Fronted by Adam Duritz, the Counting Crows have spent over a decade releasing hits and staying in the hearts of fans the world over. Among their many great tracks, ten stand out. Here they are:
Holiday in Spain
This blend of sorrow and silliness has Duritz singing, “I’ve got a girl waiting for me down in Mexico,” a reference to Mr. Jones, an early Counting Crows hit. Holiday in Spain encapsulates that period in everyone’s life where they want to escape everything and start over, because making the jagged puzzle pieces they currently have actually work seems impossible.
Accidentally in Love
This song off the Shrek 2 soundtrack was nominated for an Academy Award, but it earns its spot on this list because of its happy-go-lucky approach to romance, which is somewhat uncharacteristic when compared to other Counting Crows tracks, like “Round Here” and “I Wish I Was a Girl.” This is a goofy song about waking up with feelings that one never anticipates, and as such, most people can relate. It shows that the band has a playful side as well.
Raining In Baltimore
One of only two songs that has a clear reference to Duritz’s home state of Maryland, Raining in Baltimore contains a line about being too far from home, roughly “three thousand five hundred miles away,” which happens to be (roughly) the distance from the California of the Counting Crows and Duritz’s past home. A slow and mourning ballad, Raining in Baltimore possesses a sense of acceptance brought about by lack of choice. The song, it seems, tells us that despite the imperfections around us, and our serious shortcomings, sometimes there’s nothing left to do but move on.
Einstein on the Beach
Originally released as a B-side, the Counting Crows never intended for this song to get much play, or become popular. When it was later released as part of a compilation CD, the song quickly became a favourite among Crows fans, prompting the band to say that they regretted making it that public. Taking the name from a Phillip Glass opera, the band uses Einstein on the Beach to combine upbeat music with the message that “the worst things come from inside here” and “we’ll never be [put] together again.” The juxtaposition makes this song one of the band’s greatest.
Round Here
While the extended version from Paris in 1994 is by far the best version of this song available, the original is the one that made the Counting Crows the band that they are now. Maria, who features heavily in this song, is later mentioned in several other Crows tracks, but it is Round Here that laid that groundwork. The Paris 1994 version includes added lyrics now listed as a seperate song (Private Archipelago).
Have You Seen Me Lately?
A solid track on the album, this song is found on the band’s live cds as well, where it has a much better feel to it. The song came about (as did much of Recovering The Satellites, the album on which it’s found) as a direct result of the fame generated by the first album. One day, Duritz was driving and a Counting Crows song came on, and he was forced to confront who he was, if he was also coming out of the radio. It’s a perfect song for anyone trying to figure out who they are when no one else is around.
I Wish I Was a Girl
A long-awaited follow-up to “Goodnight Elisabeth,” this song explains why that relationship ended – a lack of trust, too many nights alone. Duritz claims, “I wish I were a girl so that you would believe me,” suggesting that his female friends inspired jealousy in his girlfriend at the time. While a unique experience, it details some common human foibles and outlines the importance of trust (and how impossible that can be to maintain).
Mr. Jones
The Counting Crows second big hit, Mr. Jones has become so popular that there are few people left in their 20s who don’t know all of the words. It covers a night out with friends while watching girls, seeking fame, and being young and reckless, but it also addresses generational displacement, the value of popularity, and insecurity. With a solid beat and great guitar riffs, this is one of the Crows’ strongest songs.
Murder of One
In Murder of One, we learn where the name of the Counting Crows comes from (an old means of predicting the future by counting the number of crows). The song itself is a glorified conceit, wherein the speaker is trying to convince someone to leave the man she’s with (and presumably be with him instead) by offering her freedom and saying, “you don’t want to waste your life.” Counting Crows fans can take this lesson to heart – few people know better than Duritz that even though things may seem nice on the surface, being stifled always does a lot of damage.
A Long December
A good song to serve as a summary at year’s end, A Long December chronicles the end of a calendar year and a relationship with a whistful resquest for forgiveness and hopes that things will one day improve. This song has the feel of California to it and calls to mind images of winding roads overlooking the ocean (or maybe that’s just the imprint of the music video in my head). A perfect song for long winter drives.
