Recently downloaded the whole James Taylor discography. “My Traveling Star” off October Road is definitely my favorite discovery.
My daddy used to ride the rails
So they say, so they say
Soft as smoke and as tough as nails
Boxcar Jones, old walking man
Coming back home was like going to jail
The sheets and the blankets and babies and all
No, he never did come back home
Never that I recall
(Don’t read this if you’re not interested in reading a retrospective on a John Mayer album in which I get sappy. It’s not pretty.)
We all have a favorite album.
That album can be our favorite for a myriad of reasons, both internal and external. It probably defined your life at the time of purchase and has ever since. Finding out someone else loved the album as well can create an instant friendship. Conversely, a potential significant other’s strong dislike of the album/artist is a dealbreaker. You probably know the words to every song on the album and may have spent months worth of hours listening to it over the years.
I bought John Mayer’s Room For Squares in the summer of 2002 having only the first single “No Such Thing.” Nowadays, I could have previewed every track on Amazon or just downloaded the album off a torrent. Either way, I don’t think it was anything besides a hunch that made me the album. I didn’t know that to this day, it’d be my all-time favorite album. That’s the thing: you never know. The music just has to find you at the right time in your life.
1. “No Such Thing”
Favorite part: “They love to tell you to stay inside the lines/but something’s better on the other side”
Meaning to me: We’ve all got to find our path. Most of us are put on the assembly line and told there’s one way to do things. We’ll regret it if we choose not to see things for ourselves and be our own people.
2. “Why Georgia”
Favorite part: “I rent a room/and I fill the spaces/with wood in places/to make it feel like home/ but all I feel’s alone.”
Meaning to me: It takes a while, sometimes our whole lives, to realize what our purpose is and what we’re meant to do. (Btw, people took the term “quarter-life crisis” and ran with it. That got old very quickly.)
3. “My Stupid Mouth”
Favorite part: “And I could see clearly/an indelible line was drawn/between what was good/what just slipped out and/what went wrong.”
Meaning to me: I’ve always been awkward, especially with women. When I first listened to the song, I was found myself constantly screwing up around this girl I liked (loved?). This song helped me feel better about things. At the very least, I had a song that made my discomfort melodic. Plus that girl ended up not being worth all the trouble. “Score one more for me.”
4. “Your Body is a Wonderland”
Favorite part: “Damn baby/you frustrate me/I know you’re mine, all mine, all mine/but you look so good it hurts sometimes.”
Meaning to me: THIS song won him a Grammy?! I thought it was OK at first, but when I blew up on all the radio stations, I swore off it. I listened to it today, it’s better than OK, but the over-saturation scarred it in my mind.
5. “Neon”
Favorite part: “I can’t be her angel now/You know it’s not my place to hold her down/But it’s hard for me to take a stand/when I would take her anyway I can.”
Meaning to me: I’ve always had a thing for crazy women with great souls. It probably started in high school. Life’s always more interesting around them. My own version of a “hero complex” has led to a lot of heartache over the years, but I don’t think I’d trade it for the easier road.
6. “City Love”
Favorite part: “Friday evening, we’ve been drinking/2 a.m., I swear I might propose/But we close our tab, split a cab/call each other up when we get home/Falling asleep to the sounds of sirens”
Meaning to me: Total fantasy song for a kid from the suburbs.
7. “83”
Favorite part: “If my was like was more like 1983/I’d plot a course to the source of the purest little part of me”
Meaning to me: Probably worth me to me now at almost 25 than it was at 16. I’m not sure there’s any part of my life before college I’d go back and relive. I’d make different decisions and choose different adventures.
8. “3x5”
Favorite part: “I guess you had to be there/I guess you had to be with me”
Meaning to me: Probably one of my top-five favorite songs of all time. It reminds me of a faster James Taylor song. It reminds of me of when Forrest is talking to Jenny on her deathbed. Wherever you are, you want the one you love to be there. Just moves me in a way few songs ever have.
9. “Love Song For No One”
Favorite part: “Searching all my days just to find/Not sure what I’m looking/I’ll know when/when I see you”
Meaning to me: Gotta say, not really a fan of this one. Not really creative, and the song really belongs in the first half of the album with the more poppy tunes.
10. “Back to You”
Favorite part: “Leave the light on/I’ll never give up on you/Leave the light on/for me too”
Meaning to me: In real life and in fiction, our love lives are oftentimes cycles that c
11. “Great Indoors”
Favorite part: “Lamp lights make the shadows play/and posters take the walls away/The TV is your window pane/The view won’t let you down”
Meaning to me: An introvert’s (or an agoraphobe’s, depending on how you interpret it) love song. An ode to staying in. Maybe the most consistently repeatable song on the album for me. Love it.
12. “Not Myself”
Favorite part: “And I, in time/come around/I always do, for you”
Meaning to me: This one grew on me over the years. You want someone who’s going to be around when things go bad and you can’t be the person they fell for.
14. “St. Patrick’s Day”
Favorite part: “Here comes the cold/Break out your winter clothes/and find a love to call your own”
Meaning to me: The song’s called “St. Patrick’s Day,” but I always associate this song with the holidays, especially Christmas… “No one wants to be alone at Christmastime.” It has a hopeful tone, but it’s always been sad to me. (Also, it’s number 14 in the track listing, though it’s the 13th song. Superstition, I guess.)
To me, this was John Mayer’s masterpiece. Maybe as I grow older, I’ll appreciate the other albums more, but I doubt any of them will have as much meaning to me as Room For Squares. I really doubt it.
On a recent long drive, I found myself listening to my 90s playlist, which consists of a lot of catchy tunes from male vocal groups. (You may call them ‘boy bands,’ but what’s in a name?)
Caught in a delusion of grandeur, I thought to myself, “If I could have been in any musical group, which one would it be?” There were obvious answers: the Beatles, the Roots, Backstreet Boys/*NSYNC (I know what you’re thinking, but think of all the groupies!), Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, the Spice Girls (kidding) and Coldplay (REALLY kidding). But then it came to me…
Boyz II Men. The most successful male R&B group of all-time. Think of the hits: “One Sweet Day,” “End of the Road,” “I’ll Make Love to You,” “On Bended Knee,” “Thank You,” “Motownphilly.” That’s just a few of them. Great singers that inspired so many other popular vocal bands. Plus no real scandals.
You know the vocal pattern of most Boyz II Men songs: Nathan and Shawn alternated during the first and second verses, and Wanya closed with his ad-libs and crazy emotional singing. Wanya Morris is the Mariano Rivera of singing: he got the job done at the end.
They don’t seem to record original stuff anymore, but their covers albums are still awesome. They never made one guy the focus because the sum was always greater than the parts. Just a truly great group, and I think I would have fit in great.
So I pose the question to you: If you could have been a member of any musical group, who would it be?
