Queen of California

The 'Queen Of California' is Mayer himself in his past 'celebrity' phase. When he says he's 'heading out west with my headphones on...' that is him boarding a plane from New York (where he still has an apartment) to search out a new life and a new sound in his music, greatly inspired by his recent listenings of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, (Mayer settled into a new life in Montana). When he says the 'Queen of California is stepping' down', that is him declaring he is no longer going to be the cheep Californian celebrity he realised he had come to be in recent years.

'Looking for the Sun that Neil Young Hung' refers to Sunset Sound Studios in California where Young himself abandoned (hung) the initial recording process of "After The Goldrush" due to his own difficulties with the pressure of fame and 'the hip scene' that was happening at the time in Hollywood and Laurel Canyon. Mayer obviously identifies with Young's need to 'get back to basics' and to avoid any of the temptations of 'the scene' as it is apparent that this kind of lifestyle is not conducive to writing your best music. Young in fact hid himself away in the basement of his house to record the rest of the album on an old 8 track. The result many believe to be a folk-rock masterpiece. 'Joni wrote Blue is a house by the sea' refers to Joni Mitchell's writing of the 'Blue' album. She did indeed write it in a house by the sea, and when Mayer sings 'I got to believe there's another color waiting on me, to set me free' it is him hoping that when he 'disappears' from the scene he can write his own version of a classic album like "Blue", metaphorically speaking in a different "color" and thus set him free from his demons.