Jack Johnson
On and On

Letter to a trusted and sincere friend.

Hello dear Jack, how are you? I hope that everything goes well for you, undoubtedly!
You might wonder why this unexpected letter: suffice it to say that I have my valid reasons. But is it really necessary to have a particular reason to write to a friend?
It’s a tough period for me. To quote George Carlin: "I learned how to make a living but not how to live. I have a bigger house but a smaller family. I have more education but perhaps less common sense. I have multiplied my possessions but reduced my values. I have a fast car but can’t cross the street to meet my neighbors. And I need to drink and smoke because I can’t find any reason to laugh anymore".

Here I am writing to you, my dear Jack, because I want you to know how important it has been for me to have you by my side during this time, to have listened to your songs. I want to thank you and I know no other way to do it than through this letter.
Thank you, Jack. I kept telling myself stubbornly that I should find someone who could give me a dream to live because reality was killing me. Then you came along, first with that carefree "Brushfire Fairytales" and now with this bright "On and On". Hey, Jack, I noticed that your compositional technique hasn't changed at all from your first work, huh? Well done, I like how you remain in simplicity. Do you remember what our master Bruce Lee, to whom you dedicated "Inaudible Melodies" (in the first album), always used to say? He loved to repeat: "Every day something less, not something more, gets you straight to your goal". But tell me, isn't your goal perhaps to make us hear the sound of the ocean? Because, I swear, that's exactly what I feel when I listen to you, I feel the expanse and the breath of the ocean, the majestic waves coming and going, I feel the wind blowing, I even smell the salty scent of the water and I seem to be blinded by the Hawaiian sun as I look up because there’s "Traffic in the Sky". Know that I love the intro and that simple progression of double chords, alternated with the use of open strings, that characterize "Taylor". And, my old friend, you really took the words right out of my mouth when you sang: "and cars and phones and diamonds rings, bling, bling, because those are only removable things. And what about your mind? Does it shine?" (From Gone) Those are my words, damn it, can you read my mind? I told you that we like shiny things but we don’t care about making our ideas shine! Anyway, you must be a good guy. Especially honest and genuine if from the simple turns of a G major chord you create a song like "Wasting Time". You must be honest and genuine if you dedicate to us "Times Like This" which reminds us that in times like these there will always be a war on one side and peace on the other, a tear to counter a smile, a heart given and one shattered, and "there will always be stop and go and fast and slow, action, reaction, sticks and stones and broken bones". So for my tears now, is there someone else laughing? And for my broken heart, is there already another one ready to give itself to me? See, Jack, you have the gift of putting me at peace with myself, you are the cure for all my woes, you answer me even while questioning me. What can I tell you about "Rodeo Clowns" except that it’s splendid in its banal cyclicality?

Please, never learn to play guitar like the virtuosos. Please, keep being the sunny big guy I’ve known, a sweet madman with a camera in one hand, a guitar in the other, and a surfboard perpetually on your mind waiting for the evening to come to have a beer with friends. Because you’re right when you remind me that having the sun, the sea, and a few trusted friends, what more could I want? I can't contradict you. All I know is that the drama of life is not in dying but in feeling dead inside while being forced to live. That's why I need your music, your purity, to put myself at peace, to dry my tears alone. Your music supports my voice and combats that cancer that eats me inside. Your doubts, your questions, your disarming ability to reach straight to the heart with simple melodies, your warm and calm voice that reassures me are my doubts, my questions, and your music is my music, and your voice is my voice and fights that cancer eating me from the inside. And every time you play for me, I become light, light and fly away, to the ocean, to the waves, to the sun. Don't blend into the chorus, don't mix with the crowd, remain who you are because, you said it, "there’s no use in lying and no one, no, not, no one likes to be let down"(Flake, previous album).

Farewell, my friend. I await your news, obviously always in music, in your style. I bid you farewell thanking you once more. From the heart.