"Jumper" is a song by the American rock band Third Eye Blind. It was released in November 1998 as the fifth and final single from their self titled album, and written by vocalist Stephan Jenkins. The song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart[1] The song also peaked number 9 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. Despite Third Eye Blind being famous as an alternative rock band and the song being an alternative rock song, the song was surprisingly and unexpectedly more successful on the pop and adult contemporary charts peaking number 2 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart and number 5 on the Adult Top 40 chart, other than that, the song still Gets airplay on modern rock stations as of today with the rest of the band's other hit singles. Not only this is one of the band's most famous singles, this is considered one of the most influential 90's alternative rock staples to date with the song's powerful message in the lyrics. It is often misconceived to be named as either "I Wish You Would Step Back from that Ledge" or "I Would Understand" since the song's title was never said in the lyrics.
Background and writing
Lead singer Stephan Jenkins has said that the song "comes from a story our manager told us about a high school friend of his who was gay. He went to a conservative school in San Diego [with] all sons of military types. Being gay was just not acceptable. He offed himself--he jumped off a bridge."[citation needed] In other interview he restates: "it's about a friend who's gay, jumping off a bridge and killing themselves."[2]
The song is also about Jenkins' own difficult, often alienating childhood experiences. He says, "My parents divorced, and that hurt me. We were poor and I went to a rich high school. I was dyslexic and had attention deficit disorder, which I still have. So I carried all these things with me. One afternoon, I had this epiphany. I said 'You know what? I don't have it all together. I come from stuff that was really difficult, and that's me. That's who I am.' I embraced that. There's a line in the song that says, 'Everyone's got to face down the demons/Maybe today we can put the past away.' It's very much a song about putting the past away."[3]
Charts
Peak positions
End of year charts
| Chart (1999) |
Position |
|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] |
40 |
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Appearances in other media
- The song is featured in the 2008 film Yes Man as Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) uses an acoustic serenade to try to prevent a suicidal man (Luis Guzmán) from jumping off the ledge of an apartment building. After being featured in the film, the song's digital downloads spiked.[citation needed]
- Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the song was placed on the list of post-9/11 inappropriate titles distributed by Clear Channel.[citation needed]
- This song was used for a public service announcement on Season 5, Episode 3 of MTV's Road Rules titled "The Blind Leading the Blessed." The show originally aired on January 26, 1998.[6]
- This song was featured in the American Dad! episode "The Scarlet Getter"
- This song was featured in the 2011 film My Suicide.
- A remixed version entitled, "Jumper '09" was added to the Rock Band Music Store as DLC through the Rock Band Network in 2010.
References
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th ed, Billboard Publications, Inc. 1996. ISBN 0-8230-7632-6
- ↑ http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/08/stephan_jenkins.html
- ↑ "Third Eye Blind make a lyrical leap of faith", Teen People, February 1999
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Chart Performance: Third Eye Blind". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
- ↑ "Billboard Top 100 - 1999". Retrieved 2010-08-28.
- ↑ http://www.tv.com/road-rules/the-blind-leading-the-blessed/episode/167929/summary.html
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