Favorites from: Jimmy Eat World

When I decided to copy Allison and do a "Best of" list, there was no question as to which band I'd choose - Jimmy Eat World. It's safe to say there is no other band or artist I have listened to more in my lifetime. They're one of the bands I've loved for a better part of my life, and hopefully down the road old-person Evan will be cool enough to still connect with JEW.

The first time I heard Jimmy was in the Spring of my Freshman year of High School. I was at the Newbury Comics on Rte 9 in Shrewsbury (RIP) checking out the sample CDs and when I finally got to Clarity, I was blown away. Whenever I went to Newbury, I'd first check out the employee recommendations and then head straight for the headphones. Normally I'd flip through each CD, sampling about 10 seconds of each track. Not this time, though. I listened to every second of the first few songs, and by the end of "Your New Aesthetic," I was hooked.

Clarity just celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this year, which means I'm both an old man and one who's still happily in love with a band that gave him a boner when he was 15. Through the years, my interest in Jimmy has never faltered, due in large part to their inability to release a shitty album. Their perfectly written and produced tracks are only rivaled by their live performances, the most recent of which (for me) couldn't even be sullied by a crowd full of Paramore fans. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch them this year for Clarityx10 because I'm stuck in Singapore.

There are few bands that can capture and share raw emotion and passion better than Jimmy Eat World. The list below* is a bastardization of a catalog that will stay on my side... for the rest of my life.


1 - Look At You (from One Two Three Four)
"My oh my, can you save my life? / It doesn't have to mean looking out for me"

This song is a good example of how I communicate with others. (Also released as "Cars" on their first S/T, "Look At You" is from JEW's first release. I would give a nut to get my hands on this 7")



2 - Seventeen (from Static Prevails)
"Hung up here on a web of comfort / Taking off with nowhere to go / Standing tall with your new cloak armor / Making out like it's all been done / It's harder than it seems / You slip but never fall"



3 - Your New Aesthetic (from Clarity)
"Imitate and water down / Selection breathes on its own / Before the crash I'll write it out / Selection breathes on its own / Make them open the request line / Let selection kill the old / Take back the radio"

I lol'ed when I heard this on BCN one night, the same way I lol when rednecks blast "Born in the USA." Oh, irony.



4 - Over (from Stay on my Side Tonight EP)
"I'm not exactly sure what I should say / Everything I do is a mistake / Your attention is attention / It doesn't matter if it's fake or real / Ill take it if I get it"

Oh, unrequited love. Why are you the subject of so many great songs, yet such a bitch?



5 - Bleed American (from Bleed American)
"And rest, clean your conscience / Clear your thoughts with Speyside with your brain / Clean your conscience, clear your thoughts with Speyside"

Any American with a beating heart has felt the pains and frustrations associated with being American. We either quell it in our own ways, or do our best to break free.



6 - For Me This is Heaven (from Clarity)
"When the time we had now ends / And when the big hand goes round again / Can you still feel the butterflies? / Can you still hear the last goodnight?



7 - Spangle (from Singles)
"Don't think that you'll ever know how you could be so cruel / It's so clear / I can hear, and I'm not gonna share you with no one / Surprise, I've got eyes, now goodbye"

Given the subject matter and lyrical styling, you'd think they wrote this one. Unbelievably good cover.



8 - Let It Happen (from Chase This Light)
"Talk, talking a lot, but it's still talk / Gotta love how it's somehow all on me / All the petty scenes / And all the pretty things / Say whatever you want / Cause I can laugh it off"

I could've used this when I was dumped in 9th grade and was subjected to a mountain of ex shit-talk. Glad I can laugh it off now, though!



9 - Blister (from Clarity)
"Don't try and stop me / Because I'm falling fast into this pit of fire which surrounds us all / In a blanket of fear that I've been wrapped in for years / Don't try and stop me / You can't stop me"



10 - Sweetness (from Bleed American)
"I'm still running away / I won't play your hide and seek game"

I'm pretty sure those "whoaaaaaa's" are screams of frustration, not joy.



11 - Table for Glasses (from Clarity)
"Where do you intend to go with your dirty dress? / Lead my skeptic sight to the table and the light / It happened too fast to make sense of it / Make it last"

My first love.



12 - Pain (from Futures)
"I never thought I'd walk away from you / I did / But it's a false sense of accomplishment / Everytime time I quit"

Pain echoes the mood I loved from Bleed American



13 - Get it Faster (from Bleed American)
"I don't care what you do / I'm getting out / No nothing ever shames me / Don't want a thing from you / I'm going out / I don't care if you're angry"

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons. One, it's badass from the intro, through the roaring choruses, to the screaming dual-guitar soli, right to the bitter end. Two, it's even more badass live. And three, it's one of the few times that the anger/frustration builds to a point where Jim's just like "GAH FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"




14 - Lucky Denver Mint (from Clarity)
"A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me"

If you can't relate to this song, then you're probably the type of person Jim's singing to.



15 - Disintegration (from Stay on my Side Tonight EP)
"I wonder why I'm so caught off guard when we kiss / I'd rather live my life in regret then do this / What happened to the love we both knew, we both chased? / Hanging on a cigarette, you need me, you'll burn me / You'll burn me"

Disintegration, like most JEW songs, brings you to a familiar place, albeit one loosely constructed by the lyrics, mood, and music. The gaps are filled with your own experiences and emotions. JEW's ability to evoke such personal feelings and memories from the listener through their own deeply emotional music is what sets them apart.



*The sixty-minute limit previously set by Allison kept "Goodbye, Sky Harbor" (among others) off the list, which is why I could never call it a "Best of."