If you were a teenager who wanted to be cool in the summer of 2002, you were finally listening to the album.
I discovered Bleed American in the summer of 2002.
"Your House"
But given new meaning by my optimistic imagination
First of all, here's the song:
The gist of the song is that the singer is tired of a woman breaking his heart over and over again, so he's trying to cut ties with her to move on.
And sure, that's a real thing. I appreciate the honesty. But I can't seem to help getting a little depressed at the oft-repeated lines
If you love me at all, please don't tell me now
If you love me at all, don't call
So I've invented an alternate meaning for the song. Imagine a guy who likes a girl. This will work better if you picture a nerdy guy liking a girl who's not necessarily reciprocating (I'm envisioning Screech and Lisa from Saved by the Bell).
Ok, now because this guy is striking out, he resorts to saying "If you love me, I want you (for reasons I won't go into) to act like you don't love me." This sets up the ultimate win-win scenario for poor Screech/me/loser/guy. If she acts like she loves him, WIN. If she acts like she doesn't, he can just shoot her occasional knowing glances and construct an imaginary reality in which she's suppressing her love in order to fulfill his cryptic demand. WIN.
And that's basically what Jimmy Eat World is saying--
If you love me at all, don't call.
Saved (from being eaten by Jimmy) by the bell
See what I did there?
I combined the names of the 2 pop-culture references in this post.
Did you listen to Jimmy Eat World in the early 2000s?
Who was your favorite Saved by the Bell character/couple?
Jon
Did I listen to Jimmy Eat World in the early 2000s? Yes! Although, I much preferred the two albums that preceded Bleed American (Clarity and Singles). That being said, Bleed American was still a solid album.
ReplyDeleteI loved Saved by the Bell growing up, and I have probably seen all of the episodes, including the College Years and the Wedding in Vegas episodes. However, now that you ask, I can't say I particularly liked any of the main characters. They were all kind of shallow and annoying. Hmmm, I'm thinking I need to watch some episodes in order to remember what was so enjoyable about that show...