Music Review: John Mayer "No Such Thing"

John Mayer

No Such Thing

Album: Room For Squares

Year: 2002

             John Mayer resists being molded into a mindless drone in the truimphant “No Such Thing.”

            A pondering guitar opens the single, setting a settled tone. His guidance counselor flips through his file in a manila folder. In the center of the room, her degree hangs on the hall. Pictures of her children are in frames on an filing cabinet. A vase of carnations sits on her desk. She puts his folder down and asks him what he plans to do after high school. He tells her write music, move to LA, and work on his demo. She tells him he has to pick a college and hands him some brochures. He places them on the chair nex to him and says college isn’t right for him. She continues talking, as though he didn’t say anything at all, and begins explaining the benefits of a four-year degree. It’s how the world works and that’s something he’ll have to accept, which ends her lecture. Unlike his peers, he didn’t get excited over prom or fill his time by playing a sport. He believes he capable of more of a typing away inside a cubicle from 9 am to 5 pm five days a week. (“"Welcome to the real world", she said to me/Condescendingly/Take a seat/Take your life/Plot it out in black and white/Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings/And the drama queens/I'd like to think the best of me/
Is still hiding/Up my sleeve.”)

               In the pre-chorus, he remembers teachers and other adults telling him their stories. To him, they had the same narration with minor variations.  Sometime after high school, life became a routine, the promise of dreams left undiscovered and forgotten. (“They love to tell you/Stay inside the lines/That something's better/On the other side.”)

          After graduating high school, he veered down his own path and was successful. His guidance counselor was wrong. It’s a realization he wants to share with every current high schooler. They have to know it’s ok to give their a dream a shot. (“I wanna run through the halls of my high school/I wanna scream at the/Top of my lungs/I just found out there's no such thing as the real world/Just a lie you've got to rise above.”)

              He thinks of the celebrated valedictorian of his class, giving he speech on graduation day, mourning the loss of such an important time in their lives. Years later, he ran into them at bars where they could engage him in conversations about existentialism likely repeated from their last lecture in philosophy class.  He visits his parents after work. They are in the 50s now, waiting for retirement. His dad complains about his job. His mom tries to clean up every spot on the counter. He thinks if they had ever hoped to live inParisor take a month long road trip to an unknown destination, their regrets staining each memory with a dull hue.  (“So the good boys and girls take the so called right track/Faded white hats/Grabbing credits/Maybe transfers/They read all the books but they can't find the answers/And all of our parents/They're getting older/I wonder if they've wished for anything better/While in their memories/Tiny tragedies.”)

            In the pre-chorus, he adds there’s a lot more to the world if the person is willing to explore it. (“They love to tell you/Stay inside the lines/But something's better/On the other side.”)

                 The chorus is sung again.

                 In the bridge, nothing what people say affects him. He’s living life his way. (“I am invincible/ I am invincible/ I am invincible/As long as I'm alive.”)

                  The chorus is sung again.

                    In the final section, his parents gave him the flyer for his 10-year reunion. He intends to go as proof that there is life beyond high school and the community where they grew up. (“I just can't wait til my 10 year reunion/I'm gonna bust down the double doors/And when I stand on these tables before you/You will know what all this time was for.”)

             Mayer’s deliberative, chastising vocals are clear-sighted after years of being obscured. Certain dreams were reasonable and able to be followed. The adults who were there to guide him only knew one path and rejected any turn, crushing the unfamiliar ideas with a loud crunch.

            The blunt “No Such Thing” thinks for itself, unafraid to question tradition and authority.