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.
It's the same old S.O.S.
But with brand new
Broken fortunes,
And once again I turn
To you
Once again, I do
I turn to you
It's the same old S.O.S
But with brand new
Broken fortunes
I'm the same
Underneath
But this, you
You surely knew
Life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
and if you don't know this
Then what do you know?
Every second of my life
I only live for you
And you can shoot me
And you can throw me off a train
I still maintain
I still maintain
Life, life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
and I've been shifting gears all of my life
But I'm still the same underneath
And this you surely knew
I can't reach you
I can't reach you
I can't reach you anymore
Can you please stop time?
Can you stop the pain?
I feel too cold
And now I feel too warm again
Can you stop this pain?
Can you stop this pain?
Even now in the final hour
Of my life
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Even now in the final hour
Of my life
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Again
Again
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Again
But with brand new
Broken fortunes,
And once again I turn
To you
Once again, I do
I turn to you
It's the same old S.O.S
But with brand new
Broken fortunes
I'm the same
Underneath
But this, you
You surely knew
Life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
Life, life is a pigsty
and if you don't know this
Then what do you know?
Every second of my life
I only live for you
And you can shoot me
And you can throw me off a train
I still maintain
I still maintain
Life, life is a pigsty
Life is a pigsty
and I've been shifting gears all of my life
But I'm still the same underneath
And this you surely knew
I can't reach you
I can't reach you
I can't reach you anymore
Can you please stop time?
Can you stop the pain?
I feel too cold
And now I feel too warm again
Can you stop this pain?
Can you stop this pain?
Even now in the final hour
Of my life
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Even now in the final hour
Of my life
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Again
Again
I'm falling in love again
Again
Again
Again
Lyrics submitted by powderfinger01
Life Is a Pigsty Lyrics as written by Steven Patrick Morrissey Alain Gordon Whyte
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
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Im forced to concur with so many here. Especially xdarkentries and girl least likely.
How does morrisey consistently thread this fine needle? Humour, and pain. When I'm not amused and deeply feeling every inch of this sone lines like " shoot me or throw me off a train" are so dramatic i cant help but feel a twinge of empathetic pain...and yet i can't help but giggle a bit too!
And when i'm happy he can still bring me back to this drafty damp place, wandering shells of building, mourning some imagined lost love. A true artist writer and performer every inch.. Thanks Moz. I hear you voice in my head and think of you kindly.
I get the feeling that last line is much darker than most people interpret it. I don't think he's insinuating that he's found someone to fall in love with again, contrasting the stark reality of death, as most people would seem to conclude. I think he's saying that in his final hour, he's accepted the fact he's going to die and he's fallen in love with that reality.
This whole album seems preoccupied with the realities of getting older and dying. Morrissey has always written about pain and sadness, but this album in particular has an extremely dark subject matter, concerned specifically with a kind of finality and an focus specifically on getting on in life and death.
This is easily one of Moz's most beautiful songs. It has an almost kind of "dumb" honesty to it, where some of the lines, if written by anyone else would be considered bland, passe, flip, or potentially even just bad writing, but Morrissey has an amazing sense of juxtaposition and the whole is greater the sum of its parts, and the whole is one of the most blisteringly devastating songs ever written.
@mortsubite well said
Mozz has this wonderful way of conveying emotion and hitting my heart while making me smile. The line about throwing him off a train just ruins my composure.
keli_1989, you definitely need to get out more; the world is FULL of pigs (and crashing bores). If you don't know this, then what do you know?
Definitely one of the best build-up songs, even if the lyrics do lack a bit of detail.
InsertEmoNameHere, you're quite right. I adore the album version of this song, but there is NOTHING like hearing it live. It hits you right in the gut.
One of my (many) favorite bits is:
I feel too cold And now I feel too warm again
It's so simple, but it immediately conveys an absolute discomfort and restless unhappiness. Morrissey has, in my opinion, always been very good at using physical details to represent emotional or mental states, and this is a perfect example of that.
This has one of the best build ups i've ever heard
This song is so sad. It makes me cry
Keli_1989, from your username I'm guessing you're 17/18... u just wait a few years and then you'll be jaded like the rest of us! ;-)
Great song by the way
You dont need to be older than 17/18 to know that life is a pigsty. I quickly found that out years ago. Thats the reason I got into Morrissey and The Smiths. This songs one of his best solo efforts and great live. To its meaning, well the name says it all.
I think this song represents Morrisey's Job-like lamentations about the pain and distress of life. One gets one's hopes up, things seem to get better for a time, and then the crash comes and one finds new "broken fortunes." Morrisey also reflects that even after all his fame and fortune, "I'm the same underneath"--a reference, no doubt, to unhealed childhood traumas that no amount of wealth and fame can heal.
And yet for all his agony and angst, Moz loves life and the Source of life, to which this song is addressed: ("Every second of my life I only live for you.")
Yet like Job, who suffered so much at the hands of God, for no apparent reason, Morrisey questions why he must endure all the pain: "Can you please stop time?/Can you stop the pain?" Like Job, he WILL speak his mind to God, consequences be damned: "And you can shoot me, and you can throw me off a train/I still maintain/Life is a pigsty."
By the song's end he has come full circle, from the opening's distress and broken fortunes; he has not given up on life or on God; though he is angry and hurt, he cannot give up, and even in "the final hour of my life/ I am falling in love again."