Jimmy Eat World Band • Page 130

The "Carry You" chorus is ... one of those moments in music for me.

 

Band - Jimmy Eat World

That's what I wrote last night while listening again. I really like that album, even if not as much as a few others.

 

"Carry You" is such an incredible song. The way it starts with those acoustic chords and then progress into this powerful chorus and a great bridge. Like god damn. I love that JEW are unafraid to put acoustic guitars atop electric ones on that album especially. Its such a great combo

 

i dont see anything on that page from you? wrong link maybe?

 

all of the damage songs sound so incredible live

 

the link literally goes straight to his post!

 

@Jason Tate i had a similar realization to you recently that JEW is in fact my favorite of all time over Brand New. They never cease to hit me like a ton of bricks. Jim Adkins is my spirit animal

 

it goes to page 87 of this thread for me for some reason lol

 

welp i'm not sure then haha.

 

it does the same for me, haha

 

here ya go!

 

I shoulda been better at linking. I have my per page set differently, didn't use permalink.

 

totally agree on your thoughts and yeah, You and I is amazing

 

Thanks! Invented was my first Jimmy Eat World album, and in fact, my first car album, because I got my license the fall that it came out. So it holds a lot of memories, but CTL is my favorite.

 

If they ever tour Damage in full, I will be one of the many grown men crying the whole time. Mark my words.

 

You and I is fabulous.
You guys are aware that's a Wilco cover, right?

 

yep and its a great one

 

This is probably the only band I can think of that is aging like John Stamos both musically and physically.

 

Cool!
I remember not knowing "Firestarter" was a Prodigy cover for ages. I'd heard the original song but they're so different that I never put it together.

 

Wow I actually didn't know this about you hah. (Both that JEW>BN, and Jim being your spirit animal)

 

I really enjoyed reading it, thanks. I totally can't argue with your interpretation there. And it seems that part of the reason you love Invented so much is the same reason I love Damage so much -- because of the story thread running through it. Damage is a lot more direct though. I've thought of Damage as their first "concept" album aside from Invented being potentially a conceot album due to the way it was written (from looking at pictures). My instinct tells me that the storyline you interpret was not intended because each song was inspired by a different picture of a different girl, and that I think Jim said that most of the songs are from a female perspective (but I could have misremembered that); but the way you describe it is so convincing that you could totally be right and perhaps it was intended that way. The whole idea of sharing an apartment while having ones own belongings is definitely something that I've noticed is a common theme in the album. The songs do tie nicely to this theme and everything else you discussed. I particularly liked your point about Movielike being in New York and C&C being the character moving out of New York. Makes a lot of sense. I may write my thoughts about Damage in a similar fashion to what you did, although maybe Damage is a little too obvious that people wouldn't need to read my thoughts? I don't know.

 

OK here goes.....



Appreciation

You know I want time
I know you want space
Gonna do what I can
Hey, whatever it might take

The whole premise of this song is that the relationship isn't going very well (she breaks his heart, perhaps her cheating on him occurred just before the album begins), but there's still love there and the main character isn't ready to give up on it yet. He still has faith in the relationship and thinks they may be able to overcome it (this is the saddest aspect of this album and one I will return to).

Damage

A lot of time's been wasted putting off doing the work.
If we both step up to own it then I'll take what's coming first.
Of everything you say, it's the truth that really hurts.
But how could that be worse?

This song is basically saying "something is very wrong in this relationship, and it's not living up to the fairytale I had in my head... we need to talk about what happened and find a resolution, good or bad". The character realises that there might not be a way to fix what's slowly breaking in the relationship, and the lack of communication is just making it worse. All the hope he had in the first song is starting to fade away and is being replaced with bitterness. They're in limbo, just going about each day, gradually poisoning each other.

