Jack Johnson plays music that is there when you need it. My man has incredible job security in that regard. You may forget about him for spells, but rest assured, his music is resting comfortably for when you need it, and the thing is, when you need Johnson’s music, only Johnson’s music will do. Again, job security.

It’s been a long time since Johnson first hit the music scene and became known outside of California, where he had spent parts of the 1990s playing in different bands and dabbling in filming surf movies. In 1999, Johnson was first introduced to a national audience, when G. Love heard him and invited him to record a version of Johnson’s “Rodeo Clowns” on Philadelphonic. Two years later, after drawing the attention of Ben Harper, Johnson released his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales.

Johnson’s music is equal parts relaxing, romantic, atmospheric, incredibly chill, wonderfully shoulder-sway inducing, and infinitely catchy. Because of this, Johnson tapped into something, and as the first decade of the 2000s became increasingly chaotic and outright weird, it was the music of Jack Johnson that helped folks stay somewhat grounded.

In the 25 years since the release of Brushfire Fairytales, Johnson may have dipped in and out of our views from the beach, but his music, much like the big old ocean, was always there and, more importantly, always there when we needed it. If anything, for those of us who have been with him from the jump, his music has only grown stronger as our lives have progressed. Old songs are given new meaning, newer songs seem to reflect current challenges, and ultimately, the warm, comforting familiarity of Jack Johnson helps us know that, despite what the world may be throwing at us, things will be okay.

With Brushfire Fairytales having recently turned 25, it felt like a good time to take stock of Johnson’s music.

Optional musical accompaniment can be found here.

25. “Mudfootball” (2001)

Was this the first song I heard from Johnson? Maybe? If it wasn’t this one, it was “Flake” but at the same time, this was 25 years ago and who the hell knows at this point. What I do know is that on a lovely summer afternoon, kicking it in the backyard with the grass under your feet, this song still sounds as fresh as it did all those years ago.

“We used to laugh a lot/But only because we thought/That everything good always would remain”

The drums and percussion are having a hell of a good time as Johnson sings a timeless tune about having good times with friends, and living life to the fullest under the wonderful assumption that these good old days will last forever.

24. “Wasting Time” (2003)

I wonder if the youth make playlists for their significant others. You know, how us old folks used to make mix tapes and then mix CDs, although admittedly mixed CDs didn’t have the same look and feel of a good mix tape. Making someone a playlist is nice and all, but like with mix CDs, it lacks the level of commitment that mix tapes did because you can skip songs willy nilly, whereas with mix tapes, you hit play and then let it ride until it was time to flip sides. And really, the point is that “Wasting Time” is a song tailor-made for inclusion in a good old-fashioned courtin’ mix tape.

23. “Hope” (2008)

I think as music fans, we have a complicated relationship with change. Obviously, we want our favorite artists to grow and develop, but like, to a point. Trouble comes when that growth and development take an artist so far away from where they started and what they were doing that made us a fan, and that questioning the relationship comes into play. With Johnson, dude was an acoustic guitar-strumming gent from the jump, but at some point, he picked up an electric guitar, and while disaster could have struck, thankfull,y it didn’t. And while the kind of guitar he’s playing on “Hope,” doesn’t matter all that much, it matters just enough for me to write about it. So there’s that.

22. “Do You Remember” (2005)

If you’re in any kind of committed relationship, I challenge you…yes, challenge you to listen to this wonderfully sweet tune and not think about when that relationship first started. It’s impossible and speaks to the universality of Johnson’s music. He’s not reinventing the wheel, but he is writing songs that have an uncanny knack to speak to you in incredibly specific and lovely ways.

21. “Never Know” (2005)

I love the bounce of this song, and it has a brightness to it, and if I’m ever in a bad mood, like if I don’t know, read the news or something, this song has the ability to turn that frown upside down, and I chalk that up the bounce. We love the bounce.

20. “My Mind Is For Sale” (2017)

I’m going to be honest. I did not know that “My Mind Is For Sale” was about Trump, but hey, you learn something new every day and today I learned that this 2017 tune was Johnson getting a bit political.

“I wanted to have at least a song on the record that stated the way I felt about certain things,” Johnson told Outside in 2017. “It just feels like such a divisive time with the idea of  building walls that separate us. Not even the literal wall that Trump talks about, but the idea that anybody who wants to separate people by race and religion, just the choices we decide to make. It felt like it would be ridiculous not to make some kind of a statement about it in my music.”

And alas, here we are almost a decade later, dealing with the same things. Ugh, maybe time is a flat circle.

