Roll It on Home

Album: The Search for Everything (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • The closing song of The Search for Everything: Wave Two, this laid-back country tune is the closest in sound to Mayer's rootsy Born & Raised and Paradise Valley albums.
  • Mayer explained to Rolling Stone the song is about the moment you realize you've been at the bar so long that "tonight's already yesterday."

    Nobody's gonna love you right
    Nobody's gonna take you in tonight
    Finish out the bottle or step into the light
    And roll it on home


    Mayer said: "We have this bar in Livingston, Montana called The Murray Bar, and that's the room I've always pictured this playing in. It's like the singer in the jukebox is putting their arm around you, like, 'You did not get what you wanted tonight. Tomorrow's another chance.'"
  • Mayer wanted the song to feel like a pick-up band was playing it, so he ensured it retained some small imperfections that gave it a lazy feel. "It's supposed to be like a worn-in pair of jeans," he noted. "It reminds me of JJ Cale or Eric Clapton, and those unsung great records like Clapton's 'Promises,' which sounds like it's performed in a reclining chair, with a cigarette burning in the headstock of the guitar."

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