A Sunday

i think that every song on clarity is about getting through or facing something difficult, from relationships ("crush", "clarity") to addictions ("just watch the fireworks") and goodbyes ("goodbye sky harbour") the whole message of the album is about reaching that sense of clarity when you have either bypassed your problem, or at least recognised it. This song is a good example of this. anyways, that's what i think...

Jimmy Eat World are extremely gifted not only for their musical talent but for their ability to write deep meaning ful lyrics. In this particular song, I think Jim (or whoever it may be) is speaking very metaphorically here.

Although he's drving back from some sort of social event, when he speaks of "driving" it's mainly his thought process. It is very apparent there has been a breakup with a girl at this event and he's now leaving the scene. However when I look at this particular lyric:

On a Sunday she thought it through. Now as I drive back, there's thiry-six less hours I have to change the course I send myself. Live with that.

"Drive back" is the writer distancing himself from something. What I'm saying here is that it could be something as deep as marriage. To me, he and his fiance split ways 36 hours before they're about to wed. When he says that's "36 less hours i have to change the course i send myself", means that that's 36 less hours he has to prepare and spend time on his wedding. The course he's speaking of his life and how things would have been different had he made the comittment. As he's driving away from the life he could have had, he begins to question if what he did was right:

Because when the rides done, the hopes that you have carried, they fall out from your hands back to the ground. Live with that.

He knows all the hopes that he's carried for so long, now have to be let go, and he's knows once he loosens his grip on them, he will in all probability, never see them again. As time goes by, he begins to realize that eveything will in turn sort itself out:

Learn as the drugs leave. Learn as you lose it. You will.

The "drugs" he's speaking of are not literally drugs. I think they're emotions, butterflies, all the chemicals that have been swirling around in his brain. He's confused and as time passes he slowly sorts things out and as he does, all the emotions slowly fade away and things have become much clearer for him as noted in the last (and my favorite) lyric:

The haze clears from your eyes on a Sunday.

The "haze" was his blindness to the choice he made and as time passed the "haze" slowly lifted and he was able to understand what he had done and now is prepared to face any consequences that may arise from it.

Like I said, this is just my personal interpretation and is probably way off of what Jim was trying to imply when he wrote it. In any case, this is how I see the song, and no matter what the true meaning of the song is, it is definetly still the best on Clarity and perhaps the best Jimmy Eat World song to date.

I'm not really sure but the way i interpret this song is the writer is depressed with women leaving him so he uses drugs or alcohol. does anyone else have any opinions.

This song is talking about a relationship falling apart. They spent the weekend together, and on Sunday it ended. Now he is driving back home and thinking about how all the hopes and dreams “that you have carried” for the relationship are now useless and “fall out from your hands back to the ground.” Now he can look back and everything that seemed cloudy before is getting much clearer. He is saying, that in the pain brought about by the destruction of the relationship when “you lose it”, you learn.

This song just came true for me. That's really weird. Anyway, there was something very painful that I was trying to ignore. I just kept hoping it wasn't true. But something happened today that forced me to face reality. The haze cleared from my eyes on a sunday, and now I have to live with the fact that what I wish for won't come true. That's what this song means to me.

i just love this song because it is so beautiful to me

I agree with tigerrlily.

Like any song off of Clarity, this song sets the mood for something you've either felt or will be feeling at some point in your life. This mellow, yet sad song captures the human emotion.

Great song, Great band.

in an interview jim said that he wrote it about coming home from a weekend of visiting some old friends at their college,and they were drinking and what not.

I think it means that in his 36 hour drive, he has time to think about all that is happening, and he realizes that his relationship with that person really isnt what he wanted. "What you wish for won't come true. Live with that." He realizes that his wish (for a perfect long relationship) will not come true, and his hopes for that "fall out from my hands back to the ground." The drive has allowed "The haze to clear from his eyes on a Sunday." And he is going to act on his thoughts soon enough.

How could anyone not love the entire Clarity album?? A sunday is definitely one of their best...and don't miss them on David Letterman tonight!!