American indie rock band formed in New York in 1989 by members Stephen Imme… Read Full Bio ↴American indie rock band formed in New York in 1989 by members Stephen Immerwahr (vocal, bass), Chris Brokaw (drums) and John Engle (guitar). Codeine pioneered the slowcore and sadcore subgenres of indie rock, but with a more experimental attitude than other bands in the genre, such as Low, Idaho and Red House Painters. The band's original tone, marked by slow tempos, Immerwahr's nasal and apathetic vocals, and Engle's ringing Telecaster, did not evolve much during their career.

Codeine released their first album Frigid Stars on the German label Glitterhouse in 1990. The album was released on Sub Pop the following year.

Their second release, the Barely Real EP was issued in 1992. Immerwahr rejected several of the songs after the recording session. Some of these songs were re-recorded for the final album. The song w. is a solo performance on piano by David Grubbs (of Bastro, Squirrel Bait and Gastr del Sol). A somewhat different full-band version of the song appears on Codeine's next album, but titled Wird.

Brokaw left the band after the release of Barely Real to play full-time with his other band Come. He was replaced by Douglas Scharin of the band Rex.

Codeine's next and final release was the full-length album The White Birch, released in 1994. David Grubbs also participated on the album. After this release the band broke up. Stephen Immerwahr has since then been playing with the band Raymond, while Douglas Scharin continued in June of 44 and later HiM.

The band reformed in May 2012 for a Mogwai-curated ATP I'll Be Your Mirror in London. They played their final reunion show in July 2012 in New York.

Vacancy
Codeine Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Dream in black and white
Model cities, shooting up, in the sky
Did they go to sleep, just to die, just to drown, in the air?

Look under the bed
There's no ghosts, that I can see

Tires burning

Can't go back there
Can't go forward

What does the word vacany mean, when you don't expect anything?
Don't even try to justify, there's no way to justify

Overall Meaning

In the song Vacancy, Codeine vividly describe a dreary and apocalyptic world where life is devoid of color and joy. The first line of the song, “Dream in black and white” sets up the tone for the rest of the song. The lyric suggests that in this world, people have lost their ability to see and experience beauty. The “model cities” that are “shooting up, in the sky” could represent the attempts to create something seemingly perfect and ideal, but in reality, it’s nothing but a facade that’s crumbling. The next line, “Did they go to sleep, just to die, just to drown, in the air?” implants a glum image of the people who have given up and succumbed to their bleak surroundings, leaving no room for hope.

The second verse is filled with imagery that reinforces the feeling of hopelessness. The line “Look under the bed / There's no ghosts, that I can see” sounds like a metaphor for there being no real monsters or boogeymen, but in reality, there is nothing there at all. It’s metaphorical because it suggests that there is no escape or anything to hold on to that can give hope. The following lines “Tires burning / Can't go back there / Can't go forward” sound symptomatic of the landscape of the world being a barren wasteland where nothing grows and nothing changes, leaving the people trapped in a state of despair.

The chorus simply asks the question, “What does the word vacancy mean, when you don't expect anything?” It’s a rhetorical question that highlights the meaninglessness of everything. There’s no point in hoping or expecting anything because there's nothing to hope for in a world that’s devoid of color, joy, or meaning. The line, “Don't even try to justify, there's no way to justify” is the final nail in the coffin of hope. No amount of reasoning or logic can make sense of a world that’s devoid of any hope.

Line by Line Meaning

Dream in black and white
Imagining a bleak and hopeless future, with no hope or colorful prospects.

Model cities, shooting up, in the sky
Creating beautiful, perfect cities in one's mind that quickly turn to chaos and destruction, with no way to escape the chaos.

Did they go to sleep, just to die, just to drown, in the air?
Questioning whether those people who once dreamed of a better future ended up succumbing to their own despair and ultimately perishing.

Look under the bed / There's no ghosts, that I can see
Searching for some kind of explanation or reason for the bleak reality of the world, but coming up empty.

Tires burning / Can't go back there / Can't go forward
Feeling trapped in a situation that's quickly spiraling out of control, with no way to escape the flames.

What does the word vacancy mean, when you don't expect anything?
Questioning the true meaning of emptiness or emptiness in purpose, when there is no hope for improvement or change.

Don't even try to justify, there's no way to justify
Acknowledging the futility of searching for explanations or justifications for the harsh reality of life.

Contributed by Natalie A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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