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This time it's on my own
Minutes from somewhere else
Somewhere I made a wish
With lucky Denver mint
You're not bigger than this, not better
Why can't you learn?
Hurry go on ahead
Good things won't let you wait
I'll catch up when we get home
At home I'll leave
A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me
You're not bigger than this, not better
Why can't you learn?
Minutes from somewhere else
Somewhere I made a wish
With lucky Denver mint
You're not bigger than this, not better
Why can't you learn?
Hurry go on ahead
Good things won't let you wait
I'll catch up when we get home
At home I'll leave
A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me
You're not bigger than this, not better
Why can't you learn?
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You're not bigger than this, not better
Why can't you learn?
Why can't I learn?
Why can't I ....
"At home I'll leave a dollar underwater,
Keep on dreaming for me."
Make of it what you will.
Grunge was HUGE in the mid 90's and according to most rock fans, it was THE only thing to listen to.
What I'm getting at is: grunge fans were bullies in that they believed that grunge/alternative was the absolute best kind of music out there and that no other kind of music could possibly be better. People did not want to hear other kinds of rock.
And then came along some heroes named Jimmy Eat World.
"This time it's on my own"
They are not going to be supported by the grunge fans. They have to do it by themselves, without any help, without even much help from their record label, who are probably grunge fans as well.
Nirvana's HUGE album, Nevermind, has a picture of a naked baby on it grasping for a dollar under water on the album cover.
Jim Adkins wants to be in a successful band. Nirvana is a successful band, but he doesn't want to be like Nirvana. He makes his wish on lucky denver mint, not on the dollar underwater of Nirvana, even though he can't seem to get it out of his head.
Grunge happened so fast, and people into grunge were a "busy crowd" (Jimmy Eat World "left behind a busy crowd". They wanted to get popular quickly - but Jim doesn't: "Hurry go on ahead." Good things, popularity, being rock stars, won't let you wait. I'll catch up later... and they did.
This song is Jimmy Eat World straight up standing up for themselves. Over and over. You're not bigger than this, not better. You think that your aesthetic is better. But it's not. Why can't you learn that other kinds of music are possible?
But then he realizes that he's doing the exact same thing the bullies are doing to him..but he's doing it to them. Because saying they aren't bigger than him is just as bad as them saying that he isn't bigger than them. So at the beginning of the height of the emotional energy of the song, the bridge, he finds himself looking at himself doing what he doesn't like... "why can't I learn"
Which reminds me also of another important put of difference between the grunge aesthetic and the new aesthetic that Jimmy Eat World is presenting on Clarity. The grunge era was all about being dumb. It was all about being stupid and doing stupid things and the worst thing to be was smart. Here's a Nirvana lyric that was huge: "I think I'm dumb, I think I'm dumb, I think I'm dumb, maybe just happy." Movies of the time showed the same kind of thought: Forest Gump is all about a guy who is retarded. It's an exaggeration of the basic idea that people who are dumb are heroes.
So the words "why can't you learn" are an outright criticism of that kind of thinking. Jim is saying, "You're way of thinking is not better, and why is it that you are saying that you are so dumb?"
If you want to talk about something that changed the world, take a look at this album. This song makes its point with humility, but also with a fearless dedication to a new set of ideas.
The video is a perfect compliment, by the way. Jim Adkins looks straight at the camera and sings the lyrics. Stands up for himself with complete confidence. And the basketball game just illustrates how silly it is to be ultra-competitve...to act like being "better" at anything like sports or music is what REALLY matters. The guys are acting like they are complete badasses just because they won a pickup game of basketball or frisbee. It's stupid.
The key lines in this song are the bridge, where Jim acknowledges that he is capable of being just as silly and competitive and wishes that he could stop it. And the complement in the video is the ending, where Jimmy Eat World are being just as stupid as the other guys. The ultimate point comes right across, that is, that we are all just people and no one is really any bigger or better than any one else.
What I get from this song is that the narrator of the song is leaving, possibly leaving home or leaving a place where he/she has always had people around that have been able to help him/her. "This time it's on my own. Minutes from somewhere else." The narrator realizes that he has to do things on his own. The "minutes" in the second line refers to "this time" from the first line.
"Somewhere I made a wish with Lucky Denver Mint." I don't know the actual significance of Denver Mints or if they are believed to be lucky, but this line shows how determined the narrator is to get what he wants and to make it on his own. He has used his lucky coin to make a wish, probably hoping this will make his wish come true, almost insinuating that it will take more than his hard work to make it; he will need his wish, to be able to make it on his own, come true.
This could also be a symbol of him leaving everything that he had behind. He's going out on his own and leaving everything behind, and all he has left is his lucky coin that reminds him of home and he has to leave it behind so that he can truly be on his own.
"You're not bigger than this, not better. Why can't you learn?" This line seems to be what others tell him. Everything you need, want, and are able to get are here for you. What makes you different or better than the rest of us that you should go out and try to make more of yourself. This line is people discouraging him from trying to get what he wants.
"Hurry go on ahead. Good things won't let you wait. I'll catch up when we get home." Possibly talking about other people he knows and cares about who are able to get out and find better things. They shouldn't worry about him because he IS going to make it out, too, which is why he says "I'll catch up when 'WE' get home." He is also going to leave and is going to come back to tell about all he has done.
"At home I'll leave a dollar underwater keeps on dreaming for me." A very powerful line that is actually a number of different lines combined into one.
"At home, I'll leave." Once again telling others that he is going to leave.
"At home I'll leave a dollar under water." This refers to his lucky coin that he made a wish on that is now in a wishing well. Once again, this shows that he has finally been able to leave everything behind.
"A dollar under water keeps on dreaming for me." This line refers to the coin in the wishing well, but also symbolizes everyone back home that he cared about and that cared about him that are also wishing for him to make it. Whether or not they agreed with him going, they all do care about him and want him to get everything he wants.
This is how I view this song since I have recently started my second year of college. I've left everyone I know behind, just as all my friends have done, in search of our own lives. My parents, though they don't agree with my goals, are still wishing and hoping for me to make my life however I want it.
But, with most good songs or pieces of writing, this song can have an unlimited number of meanings. This song can mean whatever you want it to mean.
I love how he says
"I'll catch up when we get home.
At home I'll leave."