The Top Ten Songs by Jewel

I bought my first Jewel CD when my life was a wreck. As far as school was concerned, I was very close to not graduating on time. At my part-time job, I was essentially an outcast because I didn't smoke and get drunk like everyone else. Then there was my love life. My high school sweetheart and I had been together for two and a half years. We had been inseparable, at least up to the point when he dumped me and started dating someone whom I once considered a close friend.

When I unwrapped my copy of her CD, and plopped it onto my stereo, I found someone who understood.

Deep Water

The first time I heard this song, I was sitting on a tour bus with my high school band, bound for California.

As the bus cruised through the night to the west coast, a band friend sitting nearby handed me his walkman (this was a few years before the ipod), and I heard the lyrics

"When you're standing in deep water, bailing yourself out with a straw, when you're drowning in deep water, and wake up making love to a wall, well it's these little times, that help to remind, it's nothing without love."

As a typical teenager, I had selective hearing, I didn't hear the part of nothing without love, but I heard the 'bailing yourself out with a straw' and my first response was 'Yes!!!!! There is someone in this world that understands the car crash I'm dealing with!!.'

Swallow The Moon

This song is a sweeping melody of passion ignited.

"Love is a flame neither timid nor tame."

Who hasn't wished for a passion like that at some point in their life? While not one of her better known songs, it's all the more powerful because it hasn't been played on the radio fifty million times.

Foolish Games.

This was yet another song related to my high school dramas because they had such a profound impact on my life.

"These foolish games are tearing me apart, and your thoughtless words are breaking my heart. Breaking my heart"

This became dedicated to every ex that made me feel like I was less then. At least until I realized they were the ones with the problem because they just lost a fabulous girl.

I'm Sensitive.

This song was my anthem when I was stuck at the local movie theater. I honestly think the world would be a better place if everyone took their cue from this song -

"I'm sensitive, and I'd like to stay that way."

How much better would the world be if everyone practiced a little more sensitivity, thinking about others once in a while instead of becoming so immersed in an agenda of me, me, me?

Intuition

"Your heart, your intuition, it will lead you in the right direction."

This is why I love Jewel. So many songs hold an elementary truth. This song is no exception. When you follow your heart, it doesn't steer you wrong.

Good Day

"It's going to be all right, no matter what they say. It's gonna be a good day. Just wait and see."

Everyone has those days where it will be okay. They're stressed out about something, but it will be all right. It's all in your prespective

You Were Meant For Me

This is, in my opinion, the ultimate Jewel breakup song.

"Dreams last sooo long, even after you're gone. I know you love me and soon you will see - you were meant for me, and I was meant for you."

This is before you realize that you really didn't deserve the punishment of remaining with whomever it was that just left stage right.

Kiss The Flame

"I want a brave love, one that makes me weak in the knees, I want a crazy, crazy love, one that makes me come undone at the seams."

After "The Breakup," I fancied that that was the kind of relationship I wanted. To me this describes the love found in every paperback novel, you know the kind with the half dressed guy and rescued maiden gracing the cover?

Near You Always

Yes I am admittedly a romantic. I am an over the top, drama-rama, romantic. That is why this song is number 9 on my list.

"Your hands are in my hair but my heart is in your teeth, And it makes me want to make you near me always".

As a senior in high school, I thought I had felt the kind of love she describes in this song. Not by a long shot. This would come about quite a few years later with an intensity that would nearly destroy me. My heart was truly on the line, and this song represents that relationship in my life.

Hands

I have to admit - "Hands" is not, by a long shot, my favorite Jewel song. However it seems to be a lot of other peoples favorite. It has to be given all the times it's been played on the radio.... and it does have a pretty good message in the lyrics.

"My hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own." What a great message.