Jackson 1 Greer Jackson ENGW104-41- Dr. Boylan Essay 3 11/17/2017 ‘Stop This Train’- A Reflection on Our Relationship with Time It begins with a steady acoustic guitar riff. A few seconds in, the added percussive slap technique creates a sound very similar to that of a traditional steam locomotive chugging along into the distance. I don’t realize this at first, but the moment I do, I make a mental note, impressed: ‘I see what you did there, John.’ When the vocals come in, the sense of despair is palpable – I can almost see the pained expression on his face. I am drawn in the by musical qualities, and now, the lyrics claim my attention. It is as though he is within the depths of my mind. He sings of a fundamental concept: time. We have no real agency over time (as science stipulates), and we spend a lot of it lamenting about the past and worrying about the future.Perhaps, if we allowed time to motivate us and bring new meaning to our lives instead of letting it inhibit us, we might feel more liberated by it; in simpler terms, we could create our own sense of temporal control that transcends the limits of scientific explanation. “Stop This Train” is the seventh track on John Mayer’s third studio album, Continuum. The album was released on September 12, 2006. It was written during a time of what Mayer calls ‘solitary refinement’; at the time, he had been at a difficult period in his life- he was suffering from double kidney stones and trying to find a new place to live . On December 21, 2007, Mayer told the Daily Mail that he was going through a ‘quarter-life crisis’.
Jackson 2 Analyzing the lyrics, it is easy to see that Mayer likens life to a speeding train. It is unstoppable and unpreventable. He feels like he needs to get off and go home- in this sense, ‘home’ is not necessarily a specific and concrete place; rather, I see it as a metaphor for a much less challenging part of life; a certain feeling of comfort, of being surrounded by familiar people. By divulging his innermost thoughts and worries, Mayer makes the song relatable; like him, we also worry about getting older, losing loved ones, being on our own and not having enough time to accomplish everything we want to. He uses his own experiences to question the concept of time, making it more personal and intimate. Nadia Caper, an online music critic, corroborates this effectiveness in her own review: “By the time you reach the end of the song, you’ve flown through so many relatable experiences, that you feel like you and Mayer have come to the same conclusion together” (Caper). The Mirror is a short film that perfectly represents the way time seems to race on; it depicts, within six minutes, the growth of a young boy into an old man, showing all the changes he goes through within his lifetime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IkR5nZZSvk There is a turning point near the end of the song where Mayer talks with his father, who he reaches out to for advice in dealing with time and its fleeting nature1. I believe this turning point introduces the template off which we should pattern our own lives. It is the resolution: a much-needed sense of ease. His father suggests that when Mayer gets to his age, he won’t try to negotiate with time anymore; instead, he’ll have realized the value in appreciating every moment he finds himself in.
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See Appendix for lyrics
Jackson 3 In the video ‘You Can Control Time with Your Mind’ by YouTube channel Epipheo, the concept of clock time vs. brain time is explained. Clock time exists outside of us- brain time, however, is governed by our perceptions. Our brains record the events of our life based on how memorable they are. Therefore, by having more meaningful, memorable experiences, we can actually have some sense of control over our brain time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt-yQOhs2Vk We as humans see time as a linear and rigid concept. Famous Spanish artist Salvador Dali confronts this idea in his painting ‘The Persistence of Memory’; in it, he depicts three clocks that appear to be melting. The painting raises a very important question; is time as linear and rigid as we think, or can we cause it to expand or contract based on our experiences?
Figure 1 The clock may seem like a very mundane object, but think about what we would do without our precious time-telling devices. We would be lost without them- no matter how often we may be tempted to vault them across the room after being groggily awakened by a noisy alarm. One glance at a clock can cause a range of feelings, depending on whether we’re urging
Jackson 4 time to speed up so that we can begin the weekend, or willing it to slow down so that we can finish that assignment we haven’t started (which, of course, we dilly dallied with until the last possible second). It is forever there, reminding me, reminding us, that time is infinite, but we are not infinite in it.
