Welcome back to my list of Jimmy Eat World’s best songs, where today I’ll reveal my Top 50. In case you missed Part I, you can find it here.

Before I get to the final selections, I’ll address the elephant in the room: since Part I posted, JEW released their 10th album, Surviving, which means an additional eight songs for potential consideration (the two Surviving songs released before the album, “Love Never” and “All the Way (Stay)”, are in Part I) are now in the world. But you won’t find any of those in this Top 50, for a few different reasons.

I started working on this project after a scuttled attempt at a song-by-song breakdown of Clarity for its 20th anniversary back in February, similar to this post I did in 2016 on Pet Sounds. I didn’t finish it in time. But since I’ve always wanted to do some kind of Jimmy Eat World tribute blog, I figured doing a Top 100 in advance of their 10th album would be perfect.

So, I put together a list of songs and got to work on writing. I realized pretty quickly this was going to be a sprawling, long, verbose project. My only goal was to have it completely done and finished in advance of the 10th album release. I also imposed a soft October deadline to get it done because of my wedding and honeymoon.

All through the summer I methodically worked on writing while the band was very quiet about the actual plans for the 10th album. When I saw them in Portland in July, Jim said the album was coming out in the fall. But since there was no announcement even into mid-September I figured I was fine to keep working at my deliberate pace. At that point, there was no way the album would be released before mid-November, right?

And then…the band announced on Sept. 23 that Surviving would drop Oct. 18. I was nowhere near done with the piece, so completing it in time the way I wanted was not going to be feasible. So, I had a decision to make: should I completely scrap large swaths of what I had already written just to get the piece done in a truncated, not-as-I-intended form, or stick to my plan and write it the way I wanted even if Surviving’s release would beat me to it?

I ultimately chose the latter, but with a caveat: in an effort to get something out the door, I elected to split the project in two and rallied to get Part I out a few days before my wedding. Since Part I is a 36-minute read all to itself, I think structurally doing that made more sense anyway.

But what to do now about the Surviving tracks not in Part I? Well, maybe someday I’ll update this list, but for now I’ll leave them out. I will say that two songs from Surviving are easily top-25, with another three likely in the Top 50 and all but maybe two scattered through the rest of the Top 100. It’s a great record, equal in quality to Integrity Blues. But, you’ll have to wait until my top albums of 2019 post learn more of my thoughts.

Here is this Top 50 in Spotify playlist form. There are only a few songs Spotify didn’t have this time around. It’s also embedded at the end of this list.

Thanks to everyone who read the first part of my list and reached out to say they liked it. Hope you’ll like the rest just as much. Now, my Top 50 Jimmy Eat World songs:

50. “Call It In The Air” (Static Prevails, 1996)

The second, stronger, and tighter half of the “Claire” / “Call It In The Air” coupling on the front side of SP that I mentioned in Part I is “Call It In The Air.” It’s a burst of wild energy, an expression of unrest. I always liked the semi-experimental way they record the vocals in the chorus sections, with what sounded like Jim singing over his own voice. The guitar sound is rocking from the very outset. Jim and Co. were still figuring things out from a lyrical standpoint (“Become your dad / Live unquestioned.” Come again?) but “Call It In The Air” is a scorcher, and a fun one at that. 

49. “I Will Steal You Back” (Damage, 2013)

The first song to appear from Damage in 2013 was the acoustic-fueled, hook-laden “I Will Steal You Back.” I remember the lyric video above showing up that spring and being so happy to have the guys back in my life. In a video posted by NME later that year, they talked about how difficult it was to put this one together at first. Initially, the palm-muted guitars you hear throughout were the dominant sound over the grooving rhythm, something that didn’t quite click. Instead, as Jim states, the acoustic guitar ended up being the thing that kept everything together, and “I Will Steal You Back” is better off for it. Lyrically, Jim says the song is more about “decisions than resolutions,” and while it could literally be taken as being about trying to win back a lost love, it’s more about winning yourself back. “Funny how the smallest lie / Might live a million times.” Ponder that one!

