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.
[Kim]
There's not a dreamer or a schemer
running away from me
There's not a singer, an entertainer
with no follow-through
There's not a poet or a mystic
with a cigarette unglued
He's just neutral, yeah, he's weary
Not even brand new
It's a perfect sin
Close your eyes and lose the rest
It's a perfect sin
Close your mind and feel the best
Everyone has a headache,
imprecise, hard to cure
Gotta shake it, what ails you
The lines are blurred
Is it a pain in your heart?
Dark and grey from the start
You won't seduce me or attract me,
just 'cause you're strained
It's a perfect sin
Close your eyes and lose the rest
It's a perfect sin
Close your mind and feel the best
Why would you tell me what's inside your head?
Why would you show me your sacred bed
Secret head
There's not a dreamer or a schemer
running away from you
There's not a singer, an entertainer
with no follow-through
There's not a poet or a mystic
with a cigarette unglued
There's not a cowboy or a loner
with nothing to do
He's neutral, yeah, he's weary,
not even brand new
He's neutral, yeah, he's weary,
and he's so in love with you
There's not a dreamer or a schemer
running away from me
There's not a singer, an entertainer
with no follow-through
There's not a poet or a mystic
with a cigarette unglued
He's just neutral, yeah, he's weary
Not even brand new
It's a perfect sin
Close your eyes and lose the rest
It's a perfect sin
Close your mind and feel the best
Everyone has a headache,
imprecise, hard to cure
Gotta shake it, what ails you
The lines are blurred
Is it a pain in your heart?
Dark and grey from the start
You won't seduce me or attract me,
just 'cause you're strained
It's a perfect sin
Close your eyes and lose the rest
It's a perfect sin
Close your mind and feel the best
Why would you tell me what's inside your head?
Why would you show me your sacred bed
Secret head
There's not a dreamer or a schemer
running away from you
There's not a singer, an entertainer
with no follow-through
There's not a poet or a mystic
with a cigarette unglued
There's not a cowboy or a loner
with nothing to do
He's neutral, yeah, he's weary,
not even brand new
He's neutral, yeah, he's weary,
and he's so in love with you
Lyrics submitted by rather_dirty_nation
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Love in a Vacuum
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Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
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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.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
I like your interpretation Debased. the relation between maturing and seeing the positive or redeeming qualities in a neutral or normal relationship definitely seems to be in this song.