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The Age of Worry

Interview at the Grammy Museum
"An Evening With John Mayer"

Aaron Sterling, who plays the drums on eleven of the twelve tracks, he and I had the experience of he's on one side of the studio and I'm on the other side of the studio, and he's going [sings part of chorus to "Age of Worry" while miming cymbal hits] and we're looking at each other having a blast. And I said going into this record, I just want to cook it with love. I just want everyone in it to be so loving.

I think I started playing the kick drum when I wrote the demo. "Boom. Bam!" That was like maybe the third song I wrote. And those were all just sort of a list of things I wanted to soothe myself and other people with just to—I remember gesturing wildly while I was singing it. Just to sort of like, almost like I was a ring leader at a circus. Just sort of like, everybody it's okay. You didn't go to the gym today, big deal. The big deal was that you told yourself that you had to. That was the big deal, was that somewhere without knowing it you signed a contract that you had to or else. And that's a really weird place to be in where there's so much pressure and it was just like, Give your heart and you're allowed to do it. I can't remember the lyrics unless I think about it in order I guess. But really what it is is a series of permissions. And then also it just became this gigantic sea shanty. This picturesque thing of sea spray coming over. And just telling someone, It's alright.

Twitter Q&A (November 2017)
Twitter Q&A about Born and Raised
I wrote that song with my hands in the air and pretended I was a circus barker. I was giving myself a talking to.

what's your favorite lyric from the B&R album?

“Give your heart then change your mind/you’re allowed to do it/cause God knows it’s been done to you, and somehow you got through it.”

Rise For the River: Flood Benefit Concert
Performance of Born and Raised album
I had a typewriter in my house when I was making this record, and I would just walk past it and type stuff without looking. And one time I typed: "close your eyes and clone yourself/ build your heart an army/ to defend your innocence/ while you do everything wrong." And I took it in the studio, and it became this.