On the way into school I heard a report on NPR about an artist who is singing about waiting for the world to change, rather then the popular “we gotta change the world” mantra. The artist’s name is John Mayer and his philosophy is one that is likely more ‘in tune’ with the current generation. Here’s a transcript from the NPR Interview:
John Mayer has spent 33 weeks on the music charts with what sounds like an anti-war song.
Now if we had the power to bring our neighbors home from war they would have never missed a Christmas no more ribbons on their door
But for the 29-year-old singer, “Waiting on the World to Change” turns into more of an explanation for why his generation seems so apathetic.
It’s not that we don’t care,We just know that the fight ain’t fair So we keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change
Rather than urging people to change the world, he seems to say, there’s nothing we can do.
“Look, demanding somebody do anything in this day and age is not going to fly,” Mayer tells Steve Inskeep. “Kids don’t even like being talked to like kids anymore, you know. ‘Just give me the option and I’ll think about it.’”
So instead of telling people what to do or how to think, he says, “All I want a song to do is just to kind of present an idea…”
On “Gravity,” another song from his latest CD, Continuum, Mayer sings about remaining above the fray in a world of TV and blog gossip.
Gravity is working against me And gravity wants to bring me down
“I was very successful from a very early age, and I want to keep it,” Mayer says.
“How do you live your life based on what you want as opposed to what you can have? I would love never having to go to rehab, love never to have to divorce, love never to — in a documentary of me — see a picture of myself spun around with a Ken Burns effect and then hear, like, ‘And then things get out of control….’
But for the 29-year-old singer, “Waiting on the World to Change” turns into more of an explanation for why his generation seems so apathetic.
It’s not that we don’t care,We just know that the fight ain’t fair So we keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change
Rather than urging people to change the world, he seems to say, there’s nothing we can do.
“Look, demanding somebody do anything in this day and age is not going to fly,” Mayer tells Steve Inskeep. “Kids don’t even like being talked to like kids anymore, you know. ‘Just give me the option and I’ll think about it.’”
So instead of telling people what to do or how to think, he says, “All I want a song to do is just to kind of present an idea…”
On “Gravity,” another song from his latest CD, Continuum, Mayer sings about remaining above the fray in a world of TV and blog gossip.
Gravity is working against me And gravity wants to bring me down
“I was very successful from a very early age, and I want to keep it,” Mayer says.
“How do you live your life based on what you want as opposed to what you can have? I would love never having to go to rehab, love never to have to divorce, love never to — in a documentary of me — see a picture of myself spun around with a Ken Burns effect and then hear, like, ‘And then things get out of control….’
Is this perhaps the ‘new’ face of the current “me” generation? Perhaps… As members, most of us hate being told what to do, or even worse, we hate to be spoon fed directions. When we get an iPod or PSP we figure it out before we look at the book. We don’t need a 400 page manual to use Windows XP we already know how to use it. At work, you train us once how to use the software and we’re off. So can this apply to anti-war protest? Sure! The previous generation asks us why we’re not protesting the war, we say we are. Gen X & Y, however, uses: Blogs; forums; youtube to protest. We’re not ignorant, nor do we not-care about the issues… We let John Stewart speak for us.
Personally, I agree with Mayer that new-age anti-war/non-protesters don’t need to score a goal or drive home some point, or even lead some revolution single handily, they just need to take it to the 10 yard line and let us take it home.
Now run that through your (online) funken wagnal
To listen to John Mayer’s songs “belief” and “gravity” just click on this link and scroll down to Live at NPR (real player or windows media req.)
~J out
