il-Bloop!

12 November, 2006

some things just makes you wonder, or worse, worry about the state of today’s youths. Take for example these lyrics from the song “Waiting For The World To Change”, written and performed by John Mayer, taken from his latest album “Continuum”

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

he goes on:

it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change

and the chorus - here’s the clincher:

so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

Something’s just not right here. ‘Waiting’? Just plain ‘waiting’? Waiting for what? Bulan jatuh ke riba? Sorry to say this, but if that’s your idea of a protest song, it’s quite a non-starter isn’t it? Or in parlance you may understand, it’s just lame, geddit?

Go listen to Bob Dylan or something.

To be fair, here’s what the man himself has to say about his song :

“With “Waiting on the World to Change”, Mayer shot for something even more ambitious - something like an attempt to explain his generation’s attitudes about politics. “It’s meant to shed a little light on inactivity and inaction,” he says, “because I don’t believe that inaction is disinterest, I think inaction is preservation – nobody wants to get involved in a debate in which the rules and the facts will change so that they’ll lose. So we end up with this other option, which is, I guess we’ll just have to wait for things to get better.”

what~ever.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: You speak as if you're so much older than the youth about now.Which is ironic, seeing as how you're not. I get you. Detaching yourself from the mainstream gives you perspective and air to breathe.

As a former fan of Mayer's (I preferred him when he spoke of simpler things, which are his forte, but whatev), I'm thinking that maybe he's like most of us young guns.

We talk the talk about change and reform and individualism and being UNIQUE and being fresh and new, but contrary to the Y gen, we fail to even STRUT the walk. We spew out fancy words, and we think it fashionable to be moody and reclusive, or sarcastic and sharp but lazy. Even the fashion now is VINTAGE.

Come on. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?

So don't blame Mayer for being observant. I think he's just like most of us going through a quarter-life crisis, to borrow the man's own words: trying to make something new and make it sound meaningful and deep, when all it is is verbs strung together flimsily to support an unoriginal thought, too flimsy to make a statement.

Forget about him and ignore the talk, man. Use your eyes and look for people who WALK the long haul.I'm sure there are other youth around you who are sparking a change. Be one of them. You sound like you need it.

See you on the flipside, bro.; 11/14/2006 7:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey there Lutfi,

Nice blog you have here.

Let me first state that I'm a fan of John Mayer. I feel that yeah, you have in a sense misinterpreted the song. As what 'anonymous' has said before me, I 'think that what Mayer is simply trying to say is that nowadays, all we seem to be able to do is merely talk about change, but not do anything about it.

There are many, many problems in the world. But most of all, what is most disturbing is that apathy paralyzes many of us from actually taking the courage, bravery, and determination to DO something and ACT on those problems.

As he says, "We just feel like we don't have the means, to rise above and beat it. It's hard to beat the system". I feel that couldn't be more true. Sometimes we feel so small, and content ourselves with the thought that what one person thinks or does may not be able to change an entire world.

Thus, this song voices all that one with similar sentiments would feel. What more in the light of all the unrest in the world today, this song couldn't be even more relevant.

I don't think he's trying to send a negative message out; I think he's merely shedding light on all the problems we face today, and how the general population of the world treats these problems.

If it makes you "worry bout the state of today's youth", then even better! Coz THAT'S what I think John Mayer is trying to get us to do through this song. ;); 11/17/2006 7:39 PM
ltf ha said...: maybe I should criticise popular songs more often :)...; 11/22/2006 12:12 AM