The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

Everything about the song is really clear except where the phrase “Rolling in the Deep” comes from. Millennial slang? Anyways, Adele and her ex used to be really close. She thought that he might be “the one”. It turns out he wasn’t. It turns out that he was actually a bad guy. This 180 has turned her into a woman scorned.

She feels galvanized. Now she has to decide what to do with all this energy. Should she burn his life to the ground or should she take this energy and use it constructively. Or both? She hasn’t decided yet. Regardless, she warns him that she isn’t to be fucked with.

The song structure is great. The verses start off mildly and build to a crescendo in a powerful chorus. Very cathartic. The beating drums in the background do a great job of creating the atmosphere. Another great aspect of the song is the background singers. I like it when the background singers sound like the Greek Chorus. That is, they sound like your best friends in the background having your back—they are having a separate conversation yelling at the target of your rage. The Supremes do something similar in Where Did Our Love Go.

Rolling in the Deep Lyrics

There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch and it’s bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ‘head and sell me out and I’ll lay your ship bare
See how I leave with every piece of you
Don’t underestimate the things that I will do
There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch and its bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love they leave me breathless, I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

Baby I have no story to be told
But I’ve heard one on you and I’m gonna make your head burn
Think of me in the depths of your despair
Making a home down there ’cause mine sure won’t be shared

The scars of your love remind me of us (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
The scars of your love they leave me breathless, I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could’ve had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside your hand
But you played it with a beating

Throw your soul through every open door
Count your blessings to find what you look for
Turned my sorrow into treasured gold
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow

we could’ve had it all
We could’ve had it all (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
It all, it all, it all, (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
We could have had it all (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could’ve had it all (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside your hand (you’re gonna wish you never had met me)
But you played it, you played it, you played it, you played it
To the beat

Songwriters: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins / Paul Richard Epworth

Take you to every party ’cause all you wanted to do was dance/
Now my baby’s dancing/
But she’s dancing with another man.

In “When I Was Your Man” Bruno Mars recollects what went wrong in his past relationship. He comes to the realization that he took the girl for granted. She had simple wants. She wanted to be romanced: she wanted to go out dancing, she wanted flowers…as he thinks about it, he thinks how easily he could have done that. When he sees her on the dance floor with another guy it breaks his heart.

Mars takes complete responsibility for all of it. He should have done these simple things when he was with her because now his heart is breaking. It is a very mature love song.

The arrangement for “When I was Your Man” is simple: it is mostly just Mars and a piano. I would love to hear more of this type of song from him as he really crushes this song. He also wrote another good love song for the piano with Adele that appears on this list: “All I Ask“. He certainly has a talent for it, hopefully he will produce more in the future. Not many can pull off just a piano and voice.

When I Was Your Man Lyrics

Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now.
Our song on the radio but it don’t sound the same.
When our friends talk about you, all it does is just tear me down,
‘Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your name.

It all just sounds like ooh, ooh ooh,
Mm, too young, too dumb to realize,
That I should have bought you flowers;
And held your hand.
Should have gave you all my hours
When I had the chance.
Take you to every party ’cause all you wanted to do was dance.
Now my baby’s dancing,
But she’s dancing with another man.

My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways,
Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life.
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made,
And it haunts me every time I close my eyes.

It all just sounds like ooh, ooh ooh…
Mm, too young, too dumb to realize,
That I should have bought you flowers,
And held your hand;
Should have gave you all my hours
When I had the chance.
Take you to every party ’cause all you wanted to do was dance.
Now my baby’s dancing,
But she’s dancing with another man.

Although it hurts,
I’ll be the first to say that I was wrong.
Oh, I know I’m probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes.
But I just want you to know…

I hope he buys you flowers,
I hope he holds your hand.
Give you all his hours,
When he has the chance.
Take you to every party,
‘Cause I remember how much you loved to dance.
Do all the things I should have done
When I was your man.
Do all the things I should have done
When I was your man.

Songwriters: Andrew Wyatt / Ari Levine / Peter Gene Hernandez / Philip Martin II Lawrence