Clips & Pix: John Mayer/Waiting on the World to Change

I still remember initially I was in complete disbelief that this fantastic tune was written John Mayer. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve always thought of Mayer as a decent songwriter and a great guitarist. I just didn’t believe he had so much soul in him! You could easily imagine somebody like Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield having performed this song.

Waiting on the World to Change, released in July 2006, became the lead single to Mayer’s third studio album Continuum that appeared in September of the same year. According to Songfacts, the reflective tune describes how most people deal with problems in the world. When Mayer sings, “Me and all my friends, we are all misunderstood, say we stand for nothing but there’s no way we ever could,” he’s talking about his generation and their lack of faith in the government – all we can do is wait, and it seems like everyone is waiting for the world to become a better place.

Songfacts further notes, In an interview with the Daily Mail December 21, 2007 Mayer explained why he wrote this song that makes a point without laboring matters: “I wanted to start a debate. Most of us are happy to wait for things to change.”

Waiting on the World to Change became one of Mayer’s most successful singles. In the U.S., it peaked at no. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart. It also charted in Canada, New Zealand and a few European countries. Additionally, the tune won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in February 2007.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube