What does Jumper mean?

Third Eye Blind: Jumper Meaning

Album cover for Jumper album cover

Song Released: 1998


Jumper Lyrics

I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies that you’ve been living in
And if you do not want to see me again I would understand
I would understand
The angry boy a bit too insane
Icing over a...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 16th 2007 !⃝

    I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend (ITS NOT WORTH SUICIDE)
    You could cut ties with all the lies that youve been living in (DENYING HOMOSEXUALITY)
    And if you do not want to see me again I would understand
    I would understand (EMBARASSED THAT THE SINGER KNOWS THE TRUTH)
    The angry boy a bit too insane (TOO UPSET ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION)
    Icing over a secret pain (TRYING TO HIDE YOUR HOMOSEXUALITY)
    You know you don't belong (NOT LIKE EVERY OTHER BOY)
    Youre the first to fight
    Youre way too loud (CLUES THAT HE IS UPSET)
    Youre the flash of light on a burial shroud
    I know somethings wrong (SINGER CAN TELL THAT HE IS HIDING HIS HOMOSEXUALITY)
    Well everyone I know has got a reason
    To say put the past away (EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE)

    Well he's on the table and he's gone to code (SOMEONE CLOSE HAS DIED
    And I do not think anyone knows
    What theyre doing here (THE DEATH IS UNEXPECTED)
    And your friends have left you
    Youve been dismissed(NO ONE WANT HIM AROUND BECAUSE HE IS HOMOSEXUAL)
    I never thought it would come to this (NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN)
    And i, I want you to know
    Everyones got to face down the demons (EVERYONE HAS TO OVERCOME THEIR TRIALS)
    Maybe today
    You could put the past away (FORGET ABOUT THE HARDSHIPS)

    thats my idea, but who knows

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 25th 2007 !⃝

    The song has a very personal meaning for me, which also be the message the group was trying to get across. My wife loves me a lot, but I have lied to her and cheated on her many times throughout our 15 year marriage. She found out 2 years ago and it killed her inside. She has thought of suicide and is so depressed even 2 years later. We are both in therapy, now. I've O.D.ed twice in the last 6 months on sleeping pills and vicodin. What I have done to us kills me. She is thinking about leaving and as I sat in the hospital this past weekend "Jumper" came to mind. I haven't hear the song in over 2 years, but it explains what I finally figured out. She has been on the edge and has needed me let to her know that ending us will be o.k. I understand that for her to put the past away requires her to leave her best friend and worst enemy. She has been on the edge of destruction and leaving my be only way off the ledge.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 27th 2008 !⃝

    The song is quite clearly about suicide, but I read somewhere that it refers to a friend how has come out of the closet about being gay and now wishes to end his life. This fits with the singer stating that if the 'jumper' is too ashamed to see him again, he would understand. If you think about it, all the lines make sense with this - secret pains, friends left you, not belonging, etc. If you watch the music video, the 'jumper' has a somewhat feminine look and could be perceived as looking homosexual. Also, the line "Well he's on the table and he's gone to code" could refer to a medical term - when a patient goes into cardiac arrest, it is called "coding".

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 16th 2020 !⃝

    A beautiful but disturbing take on one man's experience with his friend's suicide. He was not able to stop it. For a more in-depth interpretation of the song, check out: Jumper meaning

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 2nd 2016 !⃝

    The Song is going to have different meanings to different people. Unless the Band members have came out and directly explained what the lyrics mean everyone is going to have their own interpretation of it. (ever hear of the bible?) So many interpretations people go to war. . . This is what the songs mean to me. And its rattling me every since this morning. I never really got into this song and really didn't know the Lyrics to it at all. I had remembered only the lyrics, "Step back from that ledge my friend" and I would understand. It had been awhile since I even herd the song. My Boyfriend of 9 years passed away unexpectedly in November of last year. I have always felt he is around. I have had several things keep happening and I feel like he is with me alot. Anyway I woke up this morning and I always feel or know when I've been dreaming about him, even though I wont remember the dream or even remember seeing him. When I awoke today the lyrics to this song were playing in my head. All I could remember was cut the ties from the lies you've been living in and I would understand. except I thought it was saying cut the ties from the world you've been living in. when I looked up the Song I was dumbfounded to say the least. I looked at the lyrics because I didn't know them. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. When the song sais He is lying on the table and went to code I was so shocked and immediately the tears started to fall. That's exactly the way his death was told to me. He was on the table and they were getting ready to do the routine surgery and he coded. He also lied to me ALOT and he did some pretty bad things to me. He always told me to let the past go. To stop living in the past. I know this was him. It was his way of saying to let the past go, and if I want to let him go and go on he will understand. Ive prayed for him, I've asked God to help him be the person I know he is and to help him untangle his mind and put him at peace and to just make him well and 100% This Song had no meaning to me before and was not a song my boyfriend would have listened to but for sure it is now. I love you Charles Arch Thomas and NO, I will not let you go.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 16th 2013 !⃝

    I do sincerely hope the author of the comment dated April 25th 2007 is now dead or miserable. Because interpretation and "ooh aren't we all vulnerable" aside, Fuck you.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 24th 2012 !⃝

    This song can be applied to homosexuality, however about what "deep struggle in your life" you apply it to in your life.

