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.
I'm going back to 505
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs
Stop and wait a sec
When you look at me like that, my darlin', what did you expect?
I'd probably still adore you with your hands around my neck
Or I did last time I checked
Not shy of a spark
The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark
Frightened by the bite, though it's no harsher than the bark
The middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start
I'm going back to 505
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs
But I crumble completely when you cry
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye
I'm always just about to go and spoil the surprise
Take my hands off of your eyes too soon
I'm going back to 505
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs and a smile
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs
Stop and wait a sec
When you look at me like that, my darlin', what did you expect?
I'd probably still adore you with your hands around my neck
Or I did last time I checked
Not shy of a spark
The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark
Frightened by the bite, though it's no harsher than the bark
The middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start
I'm going back to 505
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs
But I crumble completely when you cry
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye
I'm always just about to go and spoil the surprise
Take my hands off of your eyes too soon
I'm going back to 505
If it's a seven hour flight or a forty-five minute drive
In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side
With your hands between your thighs and a smile
Lyrics submitted by dark kirby
505 Lyrics as written by Alex Turner
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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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.
It's about Alex Turner going to his girlfriend's house (505) to dump her after being warned by his mother. He is clearly still in love with this girl, "I probably still adore you with your hands around my neck", and tells how he will find it difficult to break up with her. The line "if its a seven hour flight or a forty five minute drive" shows his anxiety. The line means that it takes forty five mintutes to drive to her house, but it seems to take "seven hours" to get there on this occasion. The line "the knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark" means that he is worried that he will not be able to break up with her, and he also writes "but i crumble completely when your cry", and he does not feel able to go through with the task ahead His coming is a surprise, and when they break up even more, "i'm always just about to go and spoil the surprise".
Agree. It's about how hard the break up is for him because he's still in love, but he wants to act like he is not. i lived this, very sad :c
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It's about a long distance relationship.
@scottBITW Thank you. I can't believe that what @caspar said is the most upvoted interpretation on here. It couldn't be farther from the meaning. @scottBITW is right, it is about long distance relationships.
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this song is amazing
"But I crumble completely when you cry" kills me
same
same here, love that he shows such vulnerability, but it freaking makes me wanna crumble!
seems I'm not the only one who gets identified with this piece..<br /> <br /> I will change a bit of the lyric... "But I crumbled completely when you cried"
completely agree, oooh the way he sings that line with such emotion! Simply beautiful <3
@,tAn-x such an incredible line
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"I crumble completely when you cry," that part gives me goosebumps <3 especially cuz its Alex Turner singing it.
I like this song a lot. When he says, "I'd probly still adore you with your hands around my neck," I'm pretty sure that he's saying even when this girl drives him crazy he will always love her.
everyone is wondering what 505 is....My best guess is the number of an appartment or hotel room.
"It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye," I guess here he is saying that everytime he gets to see her it seems like he always has to leave right away and they don't get a lot of time together.
And the part about the hands between your thighs....not sexual. I do that when i'm cold or just laying in my bed sad or bored.
Anyway, love this song...It's mature of the Arctic Monkeys
@arcticmonkeysgirl 505 is new Mexico area code
i take back what i said about the 'no evidence he is in love with this girl' its sounds like hes absolutely tortured about this girl but is unsure if he's in love with her or not 'I probably still adore you With your hands around my neck Or I did last time I checked'
okay now other people comment iv gone on enuf !!
well impressed with this song, i'm glad too because as much as i like brianstorm...this show's a good progression. as for what it's about maybe tour and leaving a loved one, not really thought about it as only jsut heard it. love the lines about thinking of her lying there in his imagination though.
Well, everyone has pretty much done a nice job of summing up the meaning of this song. I definetly think its a great song. It's definetly one of their more meaningful songs =]
me and franksmellman are cool cause we signed up just because of this song, :P. it sucks i was looking at this like a week ago and no one had commented it yet, and i really wanted to be first cause you just know in a year there will like a 1000+ comments on this song cause thats how good it is!!!
Here's an extract from MOJO magazine, its what Mr Turner said the song is about : "penned on a late-night train journey alone from Philadelphia to New York to rendezvous with his then-girl-friend in the hotel room of the title"
i love this song sooo much, lyrics "I probably still adore you, With your hands around my neck, Or I did last time I checked" really get me, because i know that feeling, and can relate to it.
thankyou AM!!!!
Best son on the album? Maybe but, Do Me a Favour, Teddy Picker, This House Is a Circus.... I could say them all, only song i skip is brianstorm.. lol, the same thing happened to Danni California
meh, hope it helped, depsite the ramblin'
Wicked song and a great different side to the AM
I always suspected this song was about him going to meet a girl he loved, though my first interpretation was about an ex that the singer missed. I originally saw 505 either as their apartment number they used to live in or maybe a time frame (may 2005). lines like
"I probably still adore you With your hands around my neck Or I did last time I checked"
"The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark"
"But I crumble completely when you cry It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye"
can all just show how completely in love with this girl he still is and it's like she doesnt accept or doesnt want him
im pretty sure i understand the song, ive been trying to work it out for a couple of days and listening to it and stuff, cause its had me curiouss, but here goess!
im sure everyone agrees about the fact that 505 is a room that holds some sort of significance to alex turner, and the second line is also pretty self explanitary. he will travel any amount of time to reach 505. in the third line, everyones convinced that is has some sexual meaning to it. im convinced otherwise, tho i might be wrong. i think the position of someone putting there hands between their thighs reminds me of someone in the fetal position, and the hands are where they are so they remain warm. if everyones right about this being about him touring, this girl who he has to leave will need to keep herself warm, and i think this might be the image hes trying to show. anyways. the next three lines confuse me, even though they seem pretty simple. im not sure if hes trying to say something like, duh.. of course i still love you. or something. the hands around the neck symbol is about the one who you will always love, even if they hate you and want you dead. i think him saying "im not shy of a spark" is like saying, he doesnt care if shes angry at him or if she tries to start a fight, because he just wants to be with her no matter what. the next line tells me that hes unsure if he meets her expectations, or if hes going to come back and shes found someone better, and that the "mark" would have been moved. im not quite sure about the next line.. but i think "middle of adventure, what a perfect place to start" is like, maybe they started in the middle of his rise to fame, and that would be the adventure. "but i crumble completely when you cry" is sooo sweet, its like he cant stand the pain shes going through because of their seperation. the "greet me with goodbye" is about how he has to leave so quickly, and it feels like just as hes saying hello, he has to leave. im not sure about what the suprise is, maybe him coming home? or something like that, and im not sure how hed ruin the suprise.. but yeaaaaaaaaa. i think i rambled a bit but i thought i had to share what i thought :)
I agree with many things (:
That song is great in its simplicity. "505" was the hotel room in New York where Alex Turner's then-girlfriend resided for a short period of time. He's intending to split up with her, but in his heart of hearts he doesn't want to. I believe we've all had the same feeling at some point in our lives.