The early to mid-2000s was a ripe time for pop-punk, and many bands in that arena flourished on radio, MTV, and Fuse. Yellowcard was one of the groups who managed to make some noise and set themselves apart from the pack. The biggest contribution toward that end was the nostalgic anthem “Ocean Avenue” and its frenetic choruses. Featuring machine-gun snare fills from drummer Longineu W. Parsons III, along with some vivacious violin playing from Sean Mackin, it was a standout single during a very prolific time for the genre. Let’s explore the meaning of “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard.
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An Homage to Their Hometown
While “Ocean Avenue” itself feels like it is an ode to a romantic escape – and the Marc Webb-directed video features a Groundhog Day-like repeated sequence in which the singer keeps fleeing two pursuers, eventually to be rescued by a beautiful woman driving a muscle car – it is actually about the band’s hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. Seeking greater success, Yellowcard had relocated to California in the early ‘00s. They had recorded their third and fourth albums (One for the Kids and Ocean Avenue) in L.A. but felt alienated from the environment. Album #4 was also for their major label debut for Capitol Records, so there was likely some added pressure as well.
There’s a piece of you that’s here with me
It’s everywhere I go it’s everything I see
When I sleep I dream and it gets me by
I can make believe that you’re here tonight
That you’re here tonight
If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere somehow we’ll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away
[RELATED: Yellowcard’s William Ryan Key Is Seeking to Escape the Past on New EP]
In 2004, then-lead guitarist Ben Harper told the Boston Phoenix that the song was not sentimental towards a woman but their hometown. “It’s this place where we used to hang out in Jacksonville,” explained Harper. “Instead of talking about a girl, it’s talking about a scene and a feeling that we want to get back to: hanging out and writing, before we moved to California.”
The Jacksonville street in question was Ocean Boulevard, but that got changed to Ocean Avenue during the construction of the lyrics to the song, which might give the impression to some that it’s about Santa Monica (or a couple of other California cities). “On the sign, actually, in Jacksonville, it only says ‘Ocean’,” frontman/guitarist Ryan Key told Concert Hype in 2004. “It doesn’t say ‘Boulevard’ or ‘Avenue’ or anything after it, but if you actually look at a map, it does say ‘Boulevard,’ I think. So no, it wasn’t the one in California. It was the one in Florida. But I had to rhyme it, so I had to call it ‘Avenue’.”
A Career Booster/Reviver
Regardless if one interprets it about being in love with a person or a place, the song’s sentimental nature shines through. And after all these years, “Ocean Avenue” still holds up because of the memorable and animated performances from the band. The song’s longevity over time (350 million Spotify streams and 56 million YouTube views) has led to sustained and increased awareness of Yellowcard many years after their breakup in 2017.
They initially did a one-off reunion show at Riot Fest 2022 in which they played all of the Ocean Avenue album. But then last year they released a new EP, Childhood Eyes, and embarked on a full-length reunion tour, playing to audiences often two to three times the size of what they did back in the day, according to a Forbes.com story. In 2023, Key told People.com that normally in Jacksonville they normally played an 1,100-person capacity hall. This time they sold 8,000 tickets at a two-night stand in a much larger venue.
This big revival all comes back to that one song that busted down the doors for them. “Ocean Avenue” (the song and album) did well for Yellowcard. The single is their highest-charting sand selling (#23 and going double platinum in 2013), while the album hit #23 and is their biggest seller; nearly 2 million in sales. While the band has never duplicated that success, it kept them going across the last couple of decades. Fun fact: The Ocean Avenue album follow-up, Lights and Sounds, was an anti-love letter to L.A. and was mainly written in New York.
An Accidental Hit?
In a 2022 interview for the Riot Fest website, Key admitted of their big hit, “[This one] almost didn’t go on the record. I could not finish the chorus of that song, no matter what I came up with. It didn’t feel right. Not just to me, but to anyone else in the band or Neil Avron, our producer. And it happened. I just wrote in my head, ‘Finding out things would get better,’ with that melody, and Neil was like, ‘Everyone stop what you’re doing. Ryan, go in there, we’re recording that right now.’ Kind of that light bulb moment. I’m really grateful for whatever day that was in March of 2003, that I came up with that melody, because I still have a job today because of that song.”
Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
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