John Mayer

Hello my John-curious friend!

I made this John Mayer playlist for a pal on 11.15.2019. I’ve since updated it to include his album released since then. These aren’t all of my favorites. Instead I endeavored to select a few from each album to provide a survey overview of his work from 2001 - 2021.

But! If the playlist still features more songs than you’re interested in listening to, here are the don’t-miss songs that I’ve specifically highlighted and my reasons why.

• 3x5 (2001) - “I didn’t have a camera by my side this time, hoping I could see the world with both my eyes. Maybe I could tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way with words.” Dang. So relatable and so good. I think of this song often when I choose whether or not to take photos, write about, or draw different moments in my life. Sometimes I just really want to be present with the moment and not try to record it so much, especially as I get older, and especially in this social media culture.
  

• Gravity (2006) - my most favorite song of his ever. “Gravity is working against me. And gravity wants to bring me down. And twice as much ain’t twice as good and can’t sustain like one half could. It’s wanting more that’s gonna send me to my knees.” Man, when I just need to sit with my feels and process through some internal stuff, this song creates that space for me.
  

• The Heart of Life (2006) - a great song about goodness and friendship even when times feel hard and rough.
  

• Stop This Train (2006) - another one that gets me in my feels. It perfectly expresses how I felt through my late 20s and early 30s as I came to terms with everyone aging around me and the mortality of my parents and grandparents. It’s self-aware, vulnerable, and beautiful.
  

• Dear Marie (2013) - A nostalgic tune that I also found relatable through my late 20s and early 30s. That time of life where you’re still maybe looking back a little bit because you haven’t fully settled into yourself yet and you’re wondering what might have been. Plus I think the instrumentation is just beautiful on this one and it’s really fun to sing harmonies to :)
  

• You’re No One ‘Til Someone Lets You Down (2013) - A musically upbeat song about loss and heartbreak with a clever twist by reversing the classic quote “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You.” It’s insightful and tinged with humor and clever songwriting.
  

• Badge & Gun (2013) - This is one I love to play on my ukulele and also hits me because it’s about a restless wanderer who just needs to take off again and hit the open road. It’s a beautiful, loping, crooning, cowboy kind of tune that makes me want to wander.
  

• Still Feel Like Your Man (2017) - a clever riff on a breakup song because it is both honest and also rather sassy at the same time. One of my favorite lines of his ever is “I still keep your shampoo in my shower in case you want to wash your hair. I know that you probably found yourself some more somewhere, but I do not really care because as long as it is there I still feel like your man.” Dang. That’s so sad and honest and real. But it’s also paired with a zippy, danceable beat. It’s great juxtaposition because it lets the song be honest and heartfelt without feeling maudlin.
  

• Love on the Weekend (2017) - this song makes me want to just hit the road and drive down the highway through scenic countryside.
  

• In the Blood (2017) - This song asks the questions that we all ask or are afraid to ask, about if/how/whether we will grow up to perpetuate the family legacy that we’ve inherited. In what ways will we become our parents? In what ways will we not? It’s real raw and real relatable for me. It’s also another one that’s a gem to harmonize to.
  

• Moving On & Getting Over (2017) - Another break-up song (because the whole 2017 album is pretty much a breakup album, but not depressing because so much of it is humorous and in this case is also —>) paired with an unexpectedly sassy and zippy beat. Again, I love that juxtaposition. I also love the line the title is taken from “Moving on and getting over are not the same it seems to me.” I enjoy the beat on this one too.
  

• Never On the Day You Leave (2017) - This breakup song is just plain sad in a reflective way — but it has another great lyrics passage that I love. The song is reflecting on all of the things that you don’t think of on the day you leave someone that you think about later and this part always gets me: “No, it's never on the day you leave that you remember Christmas Eve and all the things you miss about her crazy family. You'll know how lonely it is to see a little drug store Christmas tree but never, never on the day you leave.” Aah! Straight to the heart! But that’s some dang fine songwriting right there…
  

• Roll It On Home (2017) - Another one with a great beat. The singer treats the subject of the song with empathy while also being honest and straightforward and staying upbeat about it. I think it’s a friendly song even though the subject of the song is having a hard time. We all need a friend like this in our lives sometimes — someone who will give it to us straight. I especially love this lyric passage: “The last ten texts were with your ex and all of 'em were sent by you. But you keep starin' at your phone like something's comin' through. Come to grips and take your chips when the cards aren't goin' your way. You've been here so long tonight's already yesterday.” More great songwriting!
  

• Wild Blue (2021) - Such an incredible overall sound. From the moment the bass and drums kick it off, it’s just so tight and delicious. I love this song’s super-satisfying groove and the overlay of the guitar accents and vocals. The guitar solo is also just such a vibe. Really just an overall tightly executed and beautiful piece.
  

• Shot in the Dark (2021) - I love the lustful longing in this song with the smooth soft-rock vibes and great lines like “And I wonder what it all means // strange conversation with you in my dreams // and I don't know what I'm gonna do // I've loved seven other women and they all were you” and the the longing in the bridge: “I want you in the worst way. Is the gate code still your birthday?” And I’m obsessed with the music video, which is a whole vibe. (He went hardcore with a fully-immersed 90s soft-rock / yacht-rock vibe for this album… his wardrobe, photography, musical stylings, videography, the whole bit. It was SUCH a fun time to savor an album release because it was July 2021 and we’d had such an endlessly dark year before that. I lived for this album launch… all the teasers in the pre-launch. He set up a mystery website where we could enter our address, but no one knew what it was for. Turns out… it was for a zine! He did zines as part of his launch and I received a physical copy of a zine about the album in the mail! There were a few different editions, so different people got different volumes of the zine. It was amazing. That’s what I mean. He FULLY IMMERSED himself (and therefore us) into this album launch and it was EVERYTHING at a time when I really needed that. :)
  

• Carry Me Away (2021) - He first released this in September 2019. I was in a transitional time in my life and had been struggling with untreated depression (and related physical health problems) for over a year at that point. This song was absolute nutrition for my soul. I’m completely obsessed with the vibe of the music, especially the piano layers and the driving drum beat with his vocals. I just can’t even articulate how much I love the music of this. And then of course there is the lyrics. God, what an escapist dream. This song means so much to me. It swept me up into it at a time when I really needed to be held and swept away. It did both of those things for me and I love it for that.
  

• I Guess I Just Feel Like (2021) - He first released this in February 2019. It’s a sad song that ends hopefully. It speaks honestly about things I’ve also felt and when I heard it I felt like “omg, you feel these things too?” It really hit the 2019 vibe perfectly. We hadn’t hit the pandemic yet, but we were experiencing the first Trump administration and I suspect this song spoke to a lot of people in a similar way that it did to me. I think many of us were feeling that way then. It felt good to be seen by this song.
  

The playlist is sorted by age from his older stuff to his newer stuff. It includes more than just my all time favorites, because I thought it would be nice to do a survey of his career rather than just a ‘favorites’ list. Because songs like Walt Grace’s Submarine Test are just dang good storytelling and worth hearing at least once. But it’s not one I keep on my favorite songs rotation, you know?

Anyway, have fun with it in any way that makes you happy and I hope you enjoy yourself! :)