I Guess I Just Feel Like
This is Saturday night music…
For those who don’t want to bump asses in the club, who don’t want to dress up and go out to eat but just want to stay home and lay back, drift, recover from the working week.
Can’t say I was a Mayer fan. Wasn’t hooked in his early wimpy days. Didn’t enjoy the material of the Trio. Didn’t really care about the “Playboy” interview, but was mad at the media who couldn’t see that he was just trying to riff, to entertain, but you’ve got to be self-conscious in today’s world, otherwise you’ll be excoriated when you let your freak flag fly. Funny, artists are supposed to say what everybody feels but is unable to verbalize, but since 2016 that’s been in politics, not music, not even the movies.
And then Mayer dated Katy Perry and was envious of her hits, he tried to have one too, but he failed, his moment had passed.
And then John switched to Irving Azoff for management, who told Mayer if he wanted to play the radio hit game, he was not interested, but if he wanted to have a career…
And then came Dead & Company, which is strangely better than the Dead ever were. The Dead were uneven. Sure, the music breathed, you could be taken on journeys, but oftentimes you were just bored. Sorry to be honest, but I saw them.
And I’ve seen Dead & Company. They’re tighter. Mayer has injected discipline, he’s enabled the concoction to exceed the experiments of the post Jerry era.
And you don’t have to be a Deadhead to enjoy the Dead & Company, but that’s got a built-in audience. Who is John Mayer’s audience today?
Well, he put out those EPs, but traction was minimal. But it seems like some of those women from years ago are still in love with him, they’re supporting his solo shows.
And now comes “I Guess I Just Feel Like.”
Now Mayer does not have a warm and fuzzy image. He’s seen as a womanizer, a narcissist. But “I Guess I Just Feel Like” transcends his image, at least to a great degree.
I got a couple of e-mails about the track, I decided to check it out. It seemed repetitive, but then…THE GUITAR PLAYING!
He’s no longer a newbie, he’s no longer a phenom, but part of the fabric, and when Mayer starts to wail, WHEW! But he’s not wailing, he’s more subtle, the notes are fat, they’re bluesy, they set your mind free, like listening to one of those extended Allman Brothers tracks. Hell, maybe Mayer could resuscitate that act too. Imagine a double lead with Derek Trucks, hell, add Warren Haynes as a third…it would be magical.
And being hooked by the outro, which goes on in excess of a minute, I let “I Guess I Just Feel Like” play again from the top.
I guess I just feel like
Nobody’s honest
Nobody’s true
Everyone’s lying
Did you read about Butts and the Forum in today’s L.A. “Times”?
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Is that the new normal, lying in depositions, on the stand? Am I the only one who takes the oath of honor seriously, seems so.
Although Mayer goes on to say he’s “the same way too.” And he might be.
I guess I just feel like
Good things are gone
And the weight of my worries
Is too much to take on
Could be that Katy Perry is getting married. Could be the world situation. But one thing’s for sure, I’m overwhelmed too. Endless news, not so much of it good.
I guess I just feel like
The joke’s getting old
The future is fading
And the past is on hold
He’s 41 now. Straddling Gen-X and the millennials. He’s seen the trick, he’s starting to wonder, is there any prize inside the pinata?
But I know that I’m open
And I know that I’m free
And I’ll always let hope in
Wherever I’ll be
And if I go blind I’ll still find my way
Ah, the optimism…does it ring true?
I’m not so sure. Everybody wants to write an anthem, lift people up.
But then…
I guess I just felt like
Giving up today
BINGO! Everybody feels this way sometimes. It usually ends. You lick your wounds, you’re depressed, and then you get a bolt of inspiration and stand on your feet again.
That’s what happened with Mayer, according to his Instagram post. He had writer’s block, but then suddenly “I Guess I Just Feel Like” came to him.
And don’t expect to hear it all over the radio. I don’t know what format would play it.
And Mayer is no longer the flavor of the moment, so he won’t be in the Spotify Top 50.
But the people who hear this track will be satiated, calmed, let loose like only music can do.
And they’ll tell other people and…
Maybe that’s the most you can hope for.
But that’s a lot.
