Musicman-ia

Sunday, January 24, 2010

The MJ Show #27 (John Mayer - Battle Studies)

Okay, I HAD to do a special on this album. It's one of the newest albums in the market and in my opinion it's without a doubt one of the best albums I've heard...well since, John Mayer's last album, Continuum.
The man is gifted. He's an INCREDIBLE songwriter, singer and indubitably one of the finest guitar players of this generation for sure.

This album, like the others before it, take you through another phase of John's life.
I had the pleasure of talking with John after Continuum...you may want to see how that went here:
Interview with John Mayer on www.emusicpost.com

I would LOVE to pick his brain about Battle Studies as well but well, since that might take a while, I'll just let you hear the album right here! :)
I'm not going to tell you why I love a song or what it is about. I want you to discover that for yourself...but what I will do today is give you a few words from each song. My favourite words from it or some words that you can sing along :) Hope you like the album as much as I do.

So here goes...

1st Song - John Mayer - Heartbreak Warfare
Clouds of sulfur in the air
Bombs are falling everywhere
It's heartbreak warfare
Once you want it to begin
No one really ever wins
In heartbeak warfare

2nd Song - John Mayer - All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye
I love you more than songs can say
But I can't keep running after yesterday

Why you wanna break my heart again
Why am I gonna let you try

When all we ever do is say goodbye

3rd Song - John Mayer - Half of My Heart
You can hear Taylor Swift towards the end of this song on the studio version of the song. She doesn't have a very big part...but it's nice, the little part that she has. Really nice :)

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

4th Song - John Mayer - Who Says
This was the first single from the album. I love the official video of the song...it's on youtube and all over Vh1 but I thought I'd give you a live version of the song instead.

Who says I can’t get stoned, plan a trip to Japan alone
Doesn’t matter if I even go, who says I can’t get stoned
It’s been a long night in New York City
It’s been a long time since twenty-two
I don’t remember you looking any better
But then again I don’t remember, don’t remember you

5th Song - John Mayer - Perfectly Lonely
One of my favourite songs from the album. Sorry. Couldn't resist telling you that :) LOVE this song! :)

Nothing to do, nowhere to be.
I sip a little kind of free
Nothing to do, no one but me
That's all I need

I'm perfectly lonely
I'm perfectly lonely
I'm perfectly lonely, yeah
'Cause I don't belong to anyone
nobody belongs to me.

6th Song - John Mayer - Assassin
Okay, this is another one of my favourites from this album. I dare you to listen to this song and NOT love it. Impossible! What a song! :)

You get in
You get done
And then you get gone
You never leave a trace or show your face
You get gone

Should have turned around
And left before the sun came up again
But the sun came up again

I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen
I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing
I'm an assassin and I had a job to do
Little did I know that girl was an assassin too

7th Song - John Mayer - Crossroads
John Mayer loves doing covers and he does them so well! Here's a classic. A Robert Johnson classic to be precise. This was a song that was covered by so many artists...but one of the MOST famous covers was by Cream.
I think it was inevitable that John should do this one too right? Well, in my head it was :)
If there was one Robert Johnson song that John would have picked I would have a bet a lot of money that it would be this one. Not just because its such an awesomely iconic song...but also because the original Slowhand (Clapton for those who may not have known that nick name of his) did this one too. That being said, Slowhand Jr. had to give it a shot right? :)
(That's a Rolling Stone magazine reference by the way. RS nicknamed John that in an issue where they featured him along with John Frusciante and Derek Trucks in a story about the "New Guitar Gods". Very apt I would say...wouldn't you?)

I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the lord for mercy, said help me if you please

I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
No one seemed to know me, everybody passed me by

You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I'm standing at the crossroads, I believe I'm sinking down

Check out this INCREDIBLE live video of the song! :)

I have to give you a couple of bonus tracks :) Here you go!

Bonus Song - Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues

Bonus Song - Cream - Crossroads

8th Song - John Mayer - War of My Life
My favourite song on the album. I mean my #1 song on this album! This is it!

I've got a hammer
And a heart of glass
I got to know right now
Which walls to smash

I got a pocket
Got no pill
If fear hasn't killed me yet
Than nothing will

I'm in the war of my life
I'm at the core of my life
Got no choice but to fight til it's done
So Fight on, fight on everyone, so fight on
Got no choice but to fight til it's done

9th Song - John Mayer - Edge of Desire
This is another incredible song. Brilliant music. See, this is what I love about a John Mayer album. You can't just have one favourite song. They all grow on you. Become your friends. You want to spend time with each one at a different point of time...or in a specific mood. Brilliant song this.

Young and full of running
Tell me where's that taking me?
Just a great figure 8 or a tiny infinity

Love is really nothing
But a dream that keeps waking me
For all of my trying
You still end up dying
How can it be?

Don't say a word, just come over and lie here with me
'Cause I'm just about to set fire to everything I see
I want you so bad I'll go back on the things I believe
There I just said it, I'm scared you'll forget about me

10th Song - John Mayer - Do You Know Me
It's just the strangest thing
I've seen your face somewhere
An early evening dream, a past life love affair

Do you know me at all?
Do you know me at all?

In all my reverie
I thought I felt us there
A feather in my hand, a flower in your hair

Do you know me at all?
Do you know me at all?

11th Song - John Mayer - Friends, Lovers or Nothing
This one could have been in Continuum I think...maybe he thought it up back then...but decided to keep it for his new album. I don't know what...but the music...it's...well, a continuum of...umm...Continuum :)

Think we'll never fall into
The jealous game
The streets will flood
With blood of those who felt the same

Friends, lovers, or nothing
You see
There can only be one
Friends, lovers, or nothing
We'll never an inbetween
So give it up

12th Song - John Mayer - I'm On Fire
This one was a Bruce Springsteen song originally. I did say John covers songs really well right. Hell I even did a special with his best covers. (Remember It was Episode #9. Check it out if you've not seen it already.)
Here's exactly what I'm talking about. This song isn't on the CD.
It is apparently an "iTunes bonus track version" so us poor Indians don't get it officially. Well, that's never stopped anyone has it. Here it is...a fabulous live version of the song.

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby
Edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
Through the middle of my soul
At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the
Middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I'm on fire

Oh LORD! What a song! "Oh oh oh oh I'm on fire!"

Bonus Song - John Mayer - I'm On Fire (Studio Version)

Bonus Song - Bruce Springsteen - I'm On Fire

So why lyrics today? Why?
Well because they deserve to be read. So much music these days is about the rhythm and the beat and how it makes you move on the dance floor. You could be singing "I like shit. I like crap. I even like to take a nap."
If you sing it to a great beat, get some brilliant asses in the video and shake em like you just don't care...you've got a fucking hit on your hands.
That however is NOT really music. Oh it makes money and it's got rhythm. It has a little music in it. But it's not MUSIC. It doesn't connect with your soul. It makes your body move...not your mind.

John Mayer now, this man, he can touch your soul, move you in ways you didn't think was possible.
Don't just listen to his music. Read what he has to say. There are so few poets these days. This man is one though. Through and through.

A hundred years from now, it's very likely that he will be looked upon as one of the finest musicians of this generation. I would not be surprised at all. I think the man has totally earned it :)

I'm biased a bit? Well why the hell not!
a)It's my show! :) My opinions.
and b)Honestly now. Listen to the man. Am I wrong?

For the love of God, music and all good things in this universe go BUY the album! The man deserves to have thousands of his albums in people's houses :)