Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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And now its out.
Your schedule shifts, and youre not talking about it.
Now its up to the listener to hear for themselves and decide if they like it or not.
He adds, Its just out in the world.
Most bizarre use of Im Yours
We did a cover-slash-parody-slash-sound-alike onSesame Street.
That was surreal, and it was called Outdoors.
The thing about Im Yours is, for many people, its my only song.
I was in a weed shop right around the timeLook for the Goodalbum came.
I said, Yeah!
Soon Im Yours was playing over the speakers.
I was flattered, you know?
And I said, Well, I have a new song out right now and its reggae.
It would be perfect for in here.
And they just looked at me like I was speaking another language.
Theyre like, What?
You have other songs?
You know what, though, I had the same experience with Counting Crows a couple of years ago.
I loved the Counting Crows.
In high school, probably my favorite band, like the first two albums of theirs.
I just loved the lyricism ofAugust and Everything After.
We were both playing at a charity event, and I went, Oh my gosh!
Im such a big fan.
What have you been up to?
And I said it in a way as if they havent done anything for 25 years.
Theyre like, We just put an album out.
I kind of busted myself, being a shitty fan to their faces.
Best new song
I love Make Love.
It really drives well to the beat of marching feet.
I have not really gone down that lane on a recording before.
Everything I gleaned off that went into [this] song.
Ive been tweaking that song for years, never finding the right way to go on it.
Its like seven verses or something.
I fear for the listener.
Or I should say, I have respect.
And then my third tie for first place is DJ FM AM JJASON.
Its just such a strange tune as well.
DJ FM AM JJASON is just an acronym for the calendar months starting with December.
And for me, DJ FM AM JJASON was a moment when I went, Whoa.
It ended up being one of my favorite songs on the record.
Most classic reggae song onLook for the Good
Look for the Good or Time Out.
Time Out has a slower BPM.
Were talking about herbs.
We have a feature from Sister Carol, which also helps since reggae is music by Jamaican people.
She sings of herbs.
I wanted Sister Carol on Wise Woman.
And women are singing all over the track.
Raining Jane are all the background voices on almost every song.
Most surprisingly sad Jason Mraz song
Theres a song onMr.
On my first record,Waiting for My Rocket to Come, theres also The Boys Gone.
And I write a lot of sad songs that never make it onto the albums.
Curiosity on my birthday.
Then, The Boys Gone is about death.
I wanted to know why were here, where were going, where we go after this.
Not easy to play live.
Hard-core fans like it.
Best songwriting trick youve learned
The best trick is to first improvise.
Its on the tip of your tongue.
You havent had time to second guess it, or even edit it.
See what happens when you just sing the song before youve even written it.
And then I record that and see whats there.
Is there already half of a song there?Are there three-quarters of the song?
Is there one line thats solid and then build off the good stuff from that improvisation?
I venture to do that once a week.
I have a friend who gives me a prompt once a week.
And so I have to turn that prompt, that word or phrase, into a song.
Thats my other trick, to have a steady songwriting practice.
Its not something that you havent done in months.
Its something that youre ready to do.
Youre always ready to do it.
Proudest moment
That Im able to give beyond my own needs.
Thats how it began.
Well then, once all my basic needs are met, I thought,Shit, who am I?
What do I do?
Ive been doing that for a number of years.
It cant be a moment; it really has to be a movement.
Twenty years ago, if youd told me I was going to do that, I wouldnt believe you.
I would be like,How?Its actually quite easy.
So my proudest achievement is that the music were making now serves so many.
Its more than just serving me.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
