Mr. Jones
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| “Mr. Jones” | |||||
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| Single by Counting Crows from the album August and Everything After |
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| Released | March 1994 | ||||
| Format | CD single | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 4:32 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Writer(s) | Adam Duritz David Bryson |
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| Producer | T-Bone Burnett | ||||
| Counting Crows singles chronology | |||||
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"Mr. Jones" is a song by the American rock band Counting Crows. It is the third track of their debut album August and Everything After (1994). It was the band's first radio hit, and, in the eyes of many, remains their best-known song to this day.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Mr. Jones" (LP version) – 4:32
- "Raining in Baltimore" (LP version) – 4:42
- "Mr. Jones" (acoustic version) – 4:44
- "Rain King" (acoustic version) – 5:10
[edit] History
"Mr. Jones" entered the American Top 40 on February 19, 1994, and entered the Top 10 five weeks later. On April 23, "Mr. Jones" passed R. Kelly's "Bump n' Grind", taking the number-one position (which it surrendered, the following week, to Prince's "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World").[1]
The band's surprise success happened to coincide with Kurt Cobain's death. These events took a significant toll on Adam Duritz, the lead vocalist and principal songwriter. Said Duritz in an interview: "We heard that, that [Kurt] had shot himself. And it really scared the hell out of me because I thought, these things in my life are getting so out of control...".[2] These events and feelings were the basis for "Catapult", the first track of Recovering the Satellites.
The primary topic of the song itself is perhaps how two struggling musicians (Duritz and bassist Marty Jones of The Himalayans) "want to be big stars," believing that "when everybody loves me, I will never be lonely" Duritz would later recant these values, and in later concert appearances, "Mr. Jones" was played in a subdued acoustic style, if at all.[3] Most directly referencing this, on the live CD "Across A Wire" Duritz changes the lyrics "We all wanna be big, big stars, but we got different reasons for that" to "We all wanna be big, big stars, but then we get second thoughts about that," and "when everybody loves you, sometimes that's just about as funky as you can be" to "when everybody loves you, sometimes that's just about as fucked up as you can be."[citation needed]
The song is often interpreted differently. One popular belief is that "Mr. Jones" refers to Adam's penis, although Duritz has refuted this claim.[4][5] Others believe it is a thinly veiled reference to the protagonist of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man",[6] a theory supported by the lyric "I wanna be Bob Dylan, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky." Others have suggested that Mr. Jones refers to Marty Jones's father.
When the Counting Crows would perform the song during the tour in support of Recovering the Satellites, it would often include the first verse from The Byrds' "So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star?" This version was often acoustic and was even performed on VH1's Storytellers.
The Talking Heads also wrote a song called "Mr. Jones", on the album Naked. Coincidentally, the title character of that song is famous and wealthy.
[edit] Cover versions
The band Hidden in Plain View did a cover of "Mr. Jones" which was released in 2004 on the album Dead and Dreaming: An Indie Tribute to the Counting Crows.
[edit] External links
- "Mr. Jones" at Counting Crows' official web site.
- "Mr. Jones" at Lyrics Undercover: a podcast explaining the lyrics of the song and the identity of Mr. Jones.
[edit] References
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