Feats Of Musical Bravery #1

When Jack Nicholson first met director Alexander Payne to discuss the lead in About Schmidt, Payne said to the legendarily huge Hollywood persona, “Jack, I want you to play a small man.” I respect that. I enjoy seeing Big Picture artists tackle the occasional small wonder. But here’s the thing – John Mayer’s new lead-off single for Battle Studies, “Who Says,” dodges this anomaly. The song is deceptive. On the surface, it’s a quiet, broke-down bit of acoustic locomotion. Lyrically, it flirts with a recurring “why not?” message about, among other things, getting stoned. So you might cock your head at the choice of the song as a single, especially a first single on a much-anticipated fourth album. Think of not just the themes, but the expressions, of Mayer’s three previous “first singles” – from “I wanna run through the halls of my high school” to “someday I’ll fly, someday I’ll soar” and finally to “me and all my friends, we’re all misunderstood.” Pretty big ideas packed into anthemic, beautifully crafted studio pieces.

Now look at the ideas of “Who Says,” and you’ll see that it’s more than just “who says I can’t get stoned.” The song, while small in sound, has more going on emotionally than the previous three lead-offs combined. Why? Because it’s not about weed. It’s about freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom to exercise one’s right to be bold. And in assigning “Who Says” as the first knock on your front door from Battle Studies, Mayer dares to be a whole lot bolder than most artists today. That’s why the theme of this and future blog posts is “feats of musical bravery.” We need more artists with the confidence, the clarity, the inner narrative of honesty and strength that leads to truly inspiring art. It’s time to trade in the cool points and go for a happy heart instead. Small wonder, maybe, but I’ll take it.

Check out my cover of “Who Says” over at Tumblr.