One thing I really hate is when you write a whole blog entry and then your computer freezes and then it shows you the blue screen of death. I hate that.

So, this is an attempt to reconstruct a very nicely written entry I made just about ten minutes ago. Here we go.
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Musings on the Lyrical Stylings of John Mayer

I am not really a musician, so I don't know what technically and theoretically constitutes "good" music. I usually just listen to what sounds good to me. However, as a writer and lover of words, I sit up and pay special attention to songwriters who can woo me with their lyrics. John Mayer and Jason Mraz are two young artists who I think are bringing a respect for well-written lyrics back to the forefront of pop-rock music.

This relates particularly well to our discussion of poetry, I think, and in particular some ideas we've been discussing regarding the poet as a public figure. Many songwriters are able to bring their lyrics - their poetry - to thousands of screaming fans, establishing themselves as a bizarre hybrid: "The Poet-Rockstar." I think these two artists are indeed poets, in the way that their words and their crafting and creating with words can not only seriously impact the listener, but can also stand alone. I imagine that both Mayer and Mraz are poets at heart and in purpose - their words are not merely the vehicle for a great guitar riff or thumping beat.

Mayer first caught my attention freshman year of college, when someone placed a sample single under my car's windsheild wiper. Thank you, whoever you were. I heard his first single, "No Such Thing," on the radio and enjoyed it as vaguely as I usually enjoy music until the stupid ClearChannel radio stations play it every 40 minutes. I got the album, and became one of the bajillion people to do so, and to keep it in the Billboard Top 100 for over 80 weeks. I listened, and then I read.

I know why many pop artists have quit putting lyrics in the lyric booklets - it's because their lyrics suck. They're more about the music itself, or perhaps they're just bad. Whatever. But all of Mayer's lyrics were printed clearly in the CD insert for me to gobble up - they are also all available on his website, www.johnmayer.com.

I think what I love most about Mayer is his cleverness in writing. He uses normal words in surprising ways to capture what might have been more cheaply expressed with some meaningless cliche. In fact, he's said of himself that he is "good at avoiding cliches." In "My Stupid Mouth," Mayer sings about being on a date and saying something stupid that made things awkward:

We bit our lips. She looked out the window
Rolling tiny balls of napkin paper
I played a quick game of chess with the
Salt and pepper shaker
And I could see clearly
An indelible line was drawn
Between what was good, what just
Slipped out and what went wrong

There is an honesty and availability there, in the metaphor of comparing fiddling with table things to a chess game. In another song, "3x5," Mayer writes a letter, explaining to the recepient why he didn't include any pictures inside:

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood to lose my way with words

Today, skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliche
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
Are next to mountains anyway

I am impressed with his ideas, first of all - something strangely true but I never thought to say, that when you're always taking pictures, always trying to capture with technology, you're not really seeing it and you can't really describe it with your words. So when he stops to really look, he can "lose his way with words" and describe the scene in all its glorious detail. Really intersting thoughts about the power of words: maybe a picture is worth a thousand words, but maybe those thousand words are still more powerful, and far richer in meaning. Maybe that is at its core the plight of the poet.

John Mayer's lyrics are sexy. I'll be honest. I think they're sexy even when he's not talking about love and sex, but they are particularly when he's on those subjects! On his latest album, in the song "Come Back to Bed," Mayer sings an apology song to the girl, who has gotten upset and left the bed. The words... well, they're good. I'd come back. A couple of my favorite lines:

What will this fix?
You know you're not a quick forgive
And I won't sleep through this
I survive on the breath you are finished with

Don't leave me
ninety-eight and six degrees of separation from you, baby
Come back to bed

I could go on. I won't, because I don't want this to sound like the mad ravings of an obsessed fan. I'm just hoping to point out that in an era of pretty crappy popular music, Mayer exists as an author who still values the power of a word and a well crafted line. Without fluff or flattery, I consider his lyrics poetry. This brings an interesting suggestion to the definition of poetry, perhaps, and to the image of the poet. Interestingly, Mayer has said of himself, "I always think about lyrical ideas, but I don’t start putting lyrics in until the music is there. I don’t wake up, jump out of bed and go “Oh my God, I got to write this down.” " So perhaps he's a reluctant poet. Still, he seems to understand the impact of his lyrics and his ability to manipulate the language, as he has also said, "I tend to write confessionally...What would be most detrimental would be for me to change the way I write."

Next blog: the lyrics of Jason Mraz.