During the lengthy break that we had, I got to spend some quality time listening to music.

I discovered some new artists and caught up on some older ones, and I actually discovered an old gem.

Odds are, you’ve heard “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Daughters” by John Mayer. But have you ever listened to each of their respective albums? Neither had I.

As I listened to both of the albums (“Room for Squares” and “Heavier Things”) for the first time, my love for them poured out in the form of money from my wallet, when I decided to purchase them and add them to my CD collection. What I got in return, though, was so much more than I expected.

I’ve mentioned before that I love buying physical CDs, and it’s because you can’t get the same things from iTunes.

I mean, Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” is cotton candy scented, and you can’t buy that from the Internet, now can you?

What I was expecting from Mayer’s albums is what I expect when I open any album insert: music and lyric credits, thank you dedications, and hopefully some cool artwork.

What you get from Mayer is a key to the inspiration behind every song on the album.

Throughout the “Heavier Things” insert, there are several figures, each one revealing something different about each song.

The first figure features a set of icons next to each track.

There are icons that represent sarcasm, optimism, bittersweet-ness, love lost, etc.

So, according to the figure, “Daughters” is supposed to represent bittersweet-ness, a ballad, advice and family.

The next page assigns a color to each song that you need to refer to for the geographical location of each song’s creation.

This figure consists of a map of the U.S. (and New Zealand), with each state colored in with the corresponding song creation spot.

Mayer created two songs in California, five songs in New York City, two songs in Atlanta, and “Daughters” in New Zealand?

Who knew?

Now, this next figure is my favorite one.

It’s a diagram of a human body with colored squares representing each song bordering it.

Like a matching exercise done in middle school, lines match the song to its corresponding suggested target points.

“Daughters” is supposed to target your hands and your heart.

“Come Back to Bed” is supposed to target your lips, heart and feet.

“Bigger than My Body” is supposed to target your arms.

It’s not hard to figure out why that figure is my favorite.

Music is supposed to target your whole being.

From the emotion it conveys, to the people you hang out with when listening, music resonates with you.

So I guess it’s cool when Mayer tells you where one of his songs should be hitting, because it’s where it hit him first.

It embodies the whole idea that we can speak with music, because music first spoke through us.

And that’s what attracts me to his albums so much.