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Ok, I know this isn't the usual subject matter, but this has been really peeving me lately and I thought I'd throw it out there. I'm sure a large majority of you have heard the John Mayer song "Waiting on the World to Change", an infinitely catchy little ditty that sticks in your mind and is truly a great pop song. Well, if you are like me, you heard it the first time and thought 'hey, this is a good tune, and it has a really good message' and then you listened a little closer and realized what he was actually saying. Check out the lyrics below and you'll soon realize that this is not a call to action, but an excuse for inaction. AARRGGGHHH!!!!Basically what he has to say is that things are really bad, but until someone else does something about it, we should all just sit and drink lattes while someone else takes a stab at it (and he counts his millions). I even watched the video hoping for something I had missed and saw that it had even less inspiration than the song has.
Ghandi once said "You MUST be the change you wish to see in the world" not "Sit around and mope while the change you wish for hopefully happens on it own". I know the guy is only a pop singer but please, does he have to use his voice (I'm talking access and reach, not vocal abilities) to give this generation yet another reason to sit around and wallow in their own complacency?
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
(Sounds like a plan...pretty much how everyone in history has taken care of things...I wonder what's on Youtube)
So we keep waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
(Yeah, wouldn't want to get too close to that system, might get sucked in and have to do something, might actually have to get out there and make some noise, which seems like a lot of work...ooh, my latte is ready)
So we keep waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
(If only we lived in a country where we could actually speak our minds and tell our elected officials what we think...then I'd...woa, Halo's up!)
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want
(Gosh, someday, someone will invent the technology so that anyone with something to say could broadcast it to the whole world, then I'd have another way to get info than that darn tv...ooh, American Idol is on)
That's why we're waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
(So we'll do nothing, yeah, that'll show em, we care, we just don't want to waste our time trying cuz time is too important to...pizza is here)
So we keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
And we're still waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
(and we'll have no idea what to do other than sit on the couch and complain, but that should work right?)
So we keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Now we keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change(x4)
5 comments:
Dave,
You are one funny dude.
I see your point about his song. I'm no die hard Mayer fan, but is it possible that he is being sarcastic like you are of him. Another words, maybe his thoughts are,"Oh yeah. That's a great idea, let's all just sit back, cause no one is changing anything."
Just a thought.
Josh L.
Hey Josh,
Thanks for the cudos. Maybe too much time on my hands today. That said, I sure hope he's being ironic but did you watch the video? Make sure to check out some of the responses on Youtube as well. If it's ironic, than at some point he needs to tip his hand as it were and let you know that.
Dave
Ahhhh! Dave, I am a huge John Mayer fan, and this is my absolute least favorite song for the exact reason you wrote about. On the upside, he has started Another Kind of Green, which is his attempt at taking some babysteps to environmental causes. There's hope!
The song is about knowing changes need to be made but feeling hopeless. Try reading some of his blog from over a year ago to get some insight....
http://tryjm.blogspot.com/2007/04/blog-not-waiting-on-world-to-change.html
http://tryjm.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-not-waiting-on-world-to-change.html
OK, I read it. Not going to put too much time into this, but here's my assesment. IF he wanted to get people to change, he could have done a much better job by writing a song that clearly suggested what he claims he wanted to get across. Instead, he wrote a song that, my his own admission, many people have had a problem with, and then expects them to head to his blog and figure things out from there.
I'm a nobody, and i'm here doing what i can to try to get people to change their ways and he's a guy with a massive audience, a ton of money, who supposedly wants people to listen and this is the best he can do? Sorry, but i think he wrote a song about futilility and is now backpedaling. That said, it's about people acting, so if he's had a positive effect, than I commend him, but I doubt he has.
My two cents.
dave
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