    Not all of us have a perfect life, most of us have hardships along the way in life and emotions of not wanting to go on. Thankfully in most healthy individuals, these emotional wounds heal with time. Whether it's a bad breakup or a death of someone close*. We're only human.


    *if you don't agree here - you haven't experienced life from all angles

  8. foreverlonelyHBK
    click a star to vote
    May 2nd 2012 !⃝

    This song is a combination of:

    -A story their band manager told them about a high school friend of his that was gay in a conservative school is San Diego and killed himself by jumping off of a bridge

    -Lead singer Stephan Jenkins' difficult childhood experiences, his parents getting divorced,being poor while going to a rich school, and him having ADD and dyslexia

    "Everyone's got to face down the demons/Maybe today we can put the past away." -- this line is about an epiphany he had in which he embraced about "putting the past away" (in his own words)

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 16th 2011 !⃝

    what is it about these gay comments. clearly kevin was talking about saving a friend from doing something he was going to regret. it's not based on or has been about homosexuality. it's about suicide. trying to commit suicide. yet kevin stepped in and stopped this guy from making a big mistake.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 31st 2011 !⃝

    this song describes a straight man trying to commit suicide and a fellow straight man tries to talk him out of it 'i wish you would step down from that ledge my friend.' means he's talking to the guy who is clearly not a homosexual. 'you could cut ties with all the lies you've been living in.' is saying the singer knows the guy is upset about how his life has ended up. 'and if you do not want to see me again i will understand.' means if the guy he's singing to wants to never see him if he comes down he can say so. and 'you know you don't belong.' is refering to the boy in particular that feels he has no place in this life or the next. this song is not i repeat not about homosexuality.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 2nd 2011 !⃝

    The song is about a homosexual man coming out of the closet and wanting to kill himself because all of his friends left him. In the second verse "Well he's on the table and he's gone to code" means he tried killing himself. A "code" in a hospital setting means someone is going into cardiac arrest.

  12. dropitlikeitshot0816
    click a star to vote
    Dec 29th 2010 !⃝

    I believe this song is about him trying to talk a friend out of suicide. Nobody else knows (or cares) how down he is feeling ["You're the flash of light on a burial shroud I know something's wrong" and "And I do not think anyone knows
    What they are doing here
    And your friends have left you
    You've been dismissed"]. He cares deeply about his friend and is worried, but he's compassionate of why his friend would be angry with him for knowing the truth ["And if you do not want to see me again, I would understand"]. This song deeply close to my heart because a few weeks ago, a friend of mine committed suicide. None of us had any idea that he was hurting so bad; one day he was found in his dorm by his roommate and he had killed himself. It's awful to have to live with feeling like you were blinded for so long from an extreme case, so I completely understand what the singer is saying.

  13. cityflavah
    click a star to vote
    Aug 12th 2010 !⃝

    And further more this friend is going to tell the other friend what he is doing to himself is killing him whether he wants to hear it or not. "And if you do not want to see me again i will understand" always said to me hes telling his friend this and he probably doesnt wanna hear it, it can possibly ruin there friendship, but he needs to tell his friend anyway cuz its what a good one does.

  14. cityflavah
    click a star to vote
    Aug 12th 2010 !⃝

    This song has always screamed to me a friend heading down a bad road. I don't think "i wish you would step back from that ledge my friend" is supposed to literally mean suicide but rather represent a certian way of life bein suicidal.

  15. pappyb
    click a star to vote
    Sep 28th 2009 !⃝

    The beuty of songs like this are the multiple meanings one can assign to it.

    For me the song refers to my own slow suicidal actions. Mainly from being molested at a young age.

    When I listen to this song it's like the part of me that doesn't want to hurt anymore or have self hatred for actions that have resulted from that feeling a lack of self worth.

    The side of myself that wants to live this life I know I'm capable of and badly want to live is asking me to step back from the ledge of abuse I put myself through.

    The lies are the parts of me I've shown people that are part of me that I want to die but struggle with.

    The part where he says "If you don't want to see me again I would understand" is like the part of my that wants to live saying if you want to give up that part of me would understand. Of course if I did then its as if that part of me would die and eventually myself too.

    The whole video where he's staring at that guy is like me staring at myself in the mirror.

    Dunno...I realize that sounds a little weird..but that's the first interpretation I had when I heard it. To this day it's hard for me to listen to the song without crying.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 19th 2009 !⃝

    I believe that this song is proof that even when it seems like everything is going wrong, whether it be your own fault or because of obstacles, people are rooting for you at the end of the day. At the end of the day, the most unlikely of people are rooting for you to win, not to lose. its just a reminder that not all is lost when you think it might be.

  17. aerimarie
    click a star to vote
    Sep 30th 2008 !⃝

    The meaning I always gathered from it was different. Two guys are best friends, they have been for a while. They get into some trouble and thier lives get harder and then they get in a fight, separating them. When news get around, friend 1 is doing horrible and his life is in smithereens. friend two knows friend 1 is almost done. friend two comes back and says, 'wow. we fucked up somewhere when our lives got different.. but just so you know, I'll always love you. please hold on.'

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 29th 2008 !⃝

    Ray28 I checked some sites your wrong Kevin Cadogan is still alive just letting you know.

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