19. “Rodeo Clowns” (2003)

G. Love heard “Rodeo Clowns” and, like a lot of us who have heard “Rodeo Clowns,” really liked “Rodeo Clowns.” He liked it so much that he wanted to record it and include it on his fourth album, 1999’s Philadelphonic. G. Love’s version is more beat-heavy and features G. Love and Johnson both on vocals. Johnson recorded his own version of the tune for his second album, On and On , and it’s decidedly more of a Jack Johnson tune. But regardless of the version, the bones of the song are there and they’re strong and they compel you to sing along, especially when the chorus hits.

18. “Posters” (2001)

You know how jazz music is hypnotic in the way that it blocks out everything else you’re thinking about and, in its own special way, forces you to only think about the music? “Posters” has the same super power. The music is so damn chill and laid back, while the vocals are packed. A lot is going on there as Johnson sings about the problem with trying to be someone you’re not. Oh, and when the snare drum kicks in at the start of the last verse? I like it. I like it a lot.

17. “Times Like These” (2003)

Especially with his first couple of records, I always just assumed Johnson wrote his songs on a beach somewhere, staring out at the ocean. And while I don’t know if that’s true or not (it probably is), there’s something about “Times Like These” that feels like it was written while staring out at the ocean and staring out at the horizon. There are few things in life that help you put things in perspective better than staring out at the ocean, and this song and its message of timelessness and history repeating feels like the product of doing just that. And again, I could be wrong about where Johnson was when he wrote the tune, but I kind of feel like I’m not wrong.

16. “Breakdown” (2004)

There are, to my knowledge, three versions of “Breakdown” out there. Studio versions, of course. The first one appeared on the soundtrack to A Brokedown Melody, a surf film Johnson directed in 2004. That same year, Handsome Boy Modeling Studio, a duo consisting of Dan the Automator and Prince Paul, included their own spin on the tune on their album White People. The third version came out a year later, when Johnson recorded another version of “Breakdown” for his third (and probably best) album, In Between Dreams. Now, I’m partial to the Handome Boy Modeling School version because I love the breakbeat it has, but hey, you’re free to like whichever one you may like the best. It’s cool.

15. “Bubble Toes” (2001)

This, not “Mudfootball,” was probably the first Jack Johnson tune I heard, and for a lot of us, I imagine that tracks. For Johnson, it’s kind of a bit more upbeat tempo-wise than other songs of his, although no one is expecting Johnson to ever drop a real burner at halftime. That’d be weird. This song also has some lively percussion to it, which really ups the fun levels. “Bubble Toes,” a song Johnson wrote about his wife, is just a nice little ditty that, like a lot of his songs, I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of hearing.

14. “Tape Deck” (2013)

Few stories are more fun for a musician to tell than the story of their first band. There’s always a haphazard nature to the story, and while the beats can be the same, the details are what make it fun. In “Tape Deck,” Johnson sings about his first band and how there were old busted guitars, no one down to play drums, Fugazi and Minor Threat covers, and a parent offering up space for the band to practice and then presumably immediately regretting the overture once the music started. A tale as old as time, kid.

13. “One Step Ahead” (2022)

What’s been nice about Jack Johnson later in his career is that the bones of the house remain the same. On a song like “One Step Ahead,” there’s a different kind of vibe, a little more of an edge and musically, there’s definitely more to it than just three dudes kicking it on the beach somewhere. But at its core, the beauty of Johnson is still there, and I appreciate the consistency, especially as we live in a world that is increasingly becoming more manic and inconsistent.

12. “If I Had Eyes” (2008)

Johnson again picks up an electric guitar for this tune, which was the first single off his 2008 album Sleep Through The Static as he sings about the emotional toll the breaking up of a long-term relationship can take. Although for a song with such somewhat heavy subject matter, the genesis of his song can be traced back to Johnson messing around with his son.

11. “Fragments” (2017)

Inspired by the Smog and the Sea documentary he produced, the song tackles one of the subjects that has become a big one for Johnson, ocean pollution. A delicate and peaceful song, Johnson makes a plea for uniting against a common enemy, setting aside our divisions and tackling the polluting of the ocean, something that has the ability to impact everyone, regardless of what side of the aisle you might be on.

10. “Washing Dishes” (2013)

Part of the appeal is that, beyond the chill and the vibe and the sand between your toes feeling, is that Jack Johnson can certainly spin himself a nice little pop ditty that bounces along with the waves with the joy and ease of little jumping fish; carefree and loving life. “Washing Dishes” also comes with an endearing message of perseverance as Johnson sings about rising up in the ranks and in the world, dreaming of going from washing dishes to “one day running this place.”