48. “Ramina” (Libations Unlimited: Phoenix ’97-’99, 1999)

“Ramina” first appeared on a local Phoenix compilation record in 1999 and subsequently reached a greater audience on Singles. It’s the only instrumental to appear on this list and, I believe, the only instrumental they’ve ever released. It’s an excellent encapsulation of where they were as a band musically during the incredibly-fertile ‘98-’02 stretch where they did almost nothing wrong. Hard-charging power chords intertwined with their signature melodic touches, perfectly-honed bass notes, Zach bashing away at the drums, weird alien-like feedback noises late in the proceedings: this is a band refusing punt musicianship in the face of mounting pressure to be commercial, and it shows here. Jimmy Eat World didn’t need to do instrumentals, since Jim is such a great singer and lyricist. But “Ramina” is an interesting window into what the band may have been if Jim never turned into, well, Jim. 

47. “My Sundown” (Bleed American, 2001)

When I first saw JEW live in Portland in the summer of 2002, they played not one but TWO encores and for the second one, they played “My Sundown,” the epic closer for Bleed American. I got really close to the stage and Jim’s hair was so drenched in sweat it was like a wet mop, so much so that audience members were getting hit every time he moved his head rapidly. (I awkwardly recounted this story to Jim when I briefly met him backstage at the Portland show this year. I couldn’t tell if he liked the story or was horrified. Let’s just move on.) It was a powerful performance of a powerful song. So much of BA is straight-up power pop, but “My Sundown” is different, so different that there’s never been any other song quite like it in their history. The music is far from overwhelming, and Jim doesn’t sing as much as he simply intones, with Rachel Haden supplying the perfect harmonies in spots. “I’m gonna be so much more than this,” he sings over and over the shuffling drums, feedback guitars and looping keys, adding “no one cares.” As for its meaning, there are a lot of interpretations, some of which can get pretty dark if you think about it. But I choose for it to be a not-quite “The Middle”-level story of telling yourself things can get better, even if no one else notices it but you. And, it’s just the right ending to an album filled with unforgettable songs.

46. “Through” (Integrity Blues, 2016)

Purely based on guitar work, “Through” is one of the standout tracks from Integrity Blues. If I had to rank my favorite guitar parts of “Through,” I’d go with the chorus power chords/chiming harmonics, the post-chorus take on the main riff, the opening main riff, the guitar solo and then the creeping verse guitars. That’s a lot of really great guitar parts, all in under three minutes! But, “Through” is a lot more than just the sum of its guitar parts. It’s a breakup song where Jim’s speaker isn’t mincing words on how he feels: “Go get mad / Have a child’s tantrum / So everyone knows how wrong you’ve been”; “There’s a big, big difference / Between letting go and running away.” Sonically, “Through” is classic JEW, containing their signature sounds; the kind of song only they’ve been able to make through these years. “Through” always struck me as the type of song that could have been on virtually any album they’ve done, and we’ll come across a few more of those before this list is over.

45. “Chase This Light” (Chase This Light, 2007)

I have a feeling more than a few love-struck young folks prominently featured this song on late-2000s CD mixes shared with their special someone. The title track to Chase This Light shows up later in the proceedings of the album, nestled among a couple other excellent songs following its rather forgettable middle section. “Chase This Light” has an outstanding vocal performance by Jim and a full-band effort to make what could have been a saccharine and trite love song genuinely beautiful. “I’ve seen the best of love / The best of hate / The best reward is earned / And I’ve paid for every single word / I’ve ever said,” Jim emotes over the bridge section. The concept of “chasing this light” is such a great one when you’ve found that person with whom you want to chase it. Also: an early version of “Chase This Light” leaked before the album came out and while it was functionally the same as what’s on the record, it had slightly more sparse production and also didn’t have the “yeaahhhhhhh” backing vocals during the choruses. I prefer this to what actually was released, as this was yet another example of the overdone production on CTL.