Lean

I’m not asking for a fix
I just need you close to reach

By this point I feel like they've talked, and addressed the issues in the relationship. The character got what he wanted and now is facing the consequences. She seems to be almost ready to call it a day. She is in agreement with everything that main character said in the first two songs... that it's poisonous. Main character realises that it isn't just her that is ruining the relationship -- it's him too, with his selfish trips that he takes just to get away from her. But he's so desperate that being alone is even worse than being with someone who doesn't really love him anymore. He needs her; he keeps being drawn back to her and just can't let go. He knows the relationship isn't fixable but he still can't bare to think of not having it at all. He is almost asking if it's possible that this relationship is actually what is "meant" for them, and asking if they can give it another chance because "we're just us" and maybe it's OK to settle for mediocre. This is just a desperate attempt to not be lonely and is quite heartbreaking. There's an empty, ungrounded hope in his head that things can be OK again even though he knows in his heart that it never will be. This is one of the most beautiful lines in the song (though every song has many, many beautiful lines):

I’m hoping for the perfect day
When I look into the right face
And really mean it, saying “I’m okay"

Book of Love

So maybe we should plan then
Of who would go, and who would stay, and when
Until one of us can say it like it is
You've already made your own bed

It's almost impossible to pick just one section of lyrics from this song because they're all so powerful. He knows it's time to plan the logistics of the likely break up. He is reminiscing about the things they used to do when they were young and naive and in love. This kind of nostalgia trip tends to happen at the end of relationships. And it's this thinking back that is making him rememeber the things he did love about her, and wonders, almost rhetorically, if those feelings will ever come back again. Maybe one day they will find each other again; he isn't ever going to shut the door on her because she's become such an important part of his life.

Are they ever coming back again
Those feelings that we started with

I Will Steal You Back

When you pull me in sometimes I almost feel
The picture in my head is just too real
It's gonna be how it is, there's some things you don't change
I'm done with telling myself that story

Either they have broken up and the character needs her back, or they haven't completely broken up quite yet and he wants to steal back her heart. He is a bit bitter at her for throwing this away when, actually, the flaws in the relationship weren't something that couldn't simply be ignored or dealt with rationally. He is feeling a bit arrogant at this point and is sort of saying "I can get passed those flaws... can't you? Are you that weak?" She draws him back in (with communication or social media or something perhaps), and his head goes to places where he thinks "yeah, you know what she can be mine no problem, I'm hard, I can deal with whatever she throws at me... it isn't worth just chucking it away". He is almost looking for a fight because at least that brings out some emotion and drama, and he wants that passion back.

Please Say No

"Say anything you will
Except how you'd have me still"

He has had a change of heart. That kind of impulsive, almost aggressive passion and disregard in the last song couldn't last forever. He knows now he is weak and will run back to her if she lets him. Because he can't let go of the fact that she knows him better than anyone else. She is a part of his life and has shaped him as a person. Every time he speaks to her, these feelings come rushing back that he is meant to be with her. In his head he knows this is a bad idea though, and rationally it wouldn't work out because the things that damaged them before are bound to crop up again. His head and his heart are at odds with each other in this song. His heart wonders if they could give this another go and maybe they could make it work if they leave the past behind and start a fresh in a new place, away from the bad memories. But his head knows that she could ruin him again if she lets him back in. The "please say no" in this song is "please don't give me another chance, because I know I will give in to temptation and take that chance, and my head knows it would be a bad idea, even if my heart wants it".

How'd You Have Me

I've saved up enough courage
And I'll spend it now
But all for what, I ask myself
No, it doesn't feel that an answer matters

This is the part where the head has overtaken the heart with regards to the previous song's message. He is starting to see everything more clearly now. He knows she wasted his time. He sees what was wrong with the relationship and now feels like he doesn't need her, and that he is better than her. He has the balls now to confront her about all the ways that she wronged him but why bother at this point? He is content with going on with his life. Or at least that's how he feels in this moment. But the fact that he is still dwelling on the relationship, however negatively, makes it clear that he still isn't over it and perhaps never will be.

