Lyrics for 3x5 as interpreted by boilingptlver311

3x5 Lyrics
I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter probably got excited,
But there's nothing else inside it

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way
With words

Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains
In the sky are next to mountains anyway

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
No more 3x5's

Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
Tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
No more 3x5's
Just no more 3x5's

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glamorous*sunrise
04-03-2003

Rated 0 
The lyrics are incredible and I don't think I can say anything about them that someone hasn't already said. But the instrumental break? When the music sounds like it begins to rise and he says "Guess you had to be there"? That gives me goosebumps straight out. Obviously John is an extremely talented lyricist, but people often forget his musicianship. It's amazing when just the sounds - never mind the words - can make you envision things so vividly. What I really need to do is take a road trip and put this thing on full volume with the windows down. "3x5" is John's favorite.

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glamorous*sunrise
04-03-2003

Rated 0 
The lyrics are incredible and I don't think I can say anything about them that someone hasn't already said. But the instrumental break? When the music sounds like it begins to rise and he says "Guess you had to be there"? That gives me goosebumps straight out. Obviously John is an extremely talented lyricist, but people often forget his musicianship. It's amazing when just the sounds - never mind the words - can make you envision things so vividly. What I really need to do is take a road trip and put this thing on full volume with the windows down. "3x5" is John's favorite.

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qt4lyfe78
04-21-2003

Rated 0 
This song is by far one of John's best songs... Everyone one of his songs is personal and you can relate to it...

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someGirl3
04-21-2003

Rated 0 
john mayer is definitely incredible. you can tell what an amazing person he is, and how in touch with his feelings he is--i love him. he totally deserves all this recognition.-- this song really caught my attention while scanning the CD, i really like it alot...it's the kind of song that if i was sad about something would totally make me cry if i was listening to it, and i love songs like that--he is awesome--get the CD if you don't have it! --*loves john*--

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Lissy Ratz
05-04-2003

Rated 0 
I'm not much a fan of john mayer anymore, but this song will always be amazing. It strikes me quite personally because i'm very much into photography and travel often. Last summer i'd send pictures to my [then] boyfriend of my trips. Then during one trip to Maine i watched the sunrise on the top of Cadillac Mt. "I'll tell you all about it when i'm in the mood to lose my way with words"
It was so amazing i knew i couldn't fit in all in one photograph ("overcame tryin to fit the world inside a picture frame") so i ditched the camera. It was so overwhelming to watch, not with one eye through a viewfinder, but to "see the world with both my eyes".
When i finally got off the mountian i felt changed- i wanted my boyfriend to be there so badly beacuse i could never recreate it for him..."You'll be with me next time I go outside, No more 3x5's"
true story

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TAYsteTheRainMO
06-22-2003

Rated 0 
I love this song! My favorite part is when John sings "strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky are next to mountains anyway." <-- it's such a simple observation, but the imagery is incredible. John really paints a picture for his audience and proves that he is very aware of his surroundings.

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famousamos48
06-26-2003

Rated 0 
This song means so much to me...I just recently got back from a cruise to the Bahamas that I went on with my best friend and her family. The whole time I was there I couldn't stop thinking about this song. I had never seen water so blue in my entire life and I remember thinking "Man, I wish my family could see this" When I got home and showed them all the pictures from the trip, I was just like "I cannot describe in words how great of a time I had" exactly like in 3x5. John is so awesome>>>Can't wait for his new cd!

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LittleUrantiaGirl
07-07-2003

Rated 0 
This reminds me of all my troubles. . . how I can leave to some interesting, faraway place, and return to the same old life I left behind. . . I've seen new places and had new experiences, and the people back home are still the same as before. This song is about living your life and getting out there, and when you get home people are asking about it. . . instead of telling them about it, you want them to experience it for themselves.

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jmayer_loyal_fan
04-29-2004

Rated 0 
you all are right. i really love this song and you all explained it in the words i wanted to. its one of my favorite songs.

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000sundancer000
10-06-2004

Rated 0 
This song is beautiful.
If you've ever seen the glory and majesty of a gorgeous golden sunset or when the sun is bright fiery red on the horizon behind the shadowy outline of trees. Giant, ablaze with an orange glow beaming with yellow around the edges. When the whole sky is illumined with pink and scarlet and the sun gleaming just right so that you could stare at it without it hurting your eyes. You will know that not even these words can perfectly describe a sunrise or a sunset.

