I know as I write this that I’m going to be torn a new one in about a second by all the Indier-than-thou-types out there. You know who you are. I don’t care. I am going to just say it and let the chips fall where they may. I am a John Mayer fan. So what. Screw you. He is a massively talented lyricist and an even better guitar player. Unfortunately he is judged mostly upon his screaming girlie fans and that fact that he has a reputation of being a womanizer. Now that we’ve gotten past all that, what I really wanted to mention is that Mayer and Esquire magazine held a contest earlier this year (thanks for the tip Amit). In his own words:
I keep a note that I wrote on a taxi receipt
It says, “Don’t listen to anybody other than me”
I hit the big time for a nominal fee
You lose a friend in the end for every dream that you see come trueI got scars upon scrapes, I’ve got bruises on breaks
Masochistically committed to see how much of this I’ll take
Three years under water, and I ain’t even got the shakes
I’m going deeper and deeper and deeperI’ve got dreams to remember, I’ve got days to forget
I’ve got some phone calls in to God but he ain’t called me back just yetI’m still not done with these lyrics. But I don’t want to let them sit idly on my mind’s shelf. So here’s my offer: I’m inviting all aspiring songwriters to write their own chords and melodies around my lyrics. Go ahead, I’m not using them. You can tell people that we wrote a song together. I want to hear what you come up with, so send a CD of your song to the address listed below. The best submissions will be featured here on Esquire.com.
Well, one of the finalists that molded these lyrics into her own was a woman from Mumbai with great voice named Sonal D’Silva. Listen to her take.
A psychology graduate from St Xavier’s, D’Silva, 26, is a big fan of Mayer and follows his columns in Esquire regularly. “His lyrics are not the usual ‘I love you baby’ stuff. Nor do they end in rhyming words like regular pop songs,” she says.
Her composition draws from the hip-hop genre, which she enjoys. “Mayer wouldn’t want 2,000 entries that sound like him, so I did not adopt his style,” D’Silva explains. She composed the song on her guitar and synthesised it on computer “staying up two entire nights before the deadline”.
D’Silva has composed the music for Bhangra Tourist, her husband Elvis’s digital short film that was shown at the 0110 Digital Film Festival in Delhi and Mumbai recently. She works on her music only at night. In the tradition of struggling musicians everywhere, she has a ‘regular’ day job. She is a freelance journalist writing on music, television, and lifestyle besides composing music for short films, CD-ROMs, corporate films, and websites. [Link]
In the words of Chris Griffin’s zit, “That’s enough John Mayer”.
esquire’s link is ass. i get 2.5 seconds and then nothin’.
Anna, do you have another browser? It works just fine on my computer.
Anna are you using Firefox w/ Quicktime? Because I have the same problem…
YES.
wow…are people still using other browsers? 😉
hey, I’ve been having a firefox/quicktime combo problem in the last few days too, but have been too busy to pay attention. ..speak up please if you know what’s going on.
Maxthon’s so much better.
Have you guys downloaded/ installed the latest firefox release from last week. I was having another problems but with latest release things seem OK. That may be it……….
i’m looking at it right now, but if it doesn’t offer those cute little formatting buttons for comments on certain blogs, i’ll use it about as often as i use safari. :p
kush, thanks for the tip!
“Indier-than-thou-types out there” pun intended?
Only in a desi blog would a music post become a browser-war 🙂 Rock on.
Yeah, I just don’t get that. Are other women seriously turned on by that “Your Body is a Wonderland” song? With lyrics like One pair of candy lips and Your bubblegum tongue
I find myself cringing and not a little grossed-out. I mean, “bubblegum tongue”? Eww..
actually i think i know what John Mayer was going for with that line and it made me smile
I thought it was hot when he said “I wont let your head hit the bed without my hand behind it”. It’s pretty damn erotic/sweet.
John Mayer? My first instinct was to laugh, then I realized I’d be entering a potentially fatal pot/kettle situation… I admit that I dug the “Wonderland” song before it was overplayed. He wrote that for Jennifer Love Hewitt, no?
Sonal’s take on his lyrics was definitely a break from Mayer’s style – sloooooooow and quite sleepy. I could have done without the (synth?) tablas, though.
As for the browser setup, I had zero trouble hearing the song with Safari. Love my Mac. 🙂
Here is my take on Mayer. As much as it pains me to say it, everyone is allowed a break or two on the road to commercial success. Your Body’s a Wonderland is his worst song and mostly because of the fact that it was overplayed. I dig him for songs like Daughters which he won a Grammy for. That song accurately describes many a girl that has entered into my dating life. His songs about New York make me want to move there.
dude, i love my iBook, too. but that doesn’t mean i’m going to fire up safari. 😉
Mayer’s pretty good with the guitar, but I remember watching him in concert alongside J J Cale, and he clearly was out of his league…
The production value and melody were good, but her voice sounded like a bad beth orton imitation.