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"Last Train Home" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, and featured uncredited guest vocals from American country singer Maren Morris.[1] It was released on June 4, 2021 as the fourth single from his eighth studio album Sob Rock. John Mayer wrote the song and produced it with Don Was. The song is Mayer's first new release in nearly two years since "Carry Me Away" (2019).[2] The song was used in the first season of the TV show The Bear.
| "Last Train Home" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by John Mayer | ||||
| from the album Sob Rock | ||||
| Released | June 4, 2021 | |||
| Genre | Soft rock, synth-pop | |||
| Length | 3:07 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | John Mayer | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| John Mayer singles chronology | ||||
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| Maren Morris singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Last Train Home" on YouTube | ||||
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John Mayer began teasing his new album with a series of TikTok videos that previewed new songs. The first song clip was "Last Train Home" on March 23, 2021, but only the first eight bars with no indication of the title. This led British musician Mary Spender to record an entire predictive version of the song the next day and release it on her YouTube channel, leading to international coverage.[3] Meyer saw the video that day and posted his approval of the "new" version,[4] sending Spender the official version ahead of the song's release to review before anyone else.[5]
Mayer released "Last Train Home" on June 4, 2021, and announced that Sob Rock would be releasing on July 16 of the same year. On release day, Mayer shared four-track song lists, and he made "Last Train Home" as the lead single to released, and expressed it is "a slick rock production with an '80s polish, filled with keyboard stabs that remind of Toto, and guitar licks galore."[6]
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mayer explained the reason of the song '80s elements: "I asked myself, 'What music makes me feel like everything's going to be OK? And it's the music I listened to growing up in the '80s. There's a security-blanket aspect about that sound that reminds me of a safer time."[7]
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Rob Costa of Music talkers described the intro features "an 80's style synth Steve Winwood would be proud of, and conga drums mixed into the production, which is reminiscent of Toto’s mega 80s hit, 'Africa.'"[8]
An accompanying "80s vibe" music video was released on June 4, 2021, directed Cameron Duddy and Harper Smith. It also features Mayer's band, including Toto's percussionist Lenny Castro and former Toto member Greg Phillinganes.[9] The video shows Mayer, Morris and the band "recording their live performance of the song" at Union Station, located in Los Angeles, California.[10][11] The video is highly reminiscent to that of Forever Man by Eric Clapton. The video won the Best Rock Video at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, It was the first MTV Award for Mayer.[12]
Mayer released a second video of a "ballad version" on October 28, 2021, shot at Henson Recording Studios, where Sob Rock was recorded.[13]
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- John Mayer – vocals, guitars, keyboards, producer, composer
- Don Was – producer
- Maren Morris – background vocals
- Lenny Castro – percussion
- Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
- Sean Hurley - bass
- Aaron Sterling – drums
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Year-end charts
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