Figure 2 Like John Mayer, I often find myself wondering and overthinking about the future. This sometimes prevents me from truly living in the present moment. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that nobody wants to grow old and realise that they were rushing through life. I find some sense of clarity in likening life and the passage of time to going through a tunnel; like the light tunnel in the National Gallery of Art. It would be a waste to go through the tunnel without admiring the lights, just to get to the beautiful art on the other side. Similarly, we shouldn’t go through life without enjoying simple things that are in plain sight, so focused on the result that we don’t appreciate the experiences which lead us there.
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Figure 3 One of the things that Mayer suggests we are afraid of losing is family. Closer to the end of the song, he sings about the ‘once-in-a-while’ moments where everything feels like it should be- such as moments when we’re surrounded by family2. Just the other day, my grandmother was in DC and , as she always does when she visits the US, was reunited with old friends. That night we all gathered outside on the deck and I listened to them recount, with much amusement, their younger days. It was a night filled with hearty laughter and timeless stories. I took this photo, which now serves as a reminder of one of the many in which I was truly present. Laura Vanderkam, in a Ted Talk about gaining control of your free time, states: ‘Time is highly elastic. We cannot make more time, but time will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it. I have decided to put moments like this in. Small moments can have great power- this was a small moment for me, but it will forever take its place with the other fond memories that I have curated.
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See Appendix for lyrics
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Figure 4 We’re often so caught up dedicating our time to material things-we don’t realise that many of our worries and the situations we obsess about won’t matter in the end. We take the finer things in life for granted because we rationalize that there will always be ‘another time ’by playing the numbers game. We don’t fully appreciate every sunrise and sunset, because we know they will be there tomorrow- but the important question is: will we?
Figure 5 We’ll never stop time. We don’t need to. There are enough open doors, enough opportunities for novel experiences that we can readily grasp, especially when we feel as though
Jackson 7 we can only find ourselves by going backwards. We’ll never stop this train. We don’t need to. Life is constantly beckoning to us in new ways; all it takes is for us to open our eyes and look out the window.
Jackson 8 Appendix Figure 1. The Persistence of Memory. Artist, Salvador Dalí.1931. Figure 2. The Light Tunnel. Photographer, Greer Jackson. 2017. Figure 3. Together Again. Photographer, Greer Jackson. 2017. Figure 4. Day’s End. Photographer, Greer Jackson. 2017. Figure 5. Time,Frozen. Photographer, Greer Jackson. 2017.
“Stop This Train” Lyrics No, I'm not color blind I know the world is black and white I try to keep an open mind But I just can't sleep on this, tonight Stop this train I want to get off and go home again I can't take the speed it's moving in I know I can't But, honestly, won't someone stop this train? Don't know how else to say it I don't want to see my parents go One generation's length away From fighting life out on my own Stop this train I want to get off and go home again I can't take the speed it's moving in I know I can't But, honestly, won't someone stop this train? So scared of getting older I'm only good at being young So I play the numbers game
Jackson 9 To find a way to say that life has just begun Had a talk with my old man Said, "Help me understand" He said, "Turn sixty-eight You'll renegotiate" "Don't stop this train Don't for a minute change the place you're in And don't think I couldn't ever understand I tried my hand John, honestly, we'll never stop this train" Once in a while, when it's good It'll feel like it should When you're all still around And you're still safe and sound And you don't miss a thing 'Till you cry when you're driving away in the dark Singing, stop this train I want to get off and go home again I can't take the speed it's moving in I know, I can't 'Cause now I see I'll never stop this train
Jackson 10 Works Cited Caper, Nadia. “Stop This Train- John Mayer.” ReviewStream. https://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=134883 Dalí, Salvatore. The Persistence of Memory. 1931, Museum of Modern Art, New York City. https://www.dalipaintings.com/persistence-of-memory.jsp. Accessed 17 Nov. 2017 Epipheo. “You Can Control Time With Your Mind.” Youtube, 13 Apr. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt-yQOhs2Vk Mayer, John. Lyrics to “Stop This Train”. Genius, 2012, https://genius.com/John-mayer-stop-this-train-lyrics# “Stop This Train”. Songfacts. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9863. Accessed 15 Nov. 2017. TED. “How to gain control of your free time| Lauran Vanderkam. Youtube ,7 Feb. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kNlFMXslo The Ebeling Group. “John Mayer Stop This Train The Mirror IndieFilm”. Vimeo, 2012. https://vimeo.com/53995315