44. “Seventeen” (Static Prevails, 1996)

Tom was the star of Static Prevails, and songs like “Seventeen” are what made that happen. It’s the best of what you might call the “classic emo” songs on the record, of which there are many. The songs still to come from SP on this countdown are the ones that don’t quite fit that mold. “Seventeen” is replete with awesome loud/soft dynamics, hard-charging drum work, spectacular guitar melodies, and a great vocal with Tom practically screaming the refrain: “They’ll take you / Where you won’t come back to me.” All these years later, “Seventeen” really stands out as the band was trying to find their voice. Also: an early, alternate demo of “Seventeen” appears in the film Never Been Kissed with a different chorus of “You’re only / You’re only seventeen.” It’s not actually on the film soundtrack, which explains why I don’t have a link to the audio of that version and have personally never heard it myself. Another song still to come on this list has a more prominent connection to that movie, and in turn, a more prominent place in the band’s lore. 

43. “Mixtape” (Invented, 2010)

“Mixtape” first surfaced

42. “Let It Happen” (Chase This Light, 2007)

Chase This Light is a pop record, perhaps the poppiest one they’ve done…yes, even poppier than Bleed American. In some spots that wasn’t great (*cough* “Feeling Lucky” *cough*) but the highlights  all contain their impenetrable pop sensibility. One of the best pop songs in their entire repertoire is “Let It Happen,” with its “ha-ha-has” and palm-muted guitars, and Jim singing with an angsty edge throughout despite the chipper musical stylings. Some of the lyrics are a bit on the nose (I mean, the opening lines are “I have a ringing in my head / And no one to help me answer it”), but “Let It Happen” is ultimately about a relationship going wrong in what feels like a very public, visible way. “Talk, talking a lot / But it’s still talk / Gotta love how it’s somehow all on me,” with further musings about petty scenes and pretty things. Meanwhile, all the intricate guitar parts come together so spectacularly. “Let It Happen” is this band doing pop at their finest.

41. “Table For Glasses” (Clarity, 1999)

Historically, Jimmy Eat World does not give the public a lot of information about what their songs are about. But, in the run-up to the incomparably great Clarity x 10 tour, Jim and Zach spilled the tea about the songs on their greatest record. One of the most fascinating revelations came for the opening track, “Table for Glasses.” Jim said the lyrics could be taken literally: it’s about an avant garde art installation he saw in Mesa where the artist used the hem of her dress to “sweep the dirty steps” and rang the dirt into some glass tumblers on a table. For the band that had just done Static Prevails, “Table For Glasses” itself was about as avant garde as you could get, and certainly showed maturity on many levels. This wasn’t hard-rocking emo-tinged post-punk stuff. It was something else, something the band was creating all its own. “Table For Glasses” set the table for all the amazing songs to come on Clarity. Also, the pre-chorus refrain of “It happened too fast / To make sense of it, make it last” was one that I kept going back to in the weeks leading up to my college graduation the same year of the Clarity x 10 tour. 

40. “Your House” (Bleed American, 2001)

And now, the original “Your House,” the only among the first five tracks on Bleed American that didn’t become an alt-rock radio staple in the early ‘00s. Despite that fact, I believe “Your House” played a critical role in the band’s history and the relationship fans would have with them over the long-term. “Your House” is sandwiched between “The Middle” and “Sweetness” on BA‘s track sequencing, and for people (like me) who came to discover the band because of “The Middle,” the appearance of “Your House” so early could seem surprising. That’s because on the surface level “Your House” doesn’t fit with the power alt-pop of what surrounds it: the acoustic guitar backing, what sort of sounds like organ providing a lurking backing, an otherworldly drumline march engineered by Zach and Trombino, and Jim’s yearning vocals, highlighting the band’s emo sensibilities: “I’ve thrown away everything I’ve written you / Oh anything just keep my mind from thinking / How I’ve had you once / Oh I can’t forget that / Sometimes I wish I could lose you again.” Songs like “The Middle” and “Sweetness” made people Jimmy Eat World fans in 2002. But songs like “Your House” kept them fans for much longer.

