"Last Train Home" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

, and featured guest vocal from American country singer

Maren Morris Maren Larae Morris (born April 10, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter. While rooted in the Country music, country genre, her music also blends elements of Pop music, pop, R&B music, R&B, and Hip-Hop music, hip-hop. Born and raised in Arlingt ...

. It was released on June 4, 2021 as the fourth single from his eighth studio album ''

Sob Rock ''Sob Rock'' is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, released on July 16, 2021, by Columbia Records. The single "New Light", released in May 2018, is included on the album, as are Mayer's two singles from 2019, "I Gu ...

''. John Mayer wrote the song and produced it with

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...

. The song is Mayer's first new release in nearly two years since "Carry Me Away" (2019).

Background

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, which Mayer soon followed up with a Wild Blue teaser. Mayer released Last Train Home on June 4, 2021, and announced that ''

'' 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." In an interview with ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', 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."

Composition

Rob Costa of ''Music talkers'' described the intro features "an 80's style synth

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

would be proud of, and conga drums mixed into the production, which is reminiscent of Toto’s mega 80’s hit, "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

"."

Music videos

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 Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * ''L ...

and former Toto member

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

. The video shows Mayer, Morris and the band "recording their live performance of the song" at

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, located in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The video is highly reminiscent to that of

Forever Man "Forever Man" is a song from Eric Clapton's 1985 album '' Behind the Sun'', released as the first single of the album. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Rock Tracks chart, becoming his second single to do so. In total, the single re ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

. The video won the

Best Rock Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock was first given out in , one of the four original genre categories added to the VMAs that year. In its first year, the award was called Best Heavy Metal Video, and from 1990 to 1995, it was renamed Best Meta ...

at the

2021 MTV Video Music Awards The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards were held on September 12, 2021, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. This marked the first time in eight years that the venue hosted the show. The show was hosted by hip-hop rapper and singer Doja ...

, It was the first MTV Award for Mayer. Mayer released a second video of a "ballad version" on October 28, 2021, shot at

Henson Recording Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

, where ''Sob Rock'' was recorded.

Credits and personnel

– vocals, guitars, keyboards, producer, composer *

– producer *

– background vocals *

– percussion *

– keyboards *Sean Hurley - bass *

Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to L.A. in 2000. K ...

– drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video 2021 singles 2021 songs John Mayer songs Maren Morris songs Songs written by John Mayer