Love Is Magic

Album: Love Is Magic (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The fact that John Grant has been unlucky in love many times is something that he largely blames himself for. This synthesizer-heavy, six-and-a-half-minute track finds him determined to persevere in his search for "The One" despite all his past failures regarding matters of the heart.

    When the door opens up for you
    Don't resist, just walk on through
    There is nothing left to lose


    "I have a very difficult time loving people in a way that's not connected to addiction," Grant told BBC 6 Music's Elizabeth Alker. "It makes me sometimes feel like giving up."
  • Grant said of the song in a press release: "Love's a s--tshow that requires work. It's not all lollipops and rainbows and '67 Dodge Dart Hemis and STD's and macaroni and cheese and John Carpenter. But nothing can distract from the fact that, in spite of it all, love is still magic."
  • John Grant sings on the first verse about the juxtaposition of withdrawing from antidepressants following yet another failed romance - one that is especially painful with Sade singing on the radio.

    Have you got depression?
    Passive aggression?
    Did they stop loving you
    And you're the only one who doesn't know?
    You forgot your medication
    And Sade is playing on the radio


    "The absurdity is that you're going through a breakup again and of course it's f---ing Sade on the radio," he explained to The Sun. "The guy who drives me to the airport in Iceland knows I love Sade and her greatest hits CD is the only thing we listen to. I liked the bond with him so I didn't tell him to turn it off."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janet Jackson

Janet JacksonFact or Fiction

Was Janet secretly married at 18? Did she gain 60 pounds for a movie role that went to Mariah Carey? See what you know about Ms. Jackson.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.

Alice Cooper

Alice CooperFact or Fiction

How well do you know this shock-rock harbinger who's been publicly executed hundreds of times?

Dwight Twilley

Dwight TwilleySongwriter Interviews

Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.