9. “Flake” (2001)

Okay, see, I think I get it now. “Flake” was the first Jack Johnson song I ever heard. Not “Mudfootball” or “Bubble Toes.” I got confused. That will happen, especially when talking about events that went down over two decades ago. Hey kids, shit gets blurry as you get older. Do yourself a favor and write things down. But yes, “Flake.” We got some sweet steel drums in there and Ben Harper, an early champion of Johnson’s on Weissenborn slide guitar. Harper’s slide guitar playing helps “Flake” hit a different gear in the back nine, giving the tune a bit of a ho-down, shit-kickin’ feel.

8. “Holes to Heaven” (2003)

“And there were so many fewer questions/When stars were still just the holes to heaven,” Johnson sings in the chorus of this remarkably simple, yet low-key, poignant song, which bounces back and forth between travel log and acknowledgment of the simplistic beauty of youth. I don’t know if Johnson is contrasting adult struggles with child-like observations and in turn, lamenting the loss of simplicity, but A) sure, why not, and B) Goddamn, this is a nice little tune.

7. “Radiate” (2013)

“Radiate” is a happy song, and I, for one, think we could always use happy songs in the world; a world that, with each passing day, seems to get a little darker. The tune, from his 2013 album From Here to Now to You, is made up of Johnson’s observations watching his young son play in the background, where he is endlessly amused by the dude’s imagination and spirit. If I wrote a song about my kid playing in the backyard, it’d be called “Dude, What Are You Doing?” and the tone might be different, so I’m glad Johnson had this one handled.

6. “Good People” (2005)

A good protest song manages to be multiple things at once, with at least two of those things being relevant to the moment but also timeless, as it speaks to an issue that isn’t locked inside a certain moment in time. “Good People” is a good protest song with a simple message: Where did all the good people go? Johnson is specifically talking about the lack of positivity on television, but I could see the message having evolved and expanding beyond television to the world at large because dude, where are the good people especially when the bad people seem to keep chalking up wins?

5. “Better Together” (2005)

I had a few failed relationships during the 00’s, and during those, I thought I understood this song only to have that fade away as the relationships shit the bed. But then I met my wife and the things, and this song finally made sense. I believe facing the world by your lonesome has its moments, and I’m sure it’s what’s up for some people but once you find your person and really find companionship, it really opens things u,p and yes Jack Johnson, things become better together.

4. “Upside Down” (2004)

It’s fair to say that probably only Jack Johnson could write a song as cool as “Upside Down” for a Curious George movie. And this tune is also pretty deep and motivational for something you’d typically find in a kid’s movie, with Johnson singing “Who’s to say/I can’t do everything?/Well, I can try/And as I roll along, I begin to find/Things aren’t always just what they seem.” Talk about exceeding expectations, huh?

3. “Banana Pancakes” (2005)

This is another song that hits another level as you get older and life starts to change for you. At a certain stage of your life, it could be seen as aspirational, depicting a fantasy you’re striving for, and then later on, as you hit another stage, it’s an appreciation of the life you’re living and a reminder to enjoy the present. Levels, babe. Jack Johnson hits on multiple levels. Also, banana pancakes are delicious, and if you add walnuts to them, your day is made.

2. “Taylor” (2003)

It’s not a song about a prostitute. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but I just saw it was a thing, but also confirmed not to be a thing, and so yeah, it’s not a thing. But “Taylor” is a song about people looking for a better world and a better life, and not everyone in that position has to be a prostitute people. God. Come on now. Well, either way, “Taylor” is my favorite Jack Johnson song, and if not for one other song, I’d say it’s his best. Also, not about a prostitute.

1. “Inaudible Melodies” (2001)

“Inaudible Melodies” gets the top spot because it feels like the most Jack Johnson song of all the Jack Johnson songs. It has the laid-back vibe, the pop sensibilities, the whimsical inklings, the gentle and sparse instrumentation, and lines like “Slow down everyone/You’re moving too fast” and phrases that have become crucial to the Jack Johnson legacy, like “Brushfire fairytales” and “inaudible melodies.” Might there be better or more popular Jack Johnson songs? Of course. But again, this just feels like quintessential Jack Johnson as we think of him as this beachfront troubadour here to remind us to take it easy, take it slow, and appreciate the world around us.

Categories: Music

Tags: jack johnson