100 years is one of the greatest songs ever written. I was lucky enough to tell him this is in a meet and greet.

John is a great singer, song writer, person and swimmer. I recommend his music to everyone. Linda Santa Cruz, CA 4/2024

100 years just happened to come out when my oldest daughter was 15. I would run playing this song over and over to give me inspiration to be the best father I could for my daughter. She’s getting married on 5/25/24. I know I’m going to be a complete mess.

Love his songs: Superman, 100 Years, The Riddle, What If, Heaven Knows, Chances, World. They are very poetic and make you reflect about life.

I'm a vetersn social worker, I want you to know, your music inspires me to the core. Thank you

I put over 300 songs on my Spotify list and would listen to them, usually during the last two hours each day of hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2018. Superman and 100 Years were the two from Five For Fighting. They always made me melancholy and I felt grateful that nobody was around to see me at those times, but they helped push me to Mt Katahdin. Thank you.

Those songs purify my soul and my heart. You can really tell that his thoughts are beautiful when you hear his songs and the most important thing is that I feel this sincerity just by looking at his eyes (the little bit of sadness but endured by happiness and rewards).

John’s song have such depth. Each one of his song has something in them I can relate to. Sometimes I just sit and listen as I think of my own life both the good things and the bad. Each song brings me some kind of emotional response.

I love the song “World”. I was completely surprised when he said it was not a hit. Blown away!

I just saw him in concert with a string quartet. Beautiful, inspiring and challenging. He speaks strongly to Middle America who feels so out of touch with what is happening on our coasts and in DC.

@DrAcO5676

2 ай бұрын

I also watched him and that same string quartet. That was one of the best few hours of my life. Now my daughter has two aneurysm and has to have brain surgery. I am so scared right now

The problem with John Ondrasik is that he is way ahead of his time. His music carries a depth of passion, expression, and intelligence that must seem almost foreign to so many kids. When you compare and contrast his interpersonal lyrics to a generation who tweets their ever-changing emotional state and a music industry that has gone autotune, its easy to see why many may not be able to relate to the message. As John explains in this talk, he invests a massive amount of time, effort and emotion laboring over his art. You can hear it in his songs. He relays a powerful message from the depths of his life experiences one in which the melody forces the listener to look inward. Unfortunately the inspiration for most music today starts with a choreographed stage act followed by melody and lyrics which are merely an afterthought and sensationalized accompaniments created to force the viewer to look outward.

@2lbs1lb

8 жыл бұрын

+Scott Grewe Insightful. I agree with everything, but have one suggestion with the first sentence. The problem isn't with Mr. Ondrasik. It's with every other broad constituency that is tied to today's music scene. Excellent post... and excellent art.

@nick8339

4 жыл бұрын

John's best work came at a time when "a generation who tweets their ever-changing emotional state and a music industry that has gone autotune" either didn't exist or wasn't the norm. His albums just flopped, and its truly unfortunate. He's great. But let's not be dishonest.

@sheilawalker3547

2 жыл бұрын

He was my favorite artist and so gracious he was someone that left as a friend....john was a amazing man..i feel not privileged he allowed me to feel like family... Love him forever

@randalcolucci6833

Жыл бұрын

You nailed it.

@Franklin-zr3ye

2 ай бұрын

Great music from. Jewish artist sho is now reaching out to his fellow musicians to fight against antisemitism ! God wrote in the bible one of his promises "rough quote "All who Bless my people I will bless them , All who curse my people , I will curse them , Remember thru the Jewish race God sent his only Son ask the World could be saved who accept him and ask him into their hearts and lives and at judgement day wi be taken into Paradise forever , the alternative to the unsaved is with Satan and his Demons forever in the bottomless pit of brimstone burning and seperation from God forever and paradise we could have had ! The Former is what I have chosen Forever !

We Are Not Alright, in bystander-world. Thanks for the fantastic song and video.

I've been playing piano and singing since I was three. I've written about 250 songs...not many to some. I first heard "100 Years" on "Regis & Kelly". Don't watch that show, but was surfing. It was the one and only time a (secular) song made me sob 'til I was blubbering. It wasn't JUST the music, or JUST the lyrics. It was perpetually a combination of both...told so powerfully and yet so tenderly. The reason that song hit me so hard was because IT was the song I never wrote. The words were mine. The melody was mine. That was the song I should've written. It was all in me, but God gave it to John (thankfully!). Today is Monday, November 29, 2016. I have, believe it or not, listened to that song every single day since it was released, with a few exceptions. I sing and play it as written; I sing it with 20 different harmonies and versions. It's sweet and sad and sentimental and moving...and it will always be my song that I never wrote. I admire John because he is in the "I-don't-care-what-you-think-I'm-going-to-say-what-I-want" Club. I'm getting there but my convictions only haunt me 6 out of 7 nights a week. We know this isn't true for John, the hero. As for now, I'm writing the song that is mine to write, unless someone beats me to it.

@lonewolf8820

7 жыл бұрын

Diane Ericson I wish you the best of luck in your journey to greatness.

@garyhundsrucker7771

4 жыл бұрын

Hope you're still playing and writing!Post so stuff on your youtube channel and see what happen!I'LL subscribe to your channel and hope to see some of your work!

@alanras370

3 жыл бұрын

Such a touching experience, nicely told.

I enjoyed this. I love Five for Fighting. 100 Years is very significant to me.