No, Never

"Because there's some things, you should never have, never known about"

This song and the one after it are a little ambiguous in terms of a "timeline". This implies that the main character also cheated. Either they got back together after "How'd You Have Me", and then he cheated, but that would be leaving too big a gap in the story that we would have to be filling in. It could be that this song is from the female perspective, but I'm not too sure on that either. The way you could interpret it is that the main character cheated back when they were together, but he didn't mention it until now because she never found out so he buried it and pretended it didn't happen. It would be easier for him to blame her for everything if he could just pretend that he was innocent. But she has just found out and she confronts him about it. It could be interpreted that they are still together and haven't actually fully broken up. The last two songs could have been addressing the fact that the relationship was de facto dead, but they hadn't made it official yet. I see this relationship as a bit of a back-and-forth, "Ross and Rachel" type of thing. This is quite clear from the album so far at least that there hasn't been a clean break. This is to be expected in a relationship that is so long and where the two have been a huge part of each others' lives for many years. To be honest, the main character in this story is kind of a piece of shit. Really listening to the lyrics, especially in tracks 2, 5, 7 and 8, paint the picture of a guy who "needs" this girl in his life so that he can feel complete and so that he isn't alone. A lot of it is about serving his need and satisfying his emotions. The whole album is more about how he feels than how she feels, and I think he is quite selfish. But we all become that piece of shit when we are overcome with emotions. He is very human.

Byebyelove

I walked out at 3 a.m.

The relationship is over. He still wants to watch the sunlight as it beams through her beautiful blonde hair in the morning. But it isn't worth it and he has accepted it. This is the end of the relationship and in my mind the end of the "album proper".

You Were Good

It could have been but never was
At least the way you thought it'd be when you grew up
And there's so much of you I love
But loving you alone isn't enough

This is the epilogue. He has had some distance on the relationship now and is reflecting upon it. He is rational now and more objective; he is detached from the relationship, still knowing that she means a lot to him but being able to understand everything that happened. This could be weeks or months after the relationship has ended as he has had time to internalise everything. This song has some of the most beautiful lyrics on the album that I think are very clear and I don't need to explain. The "charm you wear around your neck" verse is one of my favourite pieces of lyrics of all time. I think the fact that this song is lower in production values and is not an "epic closer" is because it isn't really the closer, Byebyelove is the end. As I said, this is the epilogue and is removed from the rest of the album in terms of story and in terms of the way that it sounds. It isn't an overly emotional song, it's a more intellectual exercise for the main character to wrap up the relationship and move on with his life. It doesn't need to be this huge epic swell of instrumentation and power. It's a personal document, and that only makes sense when you have one person in a room with his head, his hands and his heart, and nothing more than an acoustic guitar to get his message across.

Going back to Appreciation

I listen to this album on loop. When I came back to this song is when the album first made me cry. Listening to the hope that he has in this first song is heartbreaking with the foreknowledge we have that it isn't going to work out for him, and things are just going to get worse and worse. At this point the character in the story doesn't know what's in store for him and this naivety is just heartbreaking.

Strange we come to find ourselves
Not knowing we're lost

This line is very interesting. It's almost like his future self is going back over the story in the same way that I am when I listen on loop. He is narrating and reflecting, and I'm there with him. Imagine that the entire album is a metaphorical diary with each song being an entry. You Were Good is the final entry and he closes it. When we go to listen to the album for a second time, the character with us, and is going back to read through the diary again. This line above is like an annotation that he makes in the imaginary diary with red pen. It's almost ironic and comical that he is in a way talking to his past self. Here he is the narrator in the story; a voice over in the film's introduction. He is showing us his story and this is his way of letting us know whats to come.

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I think this album is a brilliant masterpiece. It's my favourite album of all time. It has my favourite lyrics of all time in every single song. I think it's just so powerful and real, and relatable on so many levels. If you've ever been through a breakup then there are so many things to relate to on this album. There are many more things I could say about every song but I've gone on way too long already. Hope you enjoyed reading this.

 

@minty901 you have pretty much encapsulated my thoughts on this record. Well done man. I'm glad someone appreciates the "charm you wear" lyric as much as I do!

 

It's the bridge for me. A lot of moments on that record, actually.

I said this at the time (maybe in my review), but that album is the closest of any of their records to how they sound live. I missed that tour, but it makes sense that those songs would be perfect concert fodder.

These guys don't seem like the type of artists to ever put a cover on a full-length record, but between that song and "Take 'Em As They Come," I don't think I would mind if they did.

 

Listening to Stay On My Side Tonight again this morning. Perfect for my drive to work early in the morning.