The Traffic in the Sky Part I: Clarity

What's up!? Typically, late at night, I sit and think about things, usually music. Late Saturday night, I sat and did this with Tony Traina and Matthew Neylon. Tony mentioned a strange commonality between John Mayer and Jack Johnson. We got into a discussion on how Mayer's and Johnson's albums seem to have similar characteristics. We related it to how their first albums relate, seconds albums relate, and so on. This late night conversation led me to research this thought we had and elaborate.

In 2001, Jack Johnson and John Mayer both had their debut albums. They are Brushfire Fairytales and Room for Squares, respectively. The style of music in both is very similar. They both included playful lyrics, portrayed through a medium-paced style of rock. Bubble Toes (from Brushfire Fairytales) is an example of these playful lyrics:

Well, I was eating lunch at the D.L.G
When this little girl came and she sat next to me
I never seen nobody move the way she did
Well she did, and she does and she'll do it again

When you move like a jelly fish
Rhythm don't mean nothing
You go with the flow
You don't stop

The song is about his wife, whom he met at the DLG, a dining area on campus at UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara). The title is a playful nickname he gave her.

To go along with this, No Such Thing (from Room for Squares) is a perfect example of Mayer's playful lyrics:

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above

I am invincible
I am invincible
I am invincible
As long as I'm alive

This song is about how we are alive, we should do what we want. We should have fun and not care. He was young at the time and related closely to his high school fans when he wrote this. Their next albums would take a new direction in their style, and make them become even more famous.

The next album Johnson released was On and On, and Mayer's was Heavier Things. Mayer's album title is a subtle hint to the direction of these two albums. Both of them moved in a direction towards more serious topics, and, as the title says, heavier things. Personally, On and On is my favorite Jack Johnson album. His style is so chill, yet emotional. The song that best describes the heavy things Johnson is speaking about is Taylor:

Such a tough enchilada, filled up with nada,
givin what you gotta give to get a dollar bill.
Used to be a limber chick n' times have been a tickin,
now she's finger lickin to the man,
With the money in his pocket, flying in his rocket,
only stopping by on his way to a better world.

If Taylor finds a better world, then Taylor's gonna run away.

This song is about a girl named Taylor, who is searching for herself and desires to find a place where she will have no sadness. Many people can relate to this. People are always affected by stress in their lives, and wish to find a place to go to. We just have to know everything is going to be alright.

On to Heavier Things. Mayer's second track of the album is Bigger Than My Body. The lyrics of this song are pretty much a definition of who John Mayer really is:

Someday I'll fly
Someday I'll soar
Someday I'll be something much more
Cause I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for

Why is it not the time?
What is there more to learn?
I've shed this skin that I've been chipping at
And I've never quite returned

Mayer has been looking for that something to make him big. He speaks through his music and he tries very hard to be the best he can. Why can he not get what he deserves? He knows he deserves the acclaim he should get. He has put in very much effort and he knows in the future he will soar to the success he has worked so far for. What he probably didn't realize was that his next album would be that time to soar he was looking for.