In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
There is fiction in the space between
The lines on your page of memories
Write it down but it doesn't mean
You're not just telling stories
There is fiction in the space between
You and reality
You will do and say anything
To make your everyday life seem less mundane
There is fiction in the space between
You and me
There's a science fiction in the space between
You and me
A fabrication of a grand scheme
Where I am the scary monster
I eat the city and as I leave the scene
In my spaceship I am laughing
In your remembrance of your bad dream
There's no one but you standing
Leave the pity and the blame
For the ones who do not speak
You write the words to get respect and compassion
And for posterity
You write the words and make believe
There is truth in the space between
There is fiction in the space between
You and everybody
Give us all what we need
Give us one more sad sordid story
But in the fiction of the space between
Sometimes a lie is the best thing
Sometimes a lie is the best thing
Oh the best thing
Is the best thing
The lines on your page of memories
Write it down but it doesn't mean
You're not just telling stories
There is fiction in the space between
You and reality
You will do and say anything
To make your everyday life seem less mundane
There is fiction in the space between
You and me
There's a science fiction in the space between
You and me
A fabrication of a grand scheme
Where I am the scary monster
I eat the city and as I leave the scene
In my spaceship I am laughing
In your remembrance of your bad dream
There's no one but you standing
Leave the pity and the blame
For the ones who do not speak
You write the words to get respect and compassion
And for posterity
You write the words and make believe
There is truth in the space between
There is fiction in the space between
You and everybody
Give us all what we need
Give us one more sad sordid story
But in the fiction of the space between
Sometimes a lie is the best thing
Sometimes a lie is the best thing
Oh the best thing
Is the best thing
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Great version of a great song,
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I'll refrain from trying to speculate about Chapman's thoughts in writing this song (on grounds of respecting her personal/artistic boundaries as well as Barthesian grounds), but just in terms of what we're given with the song:
This isn't just a description of any two people -- this is everybody. As much as we want and struggle to feel like we really understand another person, ultimately we can only construct our own fictions of everyone else and hope that those fictions are something that other people might see themselves in. Thoughts and language alike are "fiction", not the reality we try to describe; but "sometimes a lie is the best thing" in that we can sometimes recognize that everything we think we know is, to some extent, a "fiction", and that really the best we can do is to try to come up with a "fiction" which respects and is sensitive to the needs of everyone else that we base our fictions on.
In other words -- this is a song about the impossible but necessary task of really understanding other people, and our failures along the way as well as our hopefully-reciprocal acceptance of the same failures in others.
@Professor M Exactly. This song does not apply to a single situation. In fact, to me it seems much more general. The "you" that Chapman addresses is not a specific person but rather the listener, and thus every individual.<br /> The song gets at what is lost in translation between us—the "space between" our perception and our expression of these perceived realities. The song isn't about fiction, then, so much as it's about the nonexistence of non-fiction. People tend to think of everything as fact or fiction, but this is a false binary. Hence, "you write the words and make believe/ there is truth in the space between...but in the fiction of the space between/ sometimes a lie is the best thing." If you acknowledge the fictional nature of the space between everybody, the place between where one person's conception of the world ends and another's begins, sometimes a lie is the best thing. Sometimes a lie keeps two people's realities from violently crashing down; sometimes a lie can protect someone's positive outlook from the negative realities of another person; sometimes a lie can cover up the ugliness of your own past to highlight the generosity of someone else.
@Professor M this is such a beautiful comment, and the reply by @redsoxfan3189 is also so fascinating. I know these comments are from years ago, but I just have to leave a message of appreciation for blessing this page with such a beautiful interpretation of this song (the same way i interpreted it - I'm so happy some others interpreted it the same). ❤️
I'm surprised no one has touched this one. TS is obviously directed to a fiction writer. The constant refrain: "there is fiction in the space between" shows that Tracy and this "person" have two different recollections of their relationship (that is obviously now over). Tracy's recollection (as far as she's concerned) is true, and the writer's is fictional. Tracy tells her ex that just because she writes things down, doesn't mean that she's 'not just telling stories.' Tracy goes on to show us how mellowdramatic her ex is as she paint tracy as "the scary monster" who 'eats the city as [she] leaves the scene'. But in truth when her ex wakes up from the nightmare there is no one but her standing. But apparently everyone expects mellowdrama from her author-ex and Tracy accepts that its not about her, its about how Alice Walker OOPS!, i mean... this "author" needs to keep being this dazzling author of the sad and sordid story in the public's eye. Tracy, you are the one that deserves the award for crafting YOUR rememberance of the relationship in this way!! I applaud your honesty!! And while it may not have generated the sales or mass appeal of other albums, "Telling Stories" is the Hejira of my generation!!
..right on CDHTUNE. tracy is awesome ...what makes this song special to me is that yrs before it came out i would warm up and play the same exact chord structure as this song ...she put words to my music and doesnt even know it. well, i hope she does i emailed about it an havnt gotten a replay back yet. but when i first heard the song on the radio, and loving her to begin with i listened closly to the lyrics at first, the music was very cool too ...so i down loaded it when i got home and listened to it again, then again ...something sounded very familiar. when i picked up my guitar and started playing along i couldnt believe it. i'll be playing along to it for ever ...thanks tracy!!! i love you.
I guess to me this song reminds me of my own life where in silence i create a fiction, a space to go where reality no longer exists. and like the last line sometimes you need that lie in order to exist.
Tracy Chapman is a great poet/songwriter, I love this song.
i think maybe they have totally different views of their relationship.like when she says there is fiction in the space between you and me.
CDTUNE you are awesome!
CDTUNE you are awesome!
I too have to give kudos to CDHTUNE.
I'm just wondering about the last bit of the song 'sometimes a lie is the best thing'. Is she forgiving her? Is she saying maybe it was for the best they broke up? Is she saying a lie is better than the truth sometimes - the truth can hurt more?
@CrossStream <br /> <br /> Sometimes when you fall for someone you start to see things that doesn't exist. You get all paranoid... And people try to open your eyes... and all you can think is that someone out there is lying.<br /> <br /> Tracy is trying to say, IMO, in the end... that is better for the other person to stick with what he/her thinks its a lie. Because that is the truth.
@CrossStream <br /> <br /> Sometimes when you fall for someone you start to see things that doesn't exist. You can get all paranoid with people trying to open your eyes... and all you can think is that someone out there is lying.<br /> <br /> Tracy is trying to say, IMO, in the end... that is better for the other person to stick with what he/she thinks its a lie. Because that is the truth.