In Your Atmosphere...

"Wherever I go, whatever I do, I wonder where I am in my relationship to you. Wherever you go, whatever you are, I watch your life play out from pictures from afar ." 

- John Mayer 

If I were to define a genius, I would define it as John Mayer. Well, that is a musical genius. Have you ever sat down and listened intently to they lyrics of his music? He is a poetic extraordinaire. His lyrics immediately begin to dance around in my head, his words suddenly come to life. They are not just lyrics written on paper, and then transferred to his perfect voice. They are lyrics that can perform plays and scenes in your head once you hear them out loud. 


Looking at my iTunes now, I can honestly say that I have 51 songs in my library by this amazing artist. A majority of it is because I have both the recorded and live versions of his songs, but nevertheless they are all amazingly good. Believe it or not that is not even all of his songs! Whenever I cannot sleep or I am just having a tough day and I need to calm down, my fingers fly to my iTunes of my iPod and immediately put on John Mayer's music. He is my anti-drug. Some people turn to drinking or drugs or even violence, but I, I turn to music. Yes, many other people turn to music as well. For example, those who love to blast hard rock or mega death metal crazy ear splitting music. John Mayer soothes the soul. 


The quote above comes directly from his song, "In Your Atmosphere". I did not realize until recently how beautiful this song was. It came on my iPod and when it was over all I wanted to do was to listen to it again. Obviously this songs is about him staying away from a girl that is in LA. He's staying away because, "he die if he saw her and he would die if he didn't see her there". Basically either way he would feel guilty about setting foot in LA. Her atmosphere just isn't right for him. However, this song after hearing it and looking at the lyrics multiple times semi-reminded me of a parent-child relationship. Perhaps this relationship is not a good relationship and the child has been rebellious and this is a song about the parent reaching out. You know what I'm sayin? Stick with me here.... The child lives in LA. The parent goes to see him/her, but if they are not there then that would just be the end of the parent because they no longer know where they live or where they are or what they are up to. 


The last part of the song really moves me and allows me to see the parent-child relationship. "Wherever you are, whatever I do, I wonder where I am in my relationship to you" this line makes the parent wonder whether or not their child is even concerned about them or wants anything to do with them anymore. "Wherever you go, wherever you are, I watch your life play out from pictures of afar" this could very easily be relatable because maybe this son/daughter sends their parents pictures once a year of what is going on. But don't parents who do have good relationships with their kids do anyways? When they are all grown up and live in different states or countries, don't the parents live vicariously through the pictures that they see or that they are sent? I mean that's the only way aside from phone calls that they know how their children's lives are. 


I know that that is not what John intended the song to be about or anything, it was just an alternative  meaning that came to mind. I love John's songs and I have always enjoyed listening to his music and I think that it is pretty amazing that his songs have made me think of different situations or what different songs could mean to the listeners that hear them. 


John Mayer hasn't always had the best reputation, especially when it comes to women. But I have learned to set that all aside and see him for the musician that he is. People think I am crazy weird to say this, but John is also an amazing guitarist. He is up there with the best of them let me tell you. On his live album, "Where The Light Is", he guitar intros and stunning. Plus the guitar rifts in his songs are moving and so enjoyable that I cannot see how anyone could dislike them. Pure genius. 


"I don't think I'm gonna go to LA anymore".... 


Peace. Love. John Mayer.