car. I can never tell if it's the beautiful imagery or something hidden, deeper, in the meaning of the lyrics that does it. Whatever it is, it never fails to bring the tears to my eyes.
@thejabrother I know exactly what you mean. Even when I sing this song to myself with a guitar, that line does this to me. You can't help but hear it and feel, "Wow... that's sad..."<br /> That line is crafted very carefully. It's not just what's going on in the background while they roll along on the bus. He says "I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine". They are already unhappy, and isolating from each other. They start out as a couple on an adventure. They feel like they are special and America is just out there waiting for them. But now it's just him and her, each alone on the bus. The "moon" line emphasizes that America isn't special for them anymore. They are just small, and alone, and just like everyone else who sees the moon rise in the sky.
This song is so incredibly beautiful. I think it IS about the American dream.
Oh, piece of trivia - Paul Simon's girlfriend at the time was named Kathy and she was British, so it makes sense. See also "Kathy's Song," quite possibly one of the most beautiful songs ever written. The arrangement of "America" is easily better than that of "Kathy's Song", though.
the lyrics are so perfect because they play alongside a home movie of each listener's imprefect little life...
I am an old fart, but here is my contribution:
This song has haunted me since it first came out in my adolescence. Basically, it is describing the existential angst of looking for meaning in your life (America) outside yourself, not finding the answer and realizing that everyone else is looking for their meaning, also. We are all on the New Jersey turnpike, looking for America and we when we are the only one awake, we are empty and aching and we don't know why. The song perfectly describes the human condition.
Re the Michigan comment--the trip started in Michigan and as he looks back at his past life, that life seems like a dream--unreal--to him now. The only reality is the bus, the moon, and Kathy sleeping as the cars and trucks rush past in the dark.
The real estate is weed. Duh. I was there in those days. . . .
I love your explanation :)
oh, sweet! i didn't know that...about the bag-thanks for sharing!
@annie1030 I think this is the best comment I've read on this song. Good work.
I love how their songs are like little glimpses into random episodes of people's lives. I think this one is about two young people discovering themselves and the future, hippie-style. And Art's voice is simply beautiful.
I think it means that people come to America to find their dream and create a better life for themselves and yet he hasn't found that and he is looking for America even though he's there.
"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
I find myself asking this question all the time. But i dont think the america i would find today would be any help to the chaos.
"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together." "I've got some real estate here in my bag."
The Only Possesions you need can fit it a bag. I love it. Take Me.