Blue October’s “How to Dance in Time” Lyrics Meaning

by Jessica Shelton·December 4, 2019

“How to Dance in Time” is addressed to the singer’s romantic interest. More specifically it is directed to “Sarah”, the wife of Blue October’s lead singer Justin Furstenfeld. And basically what he is doing is apologizing for ‘all the mess he put her through’, i.e. any kind of heartache he may have caused her.

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Indeed the singer acknowledges that he has in fact broken this lady’s heart. And obviously his actions have resulted in potentially irreversible damage in their union. Thus he is longing to go back to yesteryear, i.e. a time in their relationship when things were better between the two of them. And that’s what the title of this song actually alludes to. The singer wishes to reclaim the era when they “both knew how to dance in time”. Dancing in time is an idiom which fundamentally means, in this case, two individuals being in concert, as in harmony.

So once again he is very apologetic that he has made such mistakes, even dropping a song about it. And ultimately he knows that he cannot actually go back in time and correct them, which is why at this point he is more or less begging her for forgiveness and reconciliation.