‘There are great songs around us if we’d only listen.’ I’m gonna quote you on that John. That you for your inspiration, perspiration, and dedication (especially to our troops this Memorial Day). Freedom never cries 🇺🇸

John to me your songs are magic I can feel them deep inside and for that I thank you! In my eyes your a huge success!

Love his music

Bless You John.

I have seen him in concert with a string quartet. That was one of the best few hours of my life. Now my daughter has two aneurysm and has to have brain surgery. I am so scared right now

I absolutely love this segment. One of my favorite bands, and they have written some of my favorite songs. Very down to earth (no pun intended).

I have everyone of his CD's I LOVE every song on all the CD's He is a music genius! THANKS JOHN!

Some of his songs are some of my absolute favorites!!

I loves Johns music. Very underrated singer/songwriter. The NASA deal left me with chills. So cool.

I have been writing music for close to 30 years. I can really relate to alot of this. Also I may have been one of the first people ever to dig Five for Fighting (I owned A Message for Albert in like 96 when I was like 14. 2Frogs, Bella's Birthday Cake. Awesome tunes) That being said, you can tell his heart isn't in the performance anymore.

@mrsnorthup46

3 жыл бұрын

Hi, Mat -- I kinda get what you are saying about his heart maybe not being in the performance, but I wonder actually if it is more of either he's more in verbal presentation mode, or he's exercising his personal artistic license to vary some of how he plays and sings a song, just to keep himself engaged. I can't imagine the number of times he has played and sung those songs; probably with the same inflections as on the original albums. Oh my, can you imagine? Amazing! ~From a fellow FFF fan :)

@user-ql5ph9sj7c

3 ай бұрын

I just saw him live and you cannot be more wrong.

beautiful soul...beautiful music

His voice is so haunting a beautiful. I'm trying to find his version of Open Arms.

Love his music he makes that rare type of music where there is no real genre and it’s just the music you play while driving in the fall

@SteveSmith-qi2gv

Жыл бұрын

Yep exactly right

Very underrated Ted Talk

Thank you soool much for caring about Americans in Afghanistan and America. Love this song

John, You have a great sense of melody. Do you study other songs and incorporate, consciously, some parts into your songs or do you just feel the melody coming to you in parts inspired by the chords or motifs. Thanks for sharing your process with us unknown writers. -AL

Love him 😍

I loved what he said about how people with good lyrics (like Cohen) aren’t being played on the radio, but Bieber is. It’s so true! When I see all of the antics JB has done through the years, it makes me think how JB is so undeserving of his fame. While talented people like FFF, myself and others struggle to make it in the industry, it’s amazing how generic, untalented people get so much radio play. And yes, if you think Megan Thee Stalllion is more talented than John Osdersick aka FFF, then I question your sanity.

I find it slightly heartbreaking that he considered himself a One-Hit Wonder. I feel like true passionate artists who put their mind, heart, and soul into what they write and compose will be in the shadow from the mainstream artists because what they create is way more powerful then a popular poppy tune.

The loneliest cowboy zombie says when a man stands outside the circle he gets build his own building blocks in life

🙊💕🙋🏼‍♀️algorithm can be friendly

Does John sign like this now?

@diggestbik3238

5 жыл бұрын

Basically, he's 54

Aw don’t Bob Dylanify it! You’re you do your thing don’t listen to haters they ruin everything!

Will Ferrell MUST parody this man!!

Why is he changing the melody and speed of his songs in this?

i like the y2k john better

I love this guy's music, but DAMN does he have an ego. He was also half-assing his performance of his songs on this.

@chrisnavich

4 жыл бұрын

TheDaveMaybe I saw something completely different in this. It did seem like his lyric phrasing was more compressed and “talky” in these acoustic style performances. Also, in “Superman” and “100 Years”, I noticed he chose not to get lost in the vocal riffs towards the end of both songs in his performance, which, in both cases, makes it look like he was half-assing the performance. But in my view, I saw him doing the more “talky”, audibly “legible” performance because it made thing feel less like a performance and allowed the lyrics to really convey in a way that gave the rest of his speech credibility. He wasn’t getting lost in the “performance trans” of his own music, which would be expected in a concert setting, but rather opting to play the bare minimum because he was there to illustrate the “heart” and intention behind the music. I feel that both the way he performed and described his writing process in such a simple, straightforward way, lends credibility to his lack of ego about how he views himself. He even described his recent failures of getting dropped from the label and having a song fall through when he wasn’t expecting it to. Only within three days of this speech coming together did he receive some redemptive news of that song’s inspiration actually becoming something through the ABC tv series, showing that he is deeply acquainted with failure and seeing his work fall flat in the eyes of beholders. If an experience like that doesn’t completely humble you, I don’t know what will. I didn’t expect to write all this when I replied, but I guess I see the opposite of what you described in him through this speech and performance. I see a man who took a humble and matter of fact approach to his performances, his writing process, and his own story so that it would be palatable and understood by the listeners, and it makes me appreciate his brilliance all the more seeing how in touch with his humanity he is.

@atimgood6016

2 жыл бұрын

@@chrisnavich ……I can tell you’re a big Fan of the artist. I would agree that he’s got such talent in song writing!!!

@EnzoSilva

2 жыл бұрын

I don't see the ego. Love his art and attitude.

@rayt3894

2 жыл бұрын

You said it well. He wasn't here for a concert, he was here to tell his story. He's sharing and putting himself out there for our benefit. If people are here to critique a song performance or compare it to an album recording, then they are missing the point.

@lenaoldaker8848

10 ай бұрын

I love his music very moving