Waiting on the World to Change

"Waiting on the World to Change"
Single by John Mayer
from the album Continuum
B-side	"Good Love Is on the Way" Limited Edition EP version only
Released	August 2006
Format	Digital download
Recorded	July 11, 2006
Genre	Blues Pop
Length	3:23
Label	Aware Records Columbia Records Sony Music
Writer(s)	John Mayer
Producer	John Mayer Steve Jordan
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)
John Mayer singles chronology
"Go!" (2005) "Waiting on the World to Change" (2006) "Belief" (2006)
Other covers Limited Edition EP cover

"Waiting on the World to Change" is the first single released from John Mayer's 2006 studio album, Continuum. It is a reworking of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready. The song enjoyed commercial success as a single and won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards. Because of its theme of discontent and hope, it quickly came into demand in a variety of television programs, charity benefits, and other events.

Background and production

In a Rolling Stone interview, Mayer recalled that after former Columbia Records head, Don Ienner, panned the first incarnation of Continuum, Mayer was brought to tears and briefly considered quitting music and studying design full time. However, that same day, Mayer wrapped work on a Curtis Mayfield-inspired tune called "Waiting on the World to Change," which would become Continuum's first single. Mayer knew it would be a hit for the album, remarking, "By the end of the day, I'd gone back to 'Nah, this is a great record.'"^[1]

Lyrics and structure

"Waiting on the World to Change" contains a highly popular chord progression often found in blues, rock and soul songs, such as Snoop Dogg's "Sexual Eruption". The chord progression is I - vi - IV - I - V - vi - IV - I, and in the case of "Waiting on the World to Change", it is in the key of D.^{[citation needed]} Another interesting fact is the accenting of the beats in the verses. Contrary to most popular music, the second snare backbeat of the second measure of the two-bar beat that repeats through most of the song features an accent on the "and" of "4", and not directly on "4."

The song's theme centers on the singer and his generation's inaction in regard to current world conditions. However, he attributes this inaction to a lack of power:

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

He also laments the corruption among leaders:

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair

John Mayer confirmed this feeling of disconnect between the leaders and the led in an interview with The Advocate, explaining the song this way: "It’s saying, ‘Well, I’ll just watch American Idol because I know that if I were engaged in changing anything for the better, or the better as I see it, it would go unnoticed or be completely ineffective.' A lot of people have that feeling."^[2] Even so, the song alludes to hope for the future, with the singer intoning that with his generation's ascension to power, things will change:

One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Politics was a topic that Mayer had not previously tackled. On his decision to include a politically-tinged song, he commented, "You cannot avoid war in life, you cannot avoid the fear of terrorism, you cannot avoid those things now, they are a part of everyday demeanor. So in that sense it's become more of an acceptable thing to comment on because it's just so much of a white elephant."^[3]

Promotion and release

The music video for the song was directed by Philip Andelman and features Mayer walking along the East River while commissioned graffiti artists Futura, Tats Cru, and Daze spray paint messages relating to the song's content on New York City billboards.

A limited-edition EP of "Waiting On The World to Change" was released that includes both the album version and a bonus, acoustic version featuring Ben Harper. The EP also is the only official source for the studio (electric) version of "Good Love Is On The Way", a live version of which was previously released on the live album Try! by the John Mayer Trio. This particular EP has only been made available through Best Buy and with the purchase of the Continuum album. An acoustic studio version of "Good Love Is On The Way" is also available on Mayer's EP entitled The Village Sessions, released on December 12, 2006 ("The Village Sessions" EP also contains the aforementioned Ben Harper acoustic version of "Waiting On The World to Change").

Reception

	"Waiting on the World to Change" From the album Continuum. This clip includes the final chorus after the bridge.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Critical

Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times called the song "a lovely and anger-free ode to a vaguely dissatisfied generation,"^[4] while Matt Collar with AMG wrote that "Nobody — not a single one of Mayer's contemporaries — has come up with anything resembling a worthwhile anti-war anthem that is as good and speaks for their generation as much as his "Waiting on the World to Change"^[5] Rolling Stone called the opening track and first single "a moving apologia for Gen Y's seeming 'apathy'"^[6] Other reviewers commented on his progression as an artist; Tony Pascarella found the song "gives listeners, both old and new, an idea of how far Mayer has come. To be frank, this is no 'Your Body Is A Wonderland.' With Continuum, Mayer broadens his fan base by infusing a very blues and R&B-influenced sound."^[7] Not all reviews were glowing: Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times were both less than impressed, with the Times saying that, in the song, "his mood tightens up unpleasantly."^[8] Greg Kot in The Chicago Tribune also referred to the song (in his report on Mayer's appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival) as '[perhaps] the most spineless social-justice song ever written. It advocates a passive approach, whereas the song it most closely resembles --- Curtis Mayfield’s classic “People Get Ready” --- urges everyone to get involved, or risk being left behind'. ^[9] Pitchfork Media found in the track "the gravitas of an infomercial but only a fraction of the soul", giving it the least grade.^[10]

Commercial

On February 22, 2007, it peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. It has stayed on the charts for 41 weeks.^{[11] [update]} The single also reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Chart, remaining on the chart for over a year. It is Mayer's most successful single (both in sales and chart positions). To date, in the U.S., the single has sold over 2,000,000 in digital downloads, becoming the 103rd song to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads. It is Mayer's first song to reach that plateau.^[12] It has been certified platinum by the RIAA, a distinction for downloads and sales in excess of one million. The song has found success internationally as well. It peaked at #17 on the Australian ARIA Digital Singles Chart. It also peaked at #36 on the New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 Singles Chart.

Chart performance

"Waiting on the World to Change" was featured on several competition shows. Sanjaya Malakar (in 2007) and David Archuleta (in 2008) chose to sing the song on American Idol. Likewise, Australian Idol contestant Dean Geyer made it his selection in a 2006 episode. Choreographer Wade Robson choreographed a dance routine to an abbreviated version of the song for the third season of the US version of So You Think You Can Dance.

The single was heard in the 2007 comedy film Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman, and on the seventh season premiere of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. On July 7, 2007, Mayer performed the song at Live Earth, changing the lyrics to "we're not waiting on the world to change" to reflect the proactive nature of the event. Mayer also performed a brief acoustic version of the song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 12, 2007 on the recurring 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien Summer Concert Series', a spin-off on the popular 'Today Show Summer Concert Series', also on NBC.

On April 12, 2008, on a episode of Saturday Night Live, Ashton Kutcher parodied the song on the sketch The Mellow Show.

The song is regularly used as a "bumper" on the Air America radio program Ring of Fire starring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio.

On September 29, 2008, TV Legend Susan Lucci danced a Rumba to the song on Dancing with the Stars.

On October 14, 2008, DJ Green Lantern released Yes We Can - Mixtape. It featured Waiting On The World To Change 2008 featuring Twista & Joe Budden.

Om August 28, 2009, A group of Sydney teenagers from Balgowlah Boys High School used the song with changed lyrics to promote the endangered Little Penguin colony in Manly, Sydney, Australia at a state wide environment expo.

Awards won

• Grammy: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change", 49th Grammy Awards (2007).

References

External links

• Live "Waiting on the World to Change" performance, on MSN.com
• D-PAN music video with ASL accompaniment, on D-PAN.com
• "Waiting on the World to Change" lyrics, at Yahoo! Music