John Mayer writes an open letter to D'Angelo

In a recent esquire magazine column, guitarist John Mayer wrote an open letter to D'angelo who is MIA as of late....drugs?....who knows.....here it is:

Music Lessons with John Mayer
This Month's Lesson: An open letter to D'Angelo

by John Mayer | Dec 01 '04

Dear D'Angelo,
My name is John Mayer. You might know me from that "Your Body Is a Wonderland" song, or perhaps our mutual friend, Roots drummer ?uestlove, mentioned me to you. I'm writing to ask you to put out a follow-up to one of the few records to change my life forever, Voodoo .

When Voodoo came out in 2000, I stood in line at Tower Records in Atlanta at midnight to get it. Turns out, it set the gold standard for modern "neo" soul music. It's 2004, and I'm no less excited by it today than I was when I played it full blast in my mother's Plymouth Voyager on the way to my bullshit job. I drive a nicer car now, but I still listen to Voodoo and wonder what my albums would sound like if I took a bite off your style and what R&B would be like if you came back.

In contrast to the present age of gunmetal-gray hip-hop, with perfectly aligned beats and blips, Voodoo throbs. It's skin in the place of plastic. ?uestlove's drums serve as an atomic clock, while Pino Palladino's bass playing taunts the drums by showing the bar line just how late it can wake up and still arrive to work on time. I'm not even going to detail your impeccable vocal layering. You know what you did.

Yes, Voodoo isn't laced with perfect pop hooks, but then again it's so devoid of them that I never assumed you were worried about appeasing radio anyway. Its beauty is simplicity, a Japanese rock garden of hip-hop and R&B, and it's because of the negative space that I can still listen to it. There's nothing frivolous to get stuck in your head, so there's nothing to want out.

If you haven't recently committed any of yourself to tape, I'm begging you to put your suit and cape back on. Your contemporaries aren't going to ask you to come back; they're scared of having to be perched next to you. Only a lanky white boy like me can call you out of hiding. And if you need any help with those tunes, you know who to call. ?uestlove's got my number.

from Desyb
datingincolor.com

is this for real?

sosgemini said:

And if it is.....how cute is that a musician begs another to put out an album.

Yes....I think this has even been posted before...by JanFan4L if my memory is correct.

I can only co-sign Mayer's letter, I love Voodoo and I am also waiting for D to put out another album!

i think john mayer's music is as boring as a bag of rock salt, but i got a kick outta this letter. very funny stuff, and if he did indeed write it, it at least shows me that he has a genuine love for music. way to go, yawninator!

VoicesCarry said:

JANFAN4L said:

VoicesCarry said:

JANFAN4L said:

No, by Harlepolis.

Damn

Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone


Lady Day

Harlepolis said:

VoicesCarry said:

Damn

Yeah motherfucker, by moi

I wouldn't be surprised if he did write that letter. Actually, it does sound like something he would do. John is a trip, and I think he gets misunderstood at times because he has that other side, a personality that is not just the standard musician type. He has a show on VH1, but I don't know if it still airs since they've been spending the past week or so repeating all the shows of this year.

VoicesCarry said:

Harlepolis said:

Yeah motherfucker, by moi

I sowwy.

Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone


Lady Day

Dear "D'Angelo":

You sure don't look Italian.

Sincerely,
T-Bird

This HAS to be a joke....

The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom - Anais Nin

"Unnecessary giggling"...

Anxiety said:

endorphin74 said:

Thunderbird said:

Dear "D'Angelo":

You sure don't look Italian.

Sincerely,
T-Bird

Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone


Lady Day

Please don't let him make an apperance on D's album.

VoicesCarry said:

Can he write a letter to Technotronic, please? I used to listen to them on the way to my crappy job.

That episode of the Chappelle show where he played with ?uestlove was hilarious.

Mayer wrote "Your Body is a Wonderland" after seeing the Untitled video.

andyman91 said:

sinisterpentatonic said:

andyman91 said:

That episode of the Chappelle show where he played with ?uestlove was hilarious.

Mayer wrote "Your Body is a Wonderland" after seeing the Untitled video.

endorphin74 said:

RipHer2Shreds said:

I like Technotronic.

This beat is...

This beat is...

This beat is Technotronic!

theVelvetRoper said:

Anxiety said:

endorphin74 said:

I'm not surprised you are aren't a John fan. I do have to tell you tho, boy has some skills. He has been VERY impressive when I've seen him live. I honestly expect really good things from him once he's grown just a bit more.

yeah, i can see that he's talented, i just don't get into that folksy, dave matthews-ish kinda stuff. i can see him transcending that whole genre, though, and releasing something way down the road that could be pleasantly surprising to me. i haven't written him off - i just don't care for what he's doing now. but like some other folks have said on here in the past - at least he writes and plays his own stuff and can perform it live. sadly, that's saying a lot these days.

CynicKill said: