Listening to John Mayer, Again

In 2006, John Mayer came out with the album Continuum. The first single off the album released was Waiting on the World to Change. When I first heard this song, I liked it. The music was good and the words seemed catchy. You can read all of the lyrics of the song here. You can hear the song here. But after a few times of listening to it, I realized that the song's message was about doing nothing when faced with adversity.

The opening verse says

Me and all my friends
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

So he describes his generation, of which I am apart of, as seeing all that is going wrong in the world. This is certainly true, there is much wrong in the world. Wars, poverty, terrorism, abuse, starvation, disease, etc... We have corrupt leaders of both parties and in many countries. However, Mayer says that his generation feels powerless, that they cannot do better for themselves and not be a victim.

The first chorus says

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Instead of taking action, Mayer and his friends choose to do nothing and wait for everything else to fix itself. They do not want to become involved and have to work for what is right, they prefer to let someone else do it.

The rest of the song continues with this theme or seeing corruption, but not having the power to fix it, so they choose to take no action and wait for the "world to change." One verse even says

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

Perhaps Mayer has not heard of the internet which allows us to access media world wide instantaneously. We have access to more information now from more sources at a faster rate, than at any moment in history.

This is a horrible message.

When asked in The Advocate what the song meant, Mayer said "It’s saying, ‘Well, I’ll just watch American Idol because I know that if I were engaged in changing anything for the better, or the better as I see it, it would go unnoticed or be completely ineffective. A lot of people have that feeling." This is the message he is telling the world. Do not work to correct wrong doings. You might fail and you may not get attention brought to yourself.

Where would America be if this was the attitude of all Americans? Where would we be if our fore fathers had decided to just wait for the world to change and not great a new country of free people? Where would we be if Abraham Lincoln had decided to just wait for the world to change and not free the slaves? Where would we be if Susan B. Anthony and countless other women had just waited for the world to change and not fought for the right of women to vote? Where would we be in countless millions of men and women had chosen to just wait for the world to change and hadn't taken up arms against the enemies of our country? Where would we be if Martin Luther King Jr. and countless other men and women of all races had just waited for the world to change and hadn't fought for equality of all men and women, no matter their color?

These people fought not for recognition, not because they knew they would win, not for money, but because they knew what was right. They knew what was right and fought for it. Many gave all they had. Many people fought to change the world whose names are not remembered. They became involved. They got up off their couches and turned off the TV. They fought the fight, no matter how unfair. They fought to see that the American ideals of justice and liberty for all people were upheld.

America was founded by people who refused to wait for the world to change. They changed the world. The change they started has inspired people world wide to change their world and not wait for someone else to do it. Mayer's message is to just stay home and watch TV.

Which America do you want to live in? One that stands up and changes the world, no matter how hard the struggle because we know what is right, or one that just stays home and watches American Idol and wait for someone else to come and fix things?

I choose to stand up and change the world. What will you do? Will you stand up or will you wait?