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.
In space, the stars are no nearer
Just glitters like a morgue
And I dreamed I was a spaceman
Burned like a moth in a flame
And our world was so fucking gone
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken
And the roses tear our hands open
Mother Mary, miscarry
But we pray just like insects
And the world is so ugly now
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
Just glitters like a morgue
And I dreamed I was a spaceman
Burned like a moth in a flame
And our world was so fucking gone
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken
And the roses tear our hands open
Mother Mary, miscarry
But we pray just like insects
And the world is so ugly now
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme
Great Big White World Lyrics as written by Jeordie White Brian Hugh Warner
Lyrics © CONCORD 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 song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
MissVladTepes17 and Trinixy, I love your interpretations. The song describes Manson as a spaceman, looking down on Earth, and seeing a revolting and depressing sight which is our destroyed world. Everyone is mechanical, self-destructive and hollow. And instead of doing something about it, they wait for God to do something about it. Instead of making the world a better place, they pray just like insects to God to make it better, and all the while the world is just dying. By saying 'I'm not attached to your world' Manson is also saying he feels alienated from everyone and everything aorund him, and that he doesn't want to take part in the murder of this planet any longer. Moving further along, by saying 'It's a great big white world, we are drained of our colors' he's calling the world fake, lifeless, ugly and empty. I like this song a lot, it's a song for everyone. If people could only try to understand it, they'd learn to start helping themselves before it's too late for all of existence.
Very well said.
Well, the album is divided into two "halves": Marilyn Manson and Omega and the Mechanical Animals. The Manson half, or as Wikipedia calls it, "Alpha", is about all the things wrong in the world from when he falls to earth to when the Omega character, or from the Triptych, Adam, becomes disassociative and like in Holy Wood, kills himself. Meanwhile, Omega's "half" shows the reason for things gone wrong: the celebrities and television. If you have seen the videos, excluding Rock Is Dead, it shows his crashing to Earth (Dope Show), along with the self-sufficiency of celebrities, it shows how obsessed everyone in this world is with television (Drugs), and Coma White shows not only a prequel to the subject matter of Holy Wood, but the crucifixion of Marilyn F. Kennedy. In this context, it is saying we all have someone who is so influential, they act as a "Messiah", in this case, Omega and his songs about consumption, drugs, and sex.
About how shallow the world is. Love this song
The first verse seems like all the things he was yearning for in the beginning are not greater once he's close to them...being a spaceman now he burns up (out) and it wasn't as glittery as he thought stardom would be (or any place higher than the norm for the general public)
and as unsatisfactory as the star studded life is, he doesn't miss the lacking world he left behind, where all there is is pain and digression.
The corus... Everything is white...everything. so he's pointing out how monotonous people are, cities are all the same, everywhere is white (the default standard form). We don't know what love is anymore really, we hate ouselves trying to be better, we hate other people, not even giving them a chance...people don't even try to make new friends really anymore. He's in a state of discomfort and isn't being looked after by anyone. Wishing that this girl was queen... maybe she'll be able to fix everything wrong with this world... all he can do is wish and hope though...that's all he can say.
Hell froze over...so something that wasn't supposed to happen happened, wether he wanted it to or not. Thr rose a simbol of love or friendish is hurting him, the thing that held those friends is broken and they're all falling away. and the rest is his usual jesus mary part, but what's interesting about it is he's saying it the way it didn't happen, saying taht even if jesus wasn't born people would still be praying... like first nature... like a praying mantis does automatically.
and no matter which way you cut it, the world is ugly now, all the same, mindless, no evolution... ugly.
I really love this song. I think this song is about how terrible the world is."our world is so fucking gone" It really is one of my favorite manson songs...
You are all taking it really literally. This song, and most of the album if you think about it is about Conformity aswell as drugs.
Because it's a great big white world and we are drained of our colors (All our individuality is taken away)
We used to love ourselves, we used to love another (A reference to everyone being exactly the same)
damn good song just like all of mansons songs
first time i heard this song i thought it was about drugs becasue i misheard they lyrics, this is what i thought i heard "how much did you take? my prescription is low, wish u were clean, just for one day, in a world thats so white what else can i say" this made perfect sense to me, wishing the person was clean an off of drugs, an a world thats so white, world thats full of coke but as i learned when i read the REAL lyrics this song has nothing to do with drugs
I think the line "we used to love ourselves, we used to love one another" means that we used to accept and love everyone for who they were/are (love thy neighbor) and we used to appreciate our lives and didn't do self-destructive things.
the great big "white" part of this world is that everything and everyone is/are the same, but now b/c we are all the same we no longer love each other. b/c everone is the same to us now and we hate ourselves, then that means taht we hate other people for being just like us as well. people instead of looking to each other for love and help they seak God but he doesn't give a shit about us so the world just decays.