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.
We took a walk that night, but it wasn't the same
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
So come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
Oh, oh, oh
I know my rights, I've been here all day and it's time
For me to go, so let me know if it's alright
I just can't take this, I swear I told you the truth
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
And then you whisper in my ear
"I know what you're doing here"
So come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
Oh, oh, oh
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
So come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
Oh, oh, oh
I know my rights, I've been here all day and it's time
For me to go, so let me know if it's alright
I just can't take this, I swear I told you the truth
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
And then you whisper in my ear
"I know what you're doing here"
So come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
There ain't no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
Oh, come on, oh, come on, oh, come on
Oh, oh, oh
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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.
The Night We Met
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Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
OH...MY...GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!!!!!! I've had "Bourbon" for a while now, and always loved it, but had had NO IDEA about the amazing trilogy. Ok, so here's my interpertation:
"LTBOTS": Jenny (the narrator's girlfriend) has just moved out, and they're either separated or broken up. The guy is obsessed and depressed, sitting around drinking, watching tv, and (potentionally) stalking her. And he is broken up, drunk, and wailing throughout the song, talking to her, either in real life or in his mind, asking her if he still has a chance, telling her that he wants to be with her, that he NEEDS to be with her. And in the end, as his voice becomes slurred, I think he's either falling asleep or getting preoccupied with another idea (killing her?)
OR
I had another idea while writing this, and I think I like this version better: The narrator was drinking, mourning his break-up with Jenny. He confronted her, telling her, in drunken, slurred wails, that he loves her (obssessively). And "hold you tight" is more aphixiating than sweet, and "before you say goodbye" is before you die. And near the end, as the song climaxes, is the actual killing. And at the very end, as his voice begins echoing the most and slows and softening is him whispering to her as he lays her down or as she loses conscienceness as she dies.
"MS" Still blinded by his love and horriffied with what he's done, the killer stuck her in the backseat of his car. She was weak, but still alive, crying out, but no one heard her, no one could save her. He drives faster and faster, still half drunk and completely psychotic, saying "we were such a good thing" "make it go away" too much is happening, its just too much, i can't cope, it's too much stress on you, let me ease your pain, baby, "let me take a little more off your mind." So he takes her to the beach and kills her (probabily choking her) watching her die (taking her breath away and watching her disappear) And as he dumps her body into the sea, he cries out why did she have to be such a slut? why did she drive him to this? (a real short skirt/gloss&curls/guilty girl) whether or not she actually was a slut is irrelevent. And this is their secret, this is because he loves her, because because becausebecausebecause BECAUSE! and they were so good together. nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono
"JWAFOM": this one's pretty self-explainatory. He's being interrogeted by the police, and he's been there all day. He's trying to leave, telling them that he knows his rights, that they don't have anything on him, and that there's no motive for him to kill her. After all, haha, Jenny WAS a friend of his. But at the same time, he can't help but replay the seen in his mind, relishing how she didn't make a sound as he "held her close." And he is starts off sounding sad and regrettful, like a friend would after finding out that their friend died, saying, sadly, oh, poor Jenny, she was my friend, how could this happen? But as the song progresses, the narrator slowly loses it, and his voice begins to lose his cool and the music becomes a little more frantic. I think the murderer might be suggesting that she committed suicide, saying that something just "wasn't the same." "She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go" might have sounded like a suicide "note" to the police, but to the narrator, it was just another justification. I love how the song starts with stylized fuzzy radio talk, helicopter choppers, and sirens.
(sorry for any misspellings. And if I sounded a bit crazy, I was just getting in the right mindset)
this actually makes more sense than most theories. i never saw midnight show that way...but it does in fact make a lot of sense. i always saw it as him picking up a hooker and thinking of jenny. but that makes much more sense.
@randomRANCOR YO OKAY SO I REALLY LIKE THIS THEORY, but I have an idea! What if Everything Will Be Alright (the last track on Hot Fuss) is his arrest and he's trying to convince himself to stay positive?