Listening to John Mayer's new album, "The Search For Everything," feels like falling back into love. Like hugging the curves of your favorite hometown road after being away. I fell in love with John all over again, it seems. Maybe that’s just what he does; he makes you fall in love with him. His voice is familiar. The kind of familiar that feels like deja vu, and it’s probably because he’s been singing in the background on Sunday afternoons and car rides and coffee shops for an unmeasurable amount of my life. The Search For Everything left me wondering how I got from where I was to where I am. With John, and with the search for everything.
1. "Daughters"
Maybe it's known as a mainstream classic, but this lullaby is one of my first and oldest memories of John Mayer. Any bad day could get just a little better with this (kinda) oldie. “Fathers be good to your daughters and daughters will live like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers so mothers be good to your daughters, too.”
2. "Your Body is A Wonderland"
This one is more than sexy, it's lovely. This is the stuff that daydreams are made of. “Something 'bout the way the hair falls in your face, I love the shape you take when crawling toward the pillow case. You tell me where to go, and though I might leave to find it, I never let your head hit the bed without my hand behind it.”
3. "In Your Atmosphere"
John Mayer-type love is lasting because his lyrics are timeless, forbidden because I'll probably never be graced with his presence, but somehow still real. "In Your Atmosphere" is my all-time favorite JM song. “Wherever I go, whatever I do, I wonder where I am in my relationship to you. Wherever you go, wherever you are, I watch that pretty life play out in pictures from afar.”
4. "Comfortable"
When The Search for Everything was fully released, I went back into the depths of John's Spotify. I heard the first few lines of "Comfortable" and I knew I was meant to find it when I did. This is my relationship with his music; broken in. “She says the bible is all that she reads and prefers that I not use profanity. Your mouth was so dirty. I loved you, gray sweatpants no makeup, so perfect.Our love was comfortable and so broken in.”
5. "Love is a Verb"
Some of the best life advice he’s ever given me. The song speaks for itself. “Love is a verb, it ain't a thing. It's not something you hold it's not something you scream. When you show me love, I don’t need your words. Love ain't a thing, love is a verb. Love ain't a crutch, it ain't an excuse, you can’t get through love with just a pile of IOUs, love ain't a drug despite what you’ve heard, love ain't a thing love is a verb.”
6. "Moving on and Getting Over"
With the jazzy feel of his new album, I can’t help but be nostalgic for the innocent days of John’s honest, young voice. But these new lyrics are filled with the wisdom he didn’t always have. “Tell me I can have the fact you've loved me to hold onto.Tell me I can keep the door cracked open, to let light through”
7. "Still Feel Like Your Man"
If this is the analogy for always loving something, I’ll always keep John Mayer’s music in my library and his shampoo in my shower. “I still keep your shampoo in my shower in case you wanna wash your hair. And I know that you probably found yourself some more somewhere, but I do not really care, cause as long as it is there I still feel like your man.”
