Alas, the long-awaited “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room.” This week is bittersweet for a lot of reasons, primarily because this is the last passion blog for the semester and year all-around, but also because this song is incredibly depressing. John Mayer takes the classic breakup song and morphs it into a painful story that you feel as if you can witness falling apart right before your very own eyes.
“It’s not a silly little moment
It’s not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dyin’ breath of
This love we’ve been workin’ on”
Mayer opens the song by suggesting that he is in a relationship that is facing severe issues; the problems that he and his significant other are facing are not little, tedious fights or a substantial argument that once resolved, will lead to newfound peace in their relationship. No… it is the last straw of the relationship that they have been tirelessly trying to make work.
“Can’t seem to hold you like I want to
So I can feel you in my arms
Nobody’s gonna come and save you
We pulled too many false alarms”
Their love doesn’t feel the same as it used to — they have likely broken up and gotten back together so many times that their love for one another feels fabricated and ingenuine. They have tried abandoning ship too many times for it to be reconcilable.
“We’re goin’ down
And you can see it too
We’re goin’ down
And you know that we’re doomed
My dear
We’re slow dancing in a burnin’ room”
These lyrics are pretty self-explanatory — the relationship is inevitably failing and the title of the song makes its first appearance; they are tip-toeing around the fact that their relationship is flawed and unable to be saved.
“I was the one you always dreamed of
You were the one I tried to draw
How dare you say it’s nothing to me
Baby, you’re the only light I ever saw”
Here Mayer elaborates on how the couple originally viewed themselves as perfect for one another. He was her knight in shining armor, the man of her dreams, while she was the one he always pictured himself ending up with. As their relationship grew more and more vicious, she must have claimed that he never truly cared about her. His response to the heart-wrenching jab is that she is wrong; she is the only woman he has ever unequivocally loved.
“I’ll make the most of all the sadness
You’ll be a bitch because you can
You try to hit me, just hurt me
So you leave me feeling dirty
‘Cause you can’t understand”
As their relationship comes to its final close, Mayer says he will try to learn from the flaws of their time together to better himself in the future while she remains bitter and holds onto aggression. The love has fully dissipated — the new goal of the relationship is to see who can hurt the other the most.
*The chorus repeats.
“Go cry about it, why don’t you
….
Don’t you think we outta know by now?
Don’t you think we shoulda learned somehow?”
Mayer ends the song by uncomfortably repeating the above lines over and over, abrasively engraining the questions into our minds. The bitterness permeates as he continues to berate her, similar to her previous treatment towards him. He suggests that they should have seen this coming earlier on. They broke up and fought so many times in their verbally abusive relationship that they should have realized it wasn’t working rather than subjecting themselves to additional pain.
This song is really sad, but at the same time, I think it is beautiful. If you listen to the song, the instrumental aspect is astonishing and his tone is gut-wrenching. It is impossible to listen to the song and not feel some sort of powerful emotion, which is what makes the song and its carefully crafted lyrics so genius and extraordinary if you ask me.
Hopefully my blog has encouraged you to give John Mayer a shot — regardless of your favorite genre, his diverse discography certainly has music that is right up your alley. Whether it be his immense guitar-playing talent or his poetic lyrics, his songs are truly incredible.
“The new goal of the relationship is to see who can hurt the other the most,” wow that’s just so powerful and tragic in itself. I feel like a lot of toxic relationships tend to go down that path, and considering how toxic people are nowadays (due to influence and trauma), it is representative of most relationships. I actually liked John Mayer before I got hooked on your blog, but I came to learn a lot more about him through your posts, and I became a lot more appreciative of some of his pieces because of the meaning behind them. Thank you 🙂
What a way to wrap up the passion blog! This song is literally perfect for the times right now– depressing, sad, gloomy, DEPRESSING. But like what a great song and what a song full of emotion! I think relationships right now are very hard for everyone because of the separation and maybe everyone should listen to this song and know that the struggle is real! Great post girl, will miss them!
This is my absolute favorite John Mayer song and I am so glad you decided to end your lovely blog and recommendations with this tune. This song is full of heartbreaking metaphors and even though I love it, I usually skip it when it comes on because I can’t handle all of the emotions that are packing in it, lol. The repetition at the end always makes me feel haunted by all of that emotion, too! I have loved reading your blogs and hearing about your love for John Mayer and his songs. The stories behind the songs have made me like them even more, too. Great job (:
These lyrics really pull at the heart strings. I love the way you explain the lyrics, I often have trouble truly interpreting stuff like that but you always do a good job. This guy is incredibly talented, I’ll definitely be adding some of these songs to my phone now. Thanks for sharing all you songs and wonderful interpretations throughout the summer, we all really enjoyed them.