Soundtrack of My Life

"The Boy's Gone" by Jason Mraz

I believe this is Entry 22.

"The Boy's Gone" by Jason Mraz

The boy's gone
The boy's gone home
The boy's gone
The boy's gone home

What will happen to a face in the crowd
When it finally gets too crowded?
What will happen to the origins of sound
After all the sounds have sounded?

Well, I hope I never have to see that day
But by God I know it's headed our way
So I better be happy now 'cause the boy's going home
The boy's gone home

What becomes of a day for those who rage against it?
And who will sum up the phrase for all left standing round in it?
Well, I suppose we'll all make our judgement calls
We will march, we will fall
So we better be happy now that we'll all go home
We'll all go home

Be so happy with the way you are
Just be happy that you made it this far
Go on, be happy now
Please be happy now

Because you see that this, this is something else
All right, you see that this, this is something else
It's all right, this is, this is something else
Ohh, this is, this is something else

Well I tried to live my life, I tried to live it well
When it's over, is it heaven or is it hell?
I better be happy now, 'cause no one can tell
'Cause nobody knows

I'm gonna be happy with the way that I am
I'm gonna be happy with all that I stand for
And I'm gonna be happy now 'cause the boy's going home
The boy's gone home

Yeah, the boy's gone home

Jason Mraz, a.k.a. Mr. A-Z, is one of best live performers out there, and he doesn't even need anything besides his voice and a guitar. I've never heard him do a song the same way twice. He's a wordsmith and a master at improvisation, especially vocally. You might have heard one of his more popular songs on the radio before, but you haven't really heard his music until you've heard him play live at Java Joe's with Toca backing him up on bongos and harmonies.   It's a whole different experience. Unfortunately, his style has changed pretty drastically since his Java Joe days and he doesn't really make music like this anymore. His newer stuff is not really on the same level, in my humble opinion.

I believe this song was written about his friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Likely the same friend that his first major hit song "The Remedy" was written about. Cancer is a subject that hits hard for me right now in my personal life. All I'll say is, "f*** cancer". The lyrics pretty much speak for themselves, as he's clearly struggling with the idea of mortality. Listening to this now makes me feel very nostalgic. It brings me back to a very specific time in my life when I had just discovered his Live from Java Joe's album (for a dollar in a box of random CDs for sale) and I listened to it literally non-stop for years. Those were better and worse times. Jason Mraz has helped me through a lot in my life, and I've never even met him.

I think it's pretty amazing that music can have such a far reaching effect.

Anni