Slow Dancing in a Burning Room...

I haven't heard a better metaphor for the human race in a long, long time. And that one's thanks to John Mayer who wrote it for his new record, Continuum. The record is outstanding. It's an essay in incredible guitar playing and a 50 minute documentary on good songwriting. Recently he's received a lot of criticism for 'shooting off his big mouth' and speaking his mind. Perfect. He's doing his goddamned job. Artists are paid to say the things everyone else is afraid to say. We're in business because we tackle the ideas that are 'hands off'. Provocation is one of the foundations of good, emotional, intelligent art. One of the tunes, called 'Belief', discusses religion. Mayer said it was the hardest fight he'd ever had, getting that tune on the record. I'm so glad he won, because it's incredible.

Belief is a beautiful armor
It makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
Some have to know they've tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside

Apparently the VP of Columbia called John at home after listening to the record and said, "There's not a single on this album." I guess there is a substantial disparity between great songs and 'singles', but that guy ought to resign his job to someone who isn't a crackhead because the album has been on the Billboard Top 10 for a month now. This gives me hope. If you write a good record, play a lot of shows and make enough noise, people will listen to you. Maybe an album full of great songs is better than a couple of 'singles.'