I've appreciated John Mayer for years, although never as much as now. While I've heard shady things about his character, I personally can't judge that. I can judge what I think of his music- and I say it's good.
I don't remember the first time I heard him, like I wouldn't remember the first time I met an old friend. Not that I'm calling myself an old friend with John Mayer,(ha!) but his music has been a small part of my life and I respected and enjoyed his work for a long time. I didn't appreciate his work this much though, until Jake, who is really into the Blues (and John Mayer) came into my life. I didn't realize before how much of John Mayer's stuff is influenced by and includes the Blues (because most of his popular stuff doesn't go too in depth into it), but he does, and I like how he does it.
Jake is also a big Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix fan and I like them (and am starting to more and more) but they take some getting used to. Not so much John Mayer. He does a really good job of intermingling his own, more modern sound with the tried and true sounds of the older artists. He's sort of like Americanized Mexican food, where the original (Jimi and SRV) is good, but doesn't appeal to my palate in the same way as the adapted version (John Mayer) does, at least musically. I hope that makes sense.
Anyway, Jake got a(nother) John Mayer CD and we were listening to it in his car. This song isn't real well known and this might be the only CD it's on. When it came on, he turned it up and said that he really liked this one and that it made him think of me. So I listened. And I liked it a lot. And I realized that it makes me think of him too.
I've talked on here before about appreciating things in the moment and not waiting until they're gone to realize the good things you had. Well, I think this song captures the sentiment well. Have a listen. It's upbeat and catchy in terms of music, but still reflective in music and in lyrics, which I think John Mayer does well. He doesn't just have awesome lyrics or beautiful music - he does both. While that isn't altogether rare, it definitely doesn't happen, especially at this calibre, with every artist.
Since drafting most of this post, I listened to John Mayer most of the way to Florida and back and became an even bigger fan. Hopefully I'll post again soon with more of his songs that I've really fallen in like with that I had never heard before.
Here are some of my favorite lyrics in this song.
Well said, John. Well said.
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And I don't need another kind of green to know I'm on the right side with you
That you didn't need another kind of green to know
I'm on the right side
You're on the right side
I'm on the right side with you
Oh, I was on the right side
You don't need to lose to know that you had it good