Shadow Days

‘Shadow Days’ is a song that wrestles with, and overcomes, past wrongs. The scope of the song is too broad to be about one incident or one person (i.e. Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston, “David Duke cock” comment). Rather, those kinds of things contributed to the “Hard times” John has experienced. The song is hopeful in that those ‘hard times’ have allowed John to attain self-clarity and, more importantly, self-forgiveness and self-acceptance. I anticipate “Born and Raised” to be an album that returns to these themes of exploration and forgiveness.

As an aside, I think the ‘organic cowboy’ aesthetic makes sense. For the past several years, Mayer has been renouncing social media. Since he was young he has struggled with anxiety, and I think the pressure of being constantly “plugged-in” inflamed that anxiety. Counter-intuitively, I think he responded to this pressure by being hyperbolically open with the public (see. Mayer’s Playboy interview). The archetypical cowboy is only true to himself, and indifferent to the pressures of society. It makes sense that Mayer would adopt the cowboy aesthetic. Not to mention, the country-folk genre boasts a rich and beautiful assortment of sounds, melodies, and instruments from which to choose.

I don't mean to bring up Taylor Swift, but... does anyone think at least some parts are in response to Dear John??

Regardless, SUCH a good song, BEYOND excited for John's new album and I'm SO happy to hear he is back touring!!

It's about saying that he knows he's made mistakes and he's been horrible,but he's not completely horrible. He wants to stop feeling guilty for his perceived sins...

Well, this about a man (John Mayer) who has strong feelings for a woman (Jennifer Aniston).

Some parts of the lyrics are straight to the point. But the meaning of "shadow" means following, stalking, getting information from her...

Stalking = obsessively shadowing .

That is why the song was called Shadow days. And John Mayer's shadow days are over or his feelings for Aniston.

I firmly believe this song is from Mayer to Aniston.

I've been listening to this song for a long time, and my initial reaction to it, and one that hasn't wavered, is to me it's about the great recession, losing property (lying in pieces on the hotel floor), losing relationships over uncontrollable circumstances (hard times let me be, hard times let me see). Many bad things happened to many good people, especially young people making their first investments or buying their first home (I'm a good man, with a good heart, had a rough time, got a rough start)....and about the same strong person who is making a pivitol life decision that their "shadow days are over..."

Humor me and listen to the song in that perspective. I would like to know your thoughts.

Seeking Redemption.

This song is obviously about someone who did very bad choices in the past, but those choices made him see that he didn't need all of it, he was better than that. So from now on, his shadows days are over, because he finally moved on from the dark.

I believe this song is about how he felt after that infamous Playboy interview regarding Jessica Simpson. Many people really came down hard on him after the interview. He lost fans and respect and Jessica Simpson felt betrayed.

Nope! People just don’t change ever

As I've been following this artist around for several years through media, I came to a kind of different interpretation of this song: In my opinion Shadow Days is a song about officially going gay. He's been hiding it for a long time (as many celebrities do) and now finally stepped out of his shadow, facing the truth. You can see it in the gay codes he's wearing lately. Born&Raised is the beginning of a new life, accepting himself being gay and finally being able to feel real love.