I keep going round and round on the same old circuit
a wire travels underground to a vacant lot
where something I can't see interrupts the current
and shrinks the picture down to a tiny dot
and from behind the screen it can look so perfect
but it's not

so here I'm sitting in my car at the same old stop light
I keep waiting for a change but I don't know what
so red turns into green turning into yellow
but I'm just frozen here in the same old spot
and all I have to do is to press the pedal
but I'm not

People are tricky you can't afford to show
anything risky anything they don't know
the moment you try - ... kiss it goodbye

so baby kiss me like a drug, like a respirator
and let me fall into the dream of the astronaut
for I'll get lost in space that goes on forever
and you may call the rest just an afterthought
and I'll believe it's you could make it better
though it's not
no it's not
no it's not...



Lyrics submitted by peopleterrifyme

Track duration: 03:28


It's Not song meanings
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20 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:my life had been less interesting before I've started to listen to Aimee Mann ! .. this song is one of her very best .. about being stuck !
    Flag modarxmodaron September 25, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:There is a big difference in my life before
    Flag modarxmodaron September 25, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I only looked at the recent posts but...why hasn't anyone said anything about gay/lesbian undertones of this song!?!? I mean come on!

    "People are tricky you can't afford to show
    anything risky anything they don't know
    the moment you try - ... kiss it goodbye"

    Coming out. No bueno. Especially when you have no idea how the ones you love the most will react. But I definitely see how this could apply to all sorts of secrets...I just think this song has a lot of conflict...so much deeper than just depression. The whole part about wanting change and refusing to push the pedal just because that's what we're told to do. I mean we are pretty much trained to follow the leader in every aspect our whole lives and then when we finally decide to get out of line...what are the real consequences? "Kiss it goodbye" I mean it's like the main character in this song found love and finally found out what those consequences were...

    Does any of that make sense? haha.
    Flag hammer2on April 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I find the song pretty straightforward except for the first paragraph. I was hoping for some answers here...

    circuit, wire, screen... tv? cinema screen?
    vacant lot?

    I'm guessing it's saying "Life was going as usual but then something underneath interrupted it and the living fizzled out, like a tv screen when the power's cut." But why does it look perfect behind the screen when the circuit's broken?
    hm
    Flag Blakiepooon March 11, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:Correction to the last verse:

    So, baby, kiss me like a drug, like a respirator
    And let me fall into the dream of the astronaut
    Where I get lost in space that goes on forever
    And you make all the rest just an afterthought
    And I believe it's you who could make it better
    Though it's not
    No, it's not
    No, it's not
    Flag Eamonon December 07, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I heard this song on some random ep of dawson's creek and loved it stright away. bought the cd so many years ago (i think i was like 16 at the time). it still stands as one of my favs. i sung it to my baby neice the other day, not the lyrics just the melody and she totally stopped fussing and calmed down. it was weird. aimee has an awesome effect on those of us lucky enough to let her in.
    Flag indierock01on November 21, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:it's perfect. reminds me of realities of life.

    fav lines,

    so baby kiss me like a drug, like a respirator
    and let me fall into the dream of the astronaut
    for I'll get lost in space that goes on forever
    Flag Paragon October 17, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is so comforting. it is more comforting than any happy song could be..

    she takes the most obvious-sounding phrase, that no one has taken thus far besides her... she makes it her own, and she makes it meaningful. no one else could think of this, even though it is so obvious.

    i actually feel like she's telling me about my life, saying ' you need to get on with your life, you need to be strong '

    i love the sequence of a circuit to a movie screen to a car ride to a stop light.. to a kiss.. to getting lost in space that goes on forever.

    i don't think i've heard anything more profound in my life. i hope Aimee Mann keeps searching for the profound, because i love her.
    Flag cloudgirlon October 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Wow, a lot of good interpretations here. I don't think I can add anything differently. Great song. ' A wire travels underground to a vacant lot'. Loneliness, uselessness, unseen, abandoned. Aimee is a wonderful songwriter/singer.
    Flag Digi-Gon June 22, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:It's about depression - how your life can seem so perfect, so wonderful, but it isn't. Not to you, not when you're struggling against that disease and your whole life is a "tiny dot". You don't know where the depression came from, and people think that it should be so easy to get out of it ("and all I have to do is to press the pedal") but it isn't. It's not. You get into a relationship, thinking love will make it better... but it doesn't.
    Flag dragonflyeyeson June 17, 2006   Link

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