INVINCIBLE SUMMER Playlist: Song 4

SONG #4: "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer.

Okay, yes, John Mayer is a d-bag, but two points are important: 1. I wrote IS in 2009, when he was not quite so much of a d-bag and 2. it's still a good song.

The first time I heard Bigger Than My Body was when I was a kid watching Degrassi, back when they still played music videos in-between all the shows on The N. I hated most of them, so I always looked forward to "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera and Bigger Than My Body.

To me, Bigger Than My Body is a story about coming out of your skin. It's about being trapped, but with the tantalizing possibility, or promise, even, that you won't be trapped forever. There's the idea of escape.

It's a good song for Noah, my favorite character in Invincible Summer, especially during the first summer. While he comes across as overly cynical, there's a definite feel, at least to me, that he's cynical because being cynical is still a safe thing, because he doesn't truly believe it. He can bitch and moan and whine about how he's being pushed into a role he doesn't want to fill and nothing is in his control, but he still believes that he can rise above all the bullshit. He still sees himself outside of the context of the bullshit. He's a kid playing a cynic.

Also he looks kind of like a more funny-looking John Mayer in my head.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

Why is it not my time?
What is there more to learn?
Shed this skin I've been tripping in
Never to quite return

CORRELATING PASSAGE:

“Look. Listen to my words of wisdom. College's only role these days, for an upper-middle-class kid going in for a fucking liberal arts degree, is very simple. Do you know what that is?”

“A diploma. A good job. Yay.”

“No. College exists only because it thrives on the hopes and dreams of the young and innocent. College is a hungry zombie here to eat your brains. It wants to remind you that your naivete is impermanent and someday, English major or no, you'll wear a suit and hate the feeling of sand between your toes.”

--p. 53




PLAYLIST SO FAR:
1) "Turn Up The Sun" by Oasis
2) "Island in the Sun" by Weezer
3) "Just Like Heaven" by Gatsby's American Dream
4) "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer