John Mayer - In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning (Letterman, 11-27-08)

[MegaWowers]

The video is wayyyyy off

[ntprofman]

Is Mayer playing an L-5?

[DamaniMusic]

@ntprofman yep!! i would do awful, awful things to that guitar

[kustersmusic]

this shit is so fucking awesome

[pandrice93]

I wish they had actually recorded this tune together. Or better yet do an album of jazz standards together. That'd be something.

[hodge12]

whitfield could have played a better solo.

[bdn2004]

fantastic and totally AMERICAN.

[kooshballinator]

0:37 (restart button hihi)

[SwaggTastic213]

"How bout that guy?!" i sure wish i knew what that that guy was doing -__-

[fsaitta]

Nice



[cassandre2468]

I like this version better. John's voice is so soothing and gentle. Don't kill me Sinatra fans.

[besamemucho5]

@cassandre2468 i love frank sinatra....but you know what i wish john would re-do all frank sinatra's songs...can you imagine "strangers in the night" by john mayer?

[cassandre2468]

@besamemucho5 IDK Frank won me over with that song but I could imagine John singing any of his songs. so talented.

[UNKNOWNBASTARD007]

he lipsinging

[joakimrainer]

Why do I think of christmas when I hear this song?:)

[tw0ntw0n]

bought it BECAUSE U SAID SO!

[dolinovodno5000]

aww the double bass guy didnt get a handshake or a gesture :(

[deeway1963]

Beautiful. One of my most favorite Frank Sinatra songs...if one could possibly say that they have a favorite...Sinatra was the KING!

[funkyjim]

I love how the band have dressed.

John is going to a photo shoot.

The drummer is keeping it casual.

The bassist is going to a funeral.

The guitarist is going to home in the snow.

And the trumpet guy is a magician.

[lambgtr7]

@funkyjim i like you

[funkyjim]

@lambgtr7 Thank you.

[babaselah]

@ Jme501 and streetcornersongbird:

What belting? Sinatra didn't beit this song at all. Listen to "Come Fly With Me." THAT'S belting. Sinatra sang this song with just the right sense of verve and restaint. And John Mayer did Sinatra pround on his rendition. I'd like to hear John Pizzarelli sing it.

[ocnoreen]

I like the fact that younger performers are learning these classics but he could work on his vocal intonation. Learn how to control your voice on a ballad is key. Listen to Johnny Hartman or Frank Sinatra or Morgana King for this song. Singers used to open their mouths to sing!

[Johaneeeek]

his guitar strap matches his suit, class act

[Tut7406]

Stick to the Blues!

[pbmusic100]

does anyone know the chords for this ?

[jmforlife83]

Frank would be proud

[Jme501]

When Bottii plays this song with anyone (see sting), it becomes a battle of how soft everyone can perform... I miss the way Sinatra still belted away at a few of these lines. Somethings lost. Still gorgeous, but Sinatra will always own this one.

[TheComeonfeet]

@Jme501 hahahaha thats a funny observation

[streetcornersongbird]

@Jme501 I prefer a softer vocal. It captures the emotions of the lyric. The world is quiet at 3am, and many people have performed with that in mind. I love Frank, but I thought the belting was a little much.

[agraham211]

1:32 = Classic John Mayer Face.

[TheRodrigoPresley]

0:39 for the magic

[Bassai]

I noticed that many musical artists, whether rock or pop, would turn to jazz at some time in his or her life. It's an important mode of musical expression. Nice work on this piece.

[IZZYIZZO2001]

@Bassai That's because jazz came first and rock and pop evolved out of jazz. A lot of early rock and roll is just a simple 12 bar blues. Elvis Presley's "Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog" is a 12 bar blues that lasts for 3 minutes. And the blues is one of the basic jazz forms.

[Solcius123123]

Delightful and relaxing song. John Mayer did a excellent job.

[mrpedrotafolla90]

Clicked on here thinking It was frank sinatra

[kenken8831]

好きですね、シナトラとは異にするこの歌！

[TheMusicguy68]

John Mayer: Nice rendition of this Sinatra classic and Chris Bottii is great!

BUT, Music Lovers know there is only one INCREDIBLE version of this song and it is also on YouTube. Sinatra sang this song first in 1956, when he was at his best vocally!

If you'd like a real treat, check out Frank Sinatra "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." It is truly beautiful!!

[ChristineLondonWrite]

Guess I am a stickler for lyrics, being a writer AND a singer. :)

[ChristineLondonWrite]

Wow..he CAN enunciate lyrics. So beautiful, especially when you can make out what the words are.

[oliverandm]

@ChristineLondonWrite

Ah come on, we all know he says "bady" instead of "body" but don't exaggurate :P

[matello18]

where the fuck is this song on itunes!!!???

[SoulsticeBone]

Why does Chris Botti always play slightly flat? Drives me nuts. But the crazy fat tone of that enormous hollow-body Gibson makes up for it.

[RasIsBoss]

Haha, the bass player is like "what about me dave :("

[MrPlainsteel]

FUCK!!! THIS IS THE SHIT!!! :-)

[marcoforte89]

MARK!



[ak231510]

I love lettermans reaction at the end, you can always tell when they are just being nice and when the truely enjoyed the performance. Same thing when he did california dreaming on conan, at the end Conan jumps up and yells YEAH!!! repeatedly, its cool to see a visceral reaction to the music, almost like a :wow I was not expecting that" kind of a moment of appreciation.

[bearclawhogs44]

Very nice effort. By no means my favorite version of this song but the musicianship is top notch. More than anything I'm very impressed with Mayer's developing depth and breadth as a musician. He's very subtly introduced Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding and now the great Frank Sinatra into his repertoire. He's reintroducing standards of American pop music to listeners that would have never discovered them on their own. Bravo Mr. Mayer!

[bdud4]

Love this song... its true... when things are quiet that is when you think of what you value the most.

[speedglue]

hey does anyone who is using the swr acoustic amp in the background next to the contrabass? thx :)

[matchesandblackberri]

The annotation doesn't lie. Buy that DVD.

[Nuge2008]

I never thought John would touch Sinatra, even though I'm a big admirer I thought it'd fall through the floor.... This guy never ceases to amaze.

[Drewangolf1]

This is really cool jazz, beautifully executed.

[gvbdiscovery]

i think John Mayer nailed this.... the whole arrangement with chris botti is fantastic!

[JustusFriedolin]

is that tim lefebvre?

[JustusFriedolin]

is that zim lefebvre? awesome, haha

[xXJunglist11Xx]

Frank sinatra originally did this song, but this is a great how john mayer did it!!

[Romeowasbleeding1]

This is the only song of his that I like.

And it's not even his, it's on old Jazz standard.

[zeffy00]

i love johns approach to jazz

[BolaGuitar]

Oh come on! Let Mark do the guitar solo ... blahhhhhhh

[dbonfa555]

oh, Chris Botti on the trompet! He was on Lee Ritenour's DVD also. HOT AS HELL

[Greekguy824]

7 people went to bed early that night.

[thevigilanteoflove]

This is actually really good. His voice fits this song surprisingly well.

[skymaster336]

Excellent arrangement, and performance. Thanks for posting!

[bagnewauckland]

Chris Botti + John Mayer! Holy Crap!

[ClaudiaAragao12]

Just beautiful !

John Mayer is amaaaazing.

[tankbrute6]

whatt kinda gibson is john playing?

[Bag0bandaids]

@tankbrute6 l-5

[hockeymanx19]

@tankbrute6 Gibson L5

[Bruceholvenstot]

he's fucked way to many girls to convey any kind of sincere sentimentality haha

[DrCainandthePatients]

@Bruceholvenstot And Sinatra didn't?

[ttlyify]

@DrCainandthePatients when you think of sinatra do you honestly think of him fucking girls?

[hobointhenite]

how bout that guy over there?

[pixiegurl88]

As good as John may be, I think I'll stick with Ol' Blue Eyes.

[bigbookofnothing]

i wonder if that was great..

[Countygirl1970]

Carly Simon does a better job of this.

[mcr71392]

i chuckled a bit in the beginning where all of the sudden it just pops up "BUY THIS DVD" anyway this is just great

[kgriffinit]

Hooked again! How do you get this guy out of your head!

[maveholic]

rat bastard destroyed a classic song

[prGRMY12]

@maveholic to you. others love him.

[Vidhole]

Pergaps this could be a new direction for Mayer, Jazz/ Jazz Fusion. I'd like to see him with more jazz guitar performance.

[sunp]

@Vidhole doubt it. mayer is without a doubt primarily a blues man, and i dont see that changing anytime soon. fusion and jazz are too theoretically focused for his style, he's mainly a feel person when it comes to instrumental playing.

[wahwah12892]

@sunp Isn't jazz and blues relatively similar? I mean isn't jazz like the whole "forget all the rules and play" kinda thing

[sunp]

@wahwah12892 quite the contrary actually. i've been playing the blues for years now and just cant get myself to pick up jazz. in fact instead of forgetting rules there's way more theory involved than blues and rock. have to make sure you know your progressions and theory before picking up jazz, not to mention many funky scales.

[wahwah12892]

@sunp Haha I see what you mean, I tried jamming to jazz with what I know (which isn't very much). I gotta say it's way easier to jam blues than it is to jazz.

[GibsonGuy93]

@wahwah12892 with blues you can pick a key and use scales over that, in jazz you have to change your scale with the chord changes

[GibsonGuy93]

@sunp mayer went to berklee to study jazz

[sunp]

@GibsonGuy93 i bet you didnt know he dropped out early on his report cards had all Ds and Fs.

[GibsonGuy93]

@sunp actually i did, he "said" it wasnt for him.... but he went for two semesters...

[sunp]

@GibsonGuy93 again, Ds and Fs. did he really "study" jazz?

[zmanizzle1]

@sunp Put down the books for two seconds... It sounds fantastic..

[dclala]

@zmanizzle1 i totally agree :)

[ricaard]

@sunp He probably did, but maybe not seriously; he doesn't seem to have those kinds of sensibilities..

[jonathanroosevelt]

@GibsonGuy93 But, are u questioning this song, with such this good feeling, because of the chords he used? Maybe he didn't study jazz, in a academic way, but for sure he's such a good performer, and a real good guitarist.

There is lots of basements full of anonymous people who did study jazz, but don't know how to apply it to the music.

That's called FEELING, in my opinion.

[TibialisPosterior]

@GibsonGuy93

and he dropped out. i think he finished one semester, if that. 

[TobyKruit]

the drummer is really feeling it at 2:36

[anthonyslayer7]

Johnny Hartman did it better

[adamskizz]

oh snap ive talked to the dude playing guitar with mayer

[sirkeegancs3]

@adamskizz me too!

[kittie5252]

Great arrangement and a beautiful voice.

[BTC141]

So beautiful...I wept...so did Frankie.

[whosurdaddyo]

He does this song well; but Sinatra did it best in the 40's. Botti adds a good sound. Henry Mancini's piano verison of this song also very good.

[eysteins]

I reckon Jamie Cullum did a better job covering this tune.

[dumapies]

call me insane, but i really prefer this to the original...John's voice is really good

[tuxguys]

Better than I expected...

The interlude was musically thrilling, and had absolutely nothing, whatever, to do with the tune.

If Mayer's flavor-of-the-month celebrity introduces a new generation to this great tune, God bless him.

[fujiyoshi]

I would buy an L5, but then again, I don't have $14000.

[Flat5guitar]

@fujiyoshi

Then get a Heritage Golden Eagle. Made by the old Gibson guys in the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo (which they bought after Gibson moved to Nashville and started to suck). Heritage doesn't waste money on advertising, or putting their name on arenas, so their guitars are very reasonably priced.

[caz743]

tab anyone?

[oliverandm]

@caz743

use your ear my friend, this song isn't too hard to figure out :) And it's good practice, plus you get to learn your guitar = you creating stuff easier

[JoeSzilagy]

Not bad! I wasn't expecting such a heartfelt tribute to such a beautiful Frank Sinatra song. Don't care about any of the solos- this song has nothing to do with solos.

[dmccabe4513]

In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning!

[uptightkid]

I don't like Johm Mayer but that was a great performance one and all. Bravo.

[Patrishsny]

to my love Paul

[dth424nyc]

John Mayer - In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning

[simonburb]

whats David Beckham doing playing the trumpet?

[cyclonenimrod]

He looks absolutely nothing like David Beckham.

[meanwiddlekid]

@simonburb

Beckham? I thought it was Sting.

[cyclonenimrod]

I won't name the things I'd do for tone like that. My, oh my.

[4difference]

it's chris botti on trumpets, aswell as chris botti's main guitarist

[soblueimblack]

Mark Whitfield is so bad ass. When George Benson is your mentor, you really can't go wrong.

[txedo23]

lol for some reason that final part john plays reminds me of the game over music in the original super mario

[Leovanderent]

I love Mayer's vocal approach.

How do you like my version?

watch?v=RjjANH1zTMk

[timelessglamour]

omg it doesn't even lick the boot of the frank sinatra version. no one can beat franky :)

[MichaelnChristine]

Why'd they skip half the song?

[andrewguitar67]

The tone...good lord the tone of that L5!

[whaiyun]

that's what $14k gives you!

[Davanita]

@andrewguitar67 for some reason, it makes me think of Christmas.

[ryan49321]

@andrewguitar67 i know!!!! Ive been looking for one. Ive only seen him play it a couple other times. its a gorgeous guitar!