39. “Closer” (Stay On My Side Tonight EP, 2005)

The three best songs from SOMST, along with a solid chunk of the best songs from Futures (most of which we’ll get to shortly) represent Jim’s absolute apex as a lyricist. The fame he’d experienced after “The Middle” caught fire might have given him a different perspective, on his relationships and on himself. “Closer” is a song that possibly explores those themes as the emotional center of SOMST and one of their most underrated songs. It seems to be about a long distance relationship that isn’t working as either person intended. “Touch and taste / Fades with space / I’ll never be / Who you dream”; “You’ll have yours / I’ll have mine / No one guilty / No one right;” “I’m gonna drive fast all night until I get there” Beyond the lyrics, “Closer” is a titanic achievement of JEW’s overall guitar sound, with Jim and Tom putting in some of my favorite guitar work here that they’ve ever put to record. I love the ringing guitar intro, which repeats in the outro as a nice bookend. I love the way the guitars build after the second chorus, through the breakdown, before exploding in euphoria for the solo. There’s so much guitar it’s hard to keep track. And, I’ve loved “Closer” since that first fall at college when I first heard it, and I love that all these years later I keep finding amazing things in it.

38. “Ten” (Clarity, 1999)

If I haven’t already been doing it, I’ll be gushing a lot about Clarity the closer we get to the end of this list. I celebrate the entire record; there isn’t a second of it I don’t absolutely adore. The best part of the album, however, is the second half, which I define as everything that happens after “12.23.95.” And that starts with “Ten,” a jumpy-rhythm jaunt the guys have said was built over a series of tape loops of different drum tracks. I have talked, and will continue to talk, about the unparalleled ability for Trombino to get the best work out of these guys and especially Zach (Trombino was Drive Like Jehu’s drummer). That ability turned “Ten,” a fairly straightforward track, into something more special. I’ll mention Jim’s battle with substance abuse in more detail soon, but there are some hints at that battle in the lyrics here: “Our weakness is the same / We need poison sometimes”; “I can’t bring myself to say it / it’s my own advice I need / Nowhere and then nowhere / Living trapped inside the chase.” The piano work by Jim throughout, as well as the choppy guitar work, make “Ten” really stand out, and kick off the finest stretch of songs in their catalogue.

37. “Digits” (Static Prevails, 1996)

This is Jimmy Eat World’s first true creative accomplishment. In fact, all these years later, there really isn’t a song they’ve done like it and at this point I’d be surprised if they ever do again. What makes “Digits” so different is its three distinct movements over seven-and-a-half minutes. The first 2:30 or so is all instrumental, building throughout with creeping dread. There’s a brief

36. “Evidence” (Invented, 2010)

There are a lot of bitter breakup songs JEW has done over the past quarter century, and this might be the most bitter. “Hang up the sheets / Between our things / You won’t have to see / Evidence.” Yikes. Hammering the point home are the power chords after the choruses, and these come together beautifully late in the song when Jim sings the chorus over those same bashing power chords. Augmenting Jim’s vocals on “Evidence” and throughout most of Invented is Courtney Marie Andrews, who was 19 at the time it was recorded but in the intervening years has become an accomplished country artist in her own right. Her voice perfectly accents Jim’s all over “Evidence,” adding the right touch to that song’s inherent drama. Also: here are the guys playing “Evidence” with Andrews at KROQ in LA around the time Invented was released. Hilariously, they brought more equipment than could fit in the small room where they usually have bands play, and as a result it looks like they stuck Tom in a hallway. Poor Tom.

35. “If You Don’t, Don’t” (Bleed American, 2001)

Now we’re starting to get into the really good stuff. Jim said “If You Don’t, Don’t” originated from meeting up with a friend who was into Britpop, and that’s where the bright, clean, downstrokey (this piece is so long that I’m now starting to make up words) guitar melody that ripples throughout came from. It started out in a little bit more of what Jim called a “frantic” format before the guitar parts were more evened out and layered, producing one of their most jangle-pop songs, reminiscent of bands like the La’s. It’s also one of the band’s more intricately-recorded songs: Jim physically toyed with the delay on Tom’s parts to create that swirling effect you hear throughout. Those palm-muted notes in the choruses really take things to another level. Lyrically, Jim is talking about a relationship that either never happened or never went anywhere, and harkens back to possibly some the demons from his past: “I’m sorry that I’m such a mess / I drank all my money could get / I took everything that we have / And then I never loved you back.” “If You Don’t, Don’t” is the best of the underrated BA songs, of which there are several.

