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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Jimmy Eat World

This band has been on my favorites list since I was in grade school, and that holds up today as well. I've fallen in love with nearly every album they've released, and found great meaning listening to their songs.

Jimmy Eat World is, for me and other central Arizonan's, a local band. They formed in Mesa, AZ in 1993, and are still going strong. Their songs, for the most part are upbeat and have a positive message, but I find their slower more solemn songs to be the ones that stay with me the most. Songs like Hear You Me and Drugs Or Me stick with me. But the band is best known for songs like The Middle, Sweetness, Pain, A Praise Chorus, and Chase This Light.


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Discography

Jimmy Eat World (1994)
Static Prevails (1996)
Clarity (1999)
Bleed American* (2001)
Futures (2004)
Chase This Light (2007)

(*bleed american was retitled "jimmy eat world" after 9/11)


(via)


I've been a JEW fan since the third grade when I first heard "The Middle" on Radio Disney. Their knack for catchy pop/rock, and their introducing the world to a new genre of emotionally felt lyrics (later dubbed "emo". yes, jimmy eat world was one of the bands that began the emo genre.) made them a fast hit after their release of "Bleed American". It was hard to walk through a grocery store or mall without hearing "Sweetness" or "The Middle" playing over the loud speaker. They were something new, fresh, and, for the most part, upbeat. Not to mention they were a burst of non-boyband music in a boyband genre dominated era.

"Futures" ushered in a new era for the band. Letting go of some of their more garage/punk sound, and opting for a cleaner more produced studio sound, darker songs, and darker lyrics. "Pain" will always be a favorite of mine, a portrait of JEW at it's hieght.

"Chase This Light" lost me. The sound became more main-stream and produced to the point where they blended with any other song being played on the radio at the time. 2007 was really a year for similarity in the more mainstream alternative music scene. You were hard pressed to find something that didn't sound like something else, and unfortunately that rang true of Jimmy Eat World and "Chase This Light".

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But no matter your view on which songs and albums were most influential, chances are that if you're a ninety's kid you were influenced by JEW in one way or another. You've heard their songs on the radio, I hope that they touched you like they did me.

Below are three of my favorite Jimmy Eat World tracks. Enjoy, and be sure to check out more of their stuff.


Hear You Me-Jimmy Eat World


-Lyrics-

There's no one in town I know
You gave us some place to go.
I never said thank you for that.
I thought I might get one more chance.
What would you think of me now,
so lucky, so strong, so proud?
I never said thank you for that,
now I'll never have a chance.
May angels lead you in.
Hear you me my friends.
On sleepless roads the sleepless go.
May angels lead you in.
So what would you think of me now,
so lucky, so strong, so proud?
I never said thank you for that,
now I'll never have a chance.
May angels lead you in.
Hear you me my friends.
On sleepless roads the sleepless go.
May angels lead you in.
May angels lead you in.
May angels lead you in.
And if you were with me tonight,
I'd sing to you just one more time.
A song for a heart so big,
god wouldn't let it live.
May angels lead you in.
Hear you me my friends.
On sleepless roads the sleepless go.
May angels lead you in.
May angels lead you in.
Hear you me my friends.
On sleepless roads the sleepless go.
May angels lead you in.
May angels lead you in.

Drugs Or Me-Jimmy Eat World


-Lyrics-

Stay with me
You're the one I need
You make the hardest things
Seem easy

Keep my heart
Somewhere drugs don't go
Where the sunshine slows
Always keep me close

If only you could see
The stranger next to me
You promise you promise that you're done
But i cant tell you from the drugs

Don't let go
Well dig a great big hole
Down an endless hole
We'll both go

You're so blind!
You can't save me this time
Hope comes from inside
And I feel so low tonight

If only you could see
The stranger next to me
You promise you promise that you're done
But I can't tell you from the drugs

I wish you could see
This face in front of me
You're sorry you swear it you're done
But I can't tell you from the drugs

(Ohhhh)
(Ohhhh)

(take me) I need your help
(so far away) To pull me up take the wheel
(take me) Out from me
(so far away) Out from me

(Take me) If only you could see (I need your help)
(So far away) The stranger next to me (To pull me up take the pain)
(Take me) You promise you promise that you're done (Out from me)
(So far away) But I can't tell you from the drugs (Out from me)

(Take me) I wish that you could see (I need your help)
(So far away) This face in front of me (To pull me up take the wheel)
(Take me) You're sorry you swear it you're done (Out from me)
(So far away) But I can't tell you from the drugs (Out from me)

Keep my heart
somewhere drugs don't go
Where the sunshine slows
always keep me close


A Praise Chorus-Jimmy Eat World


-Lyrics-

Are you gonna live your life wonderin' standing in the back lookin' around?
Are you gonna waste your time thinkin' how you've grown up or how you missed out?
Things are never gonna be the way you want.
Where's it gonna get you acting serious?
Things are never gonna be quite what you want.
Or even at 25, you gotta start sometime.
I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.
Are you gonna live your life standing in the back looking around?
Are you gonna waste your time?
Gotta make a move or you'll miss out.
Someone's gonna ask you what it's all about.
Stick around nostalgia won't let you down.
Someone's gonna ask you what it's all about.
Whatcha gonna have to say for yourself?
I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.
Crimson and clover, over and over.
Crimson and clover, over and over.
Our house in the middle of the street, why did we ever meet?
Started my rock 'n roll fantasy.
Don't don't, don't let's start, why did we ever part?
Kick start my rock 'n rollen heart.
I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
So come on Davey, sing me somethin' that I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.
Here tonight.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine
I wanna fall in love tonight.