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John Mayer's Songwriting Contest

While working on his new album, the Grammy winner offers up a handful of lyrics swimming around his head and asks you to do the rest

By John Mayer

One of the most natural (and absolutely maddening) facets of creating music is that the product is constantly being refined. What you thought was a brilliant song title yesterday is probably just good enough to be a passing lyric in the third verse. That chorus you lost sleep over? Turns out the chords work perfectly in the bridge of that other tune you've been trying to finish for eight months.

I've never experienced anything like the recording process involved in making Continuum, my third-album-to-be. The songs continually beg for more work when they fall short of being great. I had been working on a very trance-inducing two-chord tune when I wrote the lyrics below. As it turned out, the song didn't need lyrics at all. Looking to make some use of the time and emotion I spent writing them, I've decided to share a few random excerpts with you here:


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


I'm still not done with these lyrics. But I don't want to let them sit idly on my mind's shelf.

So here's my offer: I'm inviting all aspiring songwriters to write their own chords and melodies around my lyrics. Go ahead, I'm not using them. You can tell people that we wrote a song together. I want to hear what you come up with, so send a CD of your song to the address listed below. The best submissions will be featured here on Esquire.com, and I'll announce my favorite in an upcoming issue. But don't be surprised if these words end up in some other song I've yet to write. Until they wrap my album in cellophane, anything can happen.

Calling All Musicians, Amateur and Otherwise


To share with the world your adaptation of John Mayer's lyrics, send your submission on CD to:
Esquire
1790 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Attention: Music Department

All styles of interpretation are welcome. All submissions must be postmarked no later than September 30 to be eligible. Esquire reserves the right to retain each compact disc received and to offer the received material as streaming audio on esquire.com. And, yes, Mr. Mayer retains the publishing rights to his lyrics.
GRAND PRIZE: THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE A FENDER JOHN MAYER SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER.


http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2005/050804_mfe_mayer.html

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Ande Rasmussen
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Editor Of "Inspirations for Songwriters"
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[This message has been edited by Ande Rasmussen (edited 08-23-2005).]