I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
The lights are bright in the circus
The geeks and the freaks all light cigarettes
And laugh at your misery
While the weight of the curtain closing crushes your heart
The inertia of loneliness tears your flesh apart
[CHORUS:] It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide...down
Once the neon is gone
There is still that golden splinter at your side
His manners are charming, but who are you fooling
You are nobody's bride
While Bukowski's widow haunts each empty seat on the Ferris wheel
Ghoulish lovers collide
In a collage of kisses that they steal
[CHORUS]
And outside the window
The circus crackles and lurches with rings of smoke
You laugh half-heartedly at the punchline
Not realizing they've made you the joke
Inside my heart a war is raging
In regions still untamed
The worst fear I can imagine
Is for the mystery to be tamed
The mystery to be tamed
[CHORUS]
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide...down
The geeks and the freaks all light cigarettes
And laugh at your misery
While the weight of the curtain closing crushes your heart
The inertia of loneliness tears your flesh apart
[CHORUS:] It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide...down
Once the neon is gone
There is still that golden splinter at your side
His manners are charming, but who are you fooling
You are nobody's bride
While Bukowski's widow haunts each empty seat on the Ferris wheel
Ghoulish lovers collide
In a collage of kisses that they steal
[CHORUS]
And outside the window
The circus crackles and lurches with rings of smoke
You laugh half-heartedly at the punchline
Not realizing they've made you the joke
Inside my heart a war is raging
In regions still untamed
The worst fear I can imagine
Is for the mystery to be tamed
The mystery to be tamed
[CHORUS]
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide
It's a long slow slide...down
Lyrics submitted by starpatroller
Long Slow Slide Lyrics as written by Jewel Kilcher
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I don't think she is talking about falling in love. I think it is more falling OUT of love. Have you ever looked at the person that you're in love with and you just get the feeling that they are no longer in love with you but aren't breaking it off for whatever reason? So you pretend that everything is okay, but every night the weight of reality "crushes your heart," and in the end, "you're still nobody's bride." And you know until someone decides to break it off it is going to be a "long slow slide," while the relationship loses its love. It's just a song in which the inevitable is obvious, but you chose to ignore it, and so everything just slips and fades.