Writing A Song with John Mayer

August 6th, 2005 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Ironic that I just posted about the new John Mayer Stratocaster® from Fender.

Ironic because John has decided to ask singer/songwriters¹ to write a song using lyrics that he wrote. Lyrics that didn’t make it onto his upcoming album, Continuum. He will hand-pick his favorites to be downloadable on esquire.com,² and the grand prize is, naturally, the aforementioned Mayer Stratocaster.³

Here are the lyrics:

I keep a note that I wrote on a taxi receipt
It says, “Don’t listen to anybody other than me”
I hit the big time for a nominal fee
You lose a friend in the end for every dream that you see come true

I got scars upon scrapes, I’ve got bruises on breaks
Masochistically committed to see how much of this I’ll take
Three years under water, and I ain’t even got the shakes
I’m going deeper and deeper and deeper

I’ve got dreams to remember, I’ve got days to forget
I’ve got some phone calls in to God but he ain’t called me back just yet

Submissions aren’t due until September 30, so I’ve got a while to work on it. I’m actually kind of nervous. Anyway, I’ll let you know when I have something put together.

1. I am not sure at what point I would be considered a singer/songwriter. There are really only two qualifications: (1) writing songs, and (2) singing. I’m pretty sure I do both. It’s just such a broad category to which lots of talented people belong, i.e. John Mayer. ↩
2. John writes a monthly article for Esquire Magazine. I believe the following article will be in the September issue. That’s what I read, but I would think it would be in the August issue. Whatev. ↩
3. Holy crap I just found out that this guitar costs $1400. This needs to be the best song I ever write. ↩