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David Flint from Chile writes, “I really need to know: did Walt Grace make it to Japan?” And, I like you not knowing. Although, I did say the other night in a moment of excitement onstage that he totally makes it, and heroes don't die. Heroes don't die. That said, I do enjoy both scenarios, because even if he doesn't make it, he's still a hero. That's what's great about that story. Even if they just find his empty, sunken, crashed-against-the-rocks homemade fan blade one-man submarine ride, without him in it, he's still a hero for doing it. That's what I think.
[Reads audience question:] “One song of yours that you don't want to play ever again.” That's a good question. I don't think I want to play "Assassin." I don't think I want to play "Assassin" again. It’s something about it. Don't hold me to that, because I might do it at some point. [But] it reminds me personally of a time when I was looking at things with a sensibility that was — like, the Battle Studies sensibility was a little dark for me. Like, relatively dark, for me. I'm not a very dark person, as is probably well known. But that's a little too intense a predatory thing. I don't dig the predatory vibe. But I like the music. But, hey, you never know. That’s a really good question. I enjoy that question.
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"If there was a song from The Search for Everything that you would show teenage John to say 'look what you're capable of,' what track would you choose?"
That's a great question. "You're Gonna Live Forever in Me." My songwriting is about entering a trance, and a part of your brain you're not friends with, you don't know very well, supplying you with something that you can sing for the rest of your life. And I get that song and it's concise. And as a songwriter who occasionally sets up the goal for himself over time as, “write the most concise, salient, emotional, less-is-more song,” I would play that for myself and I would go, “look, you're gonna be fine, you were meant to do this, you don't have to worry so much.”
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Angel Hernandez says: "John, I see a kind of progression throughout the album. Did you place these songs in a specific order to express something, and if so what is it?"
Good question. I just wanted it to flow. And the record has two parts, and I think each song kind of — I knew where it was going to go on the record. It's not necessarily a story in lyric form, but it is a certain role of the music, so sequencing it took about 10 minutes, because I already knew — okay, I knew "You're Gonna Live Forever in Me" goes at the end, I knew "Still Feel Like Your Man" opens up. That's that sort of a “bracket.” I knew that "Changing," you know, "In the Blood," "Changing," The Search Theme is in the middle, and I knew "Moving On and Getting Over" started sort of side B. I knew Rosie was a late-in-the-record track. I knew that "Roll It On Home" was sort of late. So everything sort of placed itself based on what song that was. And I think it has a nice arc. Although by the time I sequenced it I just probably couldn't hear it one time. I think I’ve listened to it one time since it was mastered, but that's only because I can't fix it anymore, and I'm not interested in hearing it unless I can do something else to it. So I'll have to write more. Although if there was one record that I would listen to theoretically going forward, it would be this record.
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"John, do you see a difference between the 'sorry man' Born and Raised, Paradise Valley, and the man behind The Search?"
Yeah, sure. Sure. I think, Born and Raised, there's a lot in there, you know. I think what happens is, the first line in Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, “well, we pick up in New York City/ I'm trying to find the man I never got to be,” is really the line for Born and Raised. That's, like, the first line under Born and Raised. If there was the Star Wars scroll, it would say, “Born and Raised: well, I pick up in New York City…” And that was very true to me, that whole record. And the whole record’s not “sorry man.” Like If I Ever Get Around to Living is this really beautiful, freaky thing. And "Something Like Olivia" is like — I don't think I'll ever make a record that's completely without light. "Love On the Weekend" on this record, you know, there's a “she” there, they're together. That's something that's living and real. I think that's what the record needed. Because there's a fair amount of sort of ghostliness to this one guy in this record, who's accessing memories and accessing feelings. But you know, so that's Born and Raised. Paradise Valley is a different record. It's more of like, I've got a record to make, why wouldn't I make it? It's not necessarily meant to push the overall narrative forward. But then again, it's got "Dear Marie," which I love. It's got "Waiting on the Day," which I love, it’s got "Badge and Gun," which I love, But it's understandably not commercial, and then this record [The Search For Everything] is. It's exactly what a record would be or should be for me at this point in my life. It's not sorry. I know who I am, I know where I stand, it took almost 40 years to get there. That seems right to me. And it's, like, my first record as an adult, maybe. It's my first adult record, I feel like. It's the first record made only to investigate what I can do and investigate how I feel about stuff. It is a very tuned-in record.
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