Isn't it awesome how the Creator, the Great Artist, gently strokes the canvas in the sky with the deep red and purple paint of his brush? I find it so amazing how he sends this gift to us every evening.

My soul embraces this time of day. I look forward to every horizon each time the sun sets because no two sunsets are ever alike. They are all unique-- never the same hues, never the same intensity, or the same glow, same clouds, or same fading from on color to the next. There is not dazzling word in the dictionary that can capture the incandescence of a sunset.

A sunset is just one of the many things that prove God's love for us.

Have you ever blown a kiss into the wind, and smiled up to the heavens thanking God for His masterpiece called the sunset?

"From the rising of the sun
to the going down of the same,
my Lord's name is to be praised!"
Psalm 113:3

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shaneismybaby
12-15-2004

Rated 0 
All i have to say is amazing!!

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jam jam
01-17-2005

Rated 0 
Another awesome song by an awesome artist.
Btw kinda shows how slow i am but what is a 3x5? *embarassed smily*

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shan4short
01-19-2005

Rated 0 
I LOVE this song. The tribute to nature and the beauty of the world around us is beautiful. The imagery in this song gives me shivers. When he sing, "You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes, it brought me back to life..."

This line amazing! It's about being amazed by what you see in the world. Even if something bad has happened to you, when you go outside into the world and see the gift God has left you... it's a humbling experience. Kudos, John!

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Lomiothiel
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
"Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains
In the sky are next to mountains anyway "
I love the way the lyrics just make you feel like you're there, and can see the beautiful mountains on the horizon, with beautiful clouds.

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jammerfan
02-25-2005

Rated 0 
I love Jammer. Can't say it enough. When I first heard this song I had to figure out what a 3x5 was, and when I got to the words I understood he meant 3 inch by 5 inch photographs. This song is absolutely inspirational and conveys a sense of longing. The singer is lost in moments: snapshots in time; trapped in a static place; stuck in a situation that can't get out. And then trying not to view life through one's own prejudice and imposed self imposed lens. (The Metaphor of the camera.)

And then "You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes. It brought me back to life." It's pure poetry. Inspiration "dawned" on the singer. "Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame." The singer is letting go of his contrived images, and will let people be more than what his flawed eye can see.

This song, to me, is a longing for greater meaning, and an inspiration that one can transcend preconceived notions.

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cooch1167
03-26-2005

Rated 0 
title track your an idiot.... mayer is sick.... this song is about his ride to fame. how he went from local shows to being on tv and music videos so quickly that he almost blew past the beautiful things about it... thats just wat i think let me know if you agree

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TheLiger
08-06-2005

Rated 0 
Again, John paints a beautiful picture using the art of song. I've never heard a songwriter than can bring to life so many emotions in songs so frequently as john does. "should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes, it brought me back to life" says it all.

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bron-yr-aur
01-03-2006

Rated 0 
I heard that he wrote this song while he was touring in arizona
because the skys and sunrises and sunsets are so beautiful
so he was talking about the sunrise and how it just brought it back to life

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*chloeee*
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
This song is soo lovely!
i admire how john mayer focuses on the present; live life for today, and dont try to cram everything good into one moment, as that is sort of what a photograph is.
.." & today i finally overcame, trying to fit the world inside a picture frame"

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NorthWriter
06-05-2006

Rated 0 
This song totally takes me back to when I was deployed, and my friends and I got a weekend pass and drove through the Alps to Munich for Oktoberfest. Couldn't be a more perfect piece of music, except maybe Hayden's "Dynamite Walls."

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musy
07-08-2006

Rated 0 
This song has incrediable imagery. and its full of energy... i love it. I love this album, its the best!!!!

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bananapancakes18
07-14-2006

Rated 0 
I cried at the part when he says "...and you should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes...IT BROUGHT ME BACK TO LIFE" at the second hook

It just brought back like really good memories....great song.

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yaywhoowee
08-04-2006

Rated 0 
beautiful and complicated melody

i love those

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Rocklovinggirl
10-22-2006

Rated 0 
Everyone can relate to this song a lot...
pictures can never capture the feelings you had at the time or place you were in...
and you can only fit so much into a 3x5 whereas, you can fit so much into your heart and memory...
great song!

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kykilla_2000
10-29-2006

Rated 0 
i knew of this song long before i actually realised that i could relate to it. i love having photos of things i go to holidays, partys, going out but when i'm taking photos i feel really detached from the whole thing. and this song says that you needed to be there to know what it was like

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