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Half of My Heart

Battle Studies (John Mayer Album) | 2009

“Half of My Heart” is a song by American rock singer John Mayer featuring Taylor. It is the third single from Mayer’s 2009 album, Battle Studies. Mayer was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” in 2011 for his solo version of the song.
“Half of My Heart” features more of a pop rock sound than Mayer’s previous music. His previous albums explored blues and acoustic rock, especially in his 2006 album Continuum. It also has a carefree, sing-along sound to it.
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Background and Release

Mayer tweeted about wanting to record the song with Taylor in March 2009: “Waking up to this song idea that won’t leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it’s good enough to finish,” he wrote. “It’s called ‘Half of My Heart’ and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer Stevie Nicks in contrast to my Tom Petty of a song.”

In an interview shown on television called “John Mayer: On the Record with Fuse” (which only aired on the Fuse channel), Mayer’s interviewer asked why the singer chose Taylor to duet with, since she was only 19 years old, and Mayer was 32. He responded by saying that he was not putting her on the album just to sell more copies for die-hard fans of hers that might just get the album for that song.

The lyrics of the song are sung by both Mayer and Taylor; Taylor sings with Mayer in the chorus and in the song’s bridge. The lyrics are about the duo, with half of their hearts saying they should continue to love each other, although the other half says they are not each other’s true love, and cannot keep loving each other.

Version Without Taylor

A new version of the song was made which does not feature Taylor. It also features different instrumentation. An alternate edit of this version was set to the music video, and does feature Taylor, although the video does not. This version was released as the “Pop Mix” on iTunes and Amazon.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: John Mayer]
I was born in the arms of imaginary friends
Free to roam, made a home out of everywhere I’ve been
Then you come crashing in, like the realest thing
Trying my best to understand all that your love can bring

[Chorus: John Mayer]
Oh half of my heart’s got a grip on the situation
Half of my heart takes time
Half of my heart’s got a right mind to tell you
That I can’t keep loving you (can’t keep loving you)
Oh, with half of my heart

[Verse 2: John Mayer]
I was made to believe I’d never love somebody else
I made a plan, stay the man who can only love himself
Lonely was the song I sang, ’till the day you came
Showing me a another way and all that my love can bring

[Chorus: John Mayer & Taylor Swift]
Oh half of my heart’s got a grip on the situation
Half of my heart takes time
Half of my heart’s got a right mind to tell you
That I can’t keep loving you (can’t keep loving you)
Oh, with half of my heart
With half of my heart

[Bridge: John Mayer & Taylor Swift]
Your faith is strong
But I can only fall short for so long
Down the road, later on
You will hate that I never gave more to you than half of my heart

But I can’t stop loving you (I can’t stop loving you)
I can’t stop loving you (I can’t stop loving you)
I can’t stop loving you with half of my

[Final Chorus: John Mayer & Taylor Swift]
Half of my heart
Oh, half of my heart
Half of my heart’s got a real good imagination
Half of my heart’s got you
Half of my heart’s got a right mind to tell you
That half of my heart won’t do

Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding
To a bride with a paper ring
And half of my heart is the part of a man
Who’s never truly loved anything

[Outro: John Mayer & Taylor Swift]
Half of my heart
Oh, half of my heart
Half of my heart
Oh, half of my heart
Half of my heart
Oh, half of my heart

General Information
ArtistJohn Mayer
FeatureTaylor Swift
ReleasedJune 21, 2010
GenreSoft Rock
Length4:10
LabelColumbia
Big Machine Records
SongwriterJohn Mayer
ProducersJohn Mayer
Steve Jordan
Single Certification
Music Video