34. “You Are Free” (Integrity Blues, 2016)

One of the very best things about Integrity Blues is the lack of filler. Typically Jimmy Eat World records stack the best songs in the front half before finishing strong. That isn’t the case with Integrity Blues (nor would I say it’s the case with Surviving upon these first listens). “You Are Free” is a true standout from an album with many such standouts, a song like several coming up that I can faithfully and truly say could have appeared on any JEW album. Lyrically, Jim has gotten more philosophical as the years have gone on, as he, the band, and their fans have grown together. One of the best recent examples of this is “You Are Free.” “Amazing the emotional bridges / Tunnels, roads and ways / We go around / What’s one step from our face.” Even when Jim tells his subject they’re free, it’s with the kind of qualifiers we so often put on any given situation. You’re free, as much as you can stand to be. Or, whatever you think being free actually means. He proclaims all of this over typically amazing Zach drums and so many great guitar parts. This is one of those songs, when it came out, that made me feel so lucky to still be a fan of this great band after all these years.

33. “Better Than Oh” (Jimmy Eat World/Emery Split 7”, 1995)

I believe this is the oldest song on this list, and the first one that really pointed to any modicum of the promise the band achieved a few years later. As I noted in the first part of this list, I didn’t include anything from their first, self-titled, independently-released and out-of-print record because it isn’t very good (you can listen to it here). “Better Than Oh,” released on a split 7” the next year, is their first good song. The opening seconds of “Better Than Oh” feature the laughter of the guys, including Jim’s unmistakable cackle. It was a harbinger of the ease they’d use to approach “Better Than Oh,” a rocker with a fine punk rock vocal performance by Tom, and generally one of their best early punk guitar performances. If there was an question all these years later about this band’s punk roots, look no further than this old chestnut with a chorus this is mostly just Tom screaming “DEFY!!!!” at the top of his lungs.

32. “half heart” (“Love Never” single, 2018)

I’m following the oldest song on this list with one of the newest. The “Love Never” single was released in 2018, the first new music from the band in a couple years, and while I praised the A-side in Part I, it’s “half heart,” the B-side, that is far superior. It’s an acoustic ballad, a tender expression of beauty, a grand, sprawling piece that befits a band who’s seen it all and isn’t afraid of its future. “There’s peace out there somewhere in time / But I’m as real as you will find.” And it ends with the simple, plaintive statement: “Either you’re hear or you’re not.” There is a degree of soft emotionality this band can get to that they first really explored on Clarity and spent the interim 20 years perfecting. “half heart” is proof that all these years later, they can still find that place, a place few bands can ever get to. Jimmy Eat World elected not to put “half heart” on Surviving, which is understandable, as it may not have fully fit on such a hard-charging record. It probably would have made more sense to appear on Integrity Blues. But I’m so glad “half heart” exists and that we got to experience it mostly on its own.

31. “Futures” (Futures, 2004)

I voted for the first time a couple weeks after Futures’ release. It’s sort of weird today to think this song was effectively about pinning the hopes of the world on John Kerry (not unlike the National’s “Mr. November,” released about a year later). But “Futures,” anchored by an absolute motherfucker of a guitar hook that explodes from the first second, is far and away the best political song in JEW’s catalogue. (Well, at least their best overt political song. “Congratulations,” the epic closer of Surviving, is among their best political songs that isn’t overtly political. But I digress.) This one has so many great lines about our solemn civic duties, ones I took to heart at 18 and continue to take to heart today. “We’re wide awake and we’re thinking.” “Believe your voice can mean something.” These are lines that play in my head every Election Day and remind me of how important the privilege of voting really is, and it’s why the right to vote remains my most passionate issue. I have to say “Futures” at least played some role in that being the case for me.