Love, love, LOVE this song. But what does ‘rolling in the deep’ MEAN? Is it some slang term I’ve never heard?
I get that this is a song about being deeply hurt, of bitter anger and pain… But WTH is rolling in the deep???
Discuss, please.
As far as I know, “rolling in the deep” is not a slang term, and I am pretty up-to-date on slang. From what I can gather, rolling in the deep is an expression of the emotional depth of the relationship mentioned in the song, both the depth of the love that they felt during the relationship and the deep pain that they experienced afterwards. Google wasn’t very helpful when I looked this up, but most of the links I got from Google seem to agree with this.
Maybe a British reader can confirm?
I assumed it was a poetic euphemism for sex, if only because that’s usually a safe bet when it comes to song lyrics.
The bigger mystery to me is where Adele got the ninja.
In black American slang, if I say you ‘roll deep’, I mean that you have a large crew of peers that you hang around, and you guys have eachother’s back.
I don’t know how that relates to Adele’s song, or if it does at all, but I do love that song.
If you like Adele’s version, you should hear John Legend cover it.
I assumed “the deep” meant the sea, and that she was floundering / drowning in a vast ocean of despair or something. “Tears are gonna fall / rollin’ in the deep”… there’s water, anyway.
You know, hearing that version just reinforces my strongly held notion that I have heard Adele’s song before somewhere, or it shares a strong connection to a Negro Spiritual or Old Timey Bluegrass/Hills Music, or Blues song that I have heard before. Maybe just melody and a certain structure. I wanna say Mahalia Jackson, but it’s more bluesy than her usual.
Just reinforces that this is an awesome song. Love it!
Actually, I’ve always wondered what playing her hear to the beat is supposed to mean.
Totally agree. Definitely has the sound of a classic Negro Spiritual. I was fortunate enough to get invited to an old Black country church years ago. The choir music was some of the best I’ve ever heard in my life. I owe those friends of mine a very big thank you. 
So, nothing to do with Chthulu then?
Boy, that’s some pretty random imagery.
Does anyone else think she sounds like she’s influenced by Beth Ditto, specifically, in her vocal style? I mean, they are obviously both digging in the same bag, in terms of influences, but on this song she sounds like she’s almost doing a Ditto imitation to me.
It always reminded me of this song:
…which I think is way better than the Adele song, imho.
I interpreted it that way too. I have never been very good at interpreting meaning in art, though. Until someone points it out for me.
There’s actually a term for her style of music that I’d never heard before, and I really like it. “Blue-Eyed Soul” Blue-eyed soul - Wikipedia
"This video contains content from WMG and EMI, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. " What’s the song?
Sorry. It’s Moby’s “Natural Blues”
You know, I’ve always loved that song, but apparently it’s been many years since I’ve listened to it, because when I just listened to it now all can think about is that it sounds like its being sung by the old neighbor on Family Guy.