[OMERTA011]

@andrewguitar67 its not the l5. its the player. pino paladino came as a studio musitian on a few songs, with two year old strings on a mm stingray and fender jb, and it didnt sound right when the others played them. when he started playing, everybody was stunned how did he get that sound in an instant from that strings and guitars. its all about the heart and knowing the instrument

peace and love from Serbia

[MusicHungryMan]

beautiful

[dumapies]

man im looking albums with this kind of jazz, im not very knowledgeable in these areas

[Jansigurdblack]

This is a Frank Sinatra song, so I would recomend listening to him. Also, I would strongly recomend Chet Baker. He has the same kind of mellow soft jazz sound. :)

Today Melody Gardot is the kind of artist that has this kind of soundscape. =)

[WyattTheRiot]

Frank Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours", "Only the Lonely", "Where Are You?", "No One Cares"

[MrAlfredocolon]

i dont like that trumpet player. his playing drowns out everything else. well what trumpet player doesnt

[SwaggTastic213]

that guitar of his has the sexiest jazz tone

[rlawton002]

I agree with Letterman again..finally!!...That was Great..That was Great..That was just GREAT!

[oohyllab]

Unbelievable!! Quite a departure for Mayer. Thanks for the post, great!!

[degree7]

Pleasantly surprised.

It's usually the people who start out as crappy pop musicians that wind up turning into something more interesting, later on.

[PainterofSilence]

ur retarded

[degree7]

You think I'm wrong?

[joe9seph]

@degree7 mmmyes or vice versa

[degree7]

True.

[CoffeeandSax]

Classic John Mayer..insane..insane

[jmljc8]

"how about that guy over there" hahah i love david letterman

[morelacky]

I love frank sinatra and chris and john.. nice one john =D

[KleinerSymphatikus]

hello:)

Can somebody help me?

which kind of chords he`s playing on the guitar??

greetz Lars

[dannybighair]

jazz chords...

[selfeaters]

Perfect song to listen to when your girl-friend has broken up with you

[thevigilanteoflove]

@selfeaters Word.

[schmoopier]

Mayer is such a talented guy. I love him. I wish the tabloids would stop it with his love life already. Enough. Nothing should take the focus off this guy's talents.

[theow28]

woow that's all fckin period

[jomacron]

WOW!!!!!

[kaashlia]

Clean and simple..and great ! love it.

[JayJayTwinz]

The trumpet is EPIC! its so good!

[achard05]

wow gave me chills...

[robbiesoho]

I thought his blues licks were lame... wasn't his type of song for guitar...real nice voice though

[JStreetClair]

the video cannot handle the redness of that dudes guitar.

[SaladTaste]

That is so true.

Nevertheless an awesome preformance.

[chhiengalex]

or shininess of his head...

[14soccaplaya]

@JStreetClair lol

[Torikan]

lol john threw in blues licks. Yet, they fit the song well. I'm impressed.

[dsdffdsfdsdsffsd]

his accent reminds me on nick nolte...

[osahju914]

i haev a newfound respect for him...

[theintermediates]

mayer's voice has come an extremely long way since his first couple pop albums... people forget how little confidence he had in his vocal ability, this cover goes to show you how an artist can progress and transform throughout his career..... great job Johnny.

[dumapies]

@theintermediates



[daskill]

besides the grammy he won?

[CaptainShimmy]

I'm really surprised at how well Mayer can sing. He's never given enough credit for his vocals.

[szlemcia]

he did it great, I think. His version musn't "better" or "worse" than Sinatra's version, it's just diferent. And I love it

[GreekSuremen]

It was going so well... why'd they speed up and ruin the whole feeling of the song? Imbeciles!

[peaceric]

i'm not a fan of his original music, but he does really good covers

[JAYsmn]

well. he did ok. untl they added stuff that ruins the tone with the fast tone and stuff.

but. there is no replacing frank sinatra

[pols1oj]

I think this is wonderful, not because "Mayer is better" than Sinatra, but simply because I see it as him playing homage to one of the great singers of all times. Furthermore, by playing this he may introduce a bunch of people to Sinatra who never would have listened to him. I think both versions are wonderful. Although in Sinatra's case he went into the studio right after he got dumped by his girl at the time, so he was heartsick and I think you can hear it.

[4TheMus1c]

i dont think people should compare mayer and sinatra.....it would be pretty stupid considering they're about 50 years apart and totally different.

sinatra is a lengend and i think mayer did him justice

[isingsinatra]

@4TheMus1c Have you ever truly listened to Frank's version ? With all due respect Mayer is not even in the same league here.

ISS