John Mayer & Songwriting: Poetry For The Heart
Today, John Mayer rings in his 43rd birthday and currently, while he might be all quiet on the music front, he still has a very impressive body of work to boast of. And like many artists, he found his calling in music at a very young age and well, after quite a worrying accident too.
After watching Michael J. Fox’s guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer first became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him and Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner. After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school and even joined his first band, Villanova Junction.
When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, “That was the moment the songwriter in me was born”, and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital. Many know Mayer to be quite the prolific songwriter and to celebrate his birthday, we figured it’s only right to cherry-pick some of his greatest gems from his past works. These lines speak of all kinds of hearts: newly formed ones, the broken ones, ones that are healing, the colder ones. So, you can decide if you agree with us when we say that John Mayer is and always has been quite the romantic.
Photo Credits: John Mayer Official Instagram
1. ‘It’s not a silly little moment
It’s not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dyin’ breath of
This love we’ve been workin’ on’
– “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room”
2. ‘You tell me where to go and
Though I might leave to find it
I’ll never let your head hit the bed
Without my hand behind it’
– “Your Body Is a Wonderland”
3. ‘All the vampires walkin’ through the valley
They move west down Ventura Boulevard
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
And the good girls go home with broken heart’
– “Free Fallin'”
4. ‘Young and full of running
Tell me where’s that taking me?
Just a great figure eight or a tiny infinity
Love is really nothing
But a dream that keeps waking me’
– “Edge of Desire”
5. ‘When sky blue gets dark enough
To see the colors of the city lights
A trail of ruby red and diamond white
Hits her like a sunrise’
– “Neon”
6. ‘I can feel love the I want, I can feel the love I need
But it’s never gonna come the way I am
Could I change it if I wanted, can I rise above the flood?
Will it wash out in the water, or is it always in the blood?’
– “In This Blood”
7. ‘Clouds of sulfur in the air
Bombs are falling everywhere
It’s heartbreak warfare’
– “Heartbreak Warfare”
8. ‘”Welcome to the real world”, she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat
Take your life
Plot it out in black and white’
– “No Such Thing”
9. ‘Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it’
– “Waiting on the World”
10. ‘No, I’m not color blind
I know the world is black and white
I try to keep an open mind
But I just can’t sleep on this, tonight’
– “Stop This Train”
By: Nina Karun
