Alas, my introduction to this week's tune is little more than its being released and being a ubiquitously played song after said release. Still, thanks to the song's anthemic nature, I'm often surprised at how much I hear it played in old people's stores, i.e., grocery stores (Kroger, Meijer) and big box stores (Target--boo!--and Wal-Mart--double boo!). Us old geezers occasionally get a thing or two right....
I wrote about Counting Crows in Vol. CIV way back in December of 2016. In the years since, the band has released one more album (just this year) and one EP. They've also continued their well renowned live performing, with at least two more tours in the interim. Lead singer Adam Duritz has joined the podcast world, with the musically inspired weekly Underwater Sunshine Podcast, and the band has put on a twice annual music fest featuring independent artists in New York, the Underwater Sunshine Fest, starting in 2018. As I did not note it in my original post on the band, for their career Counting Crows have released eight studio albums (with six reaching the top ten, and one #1), one EP, five live albums, and two compilations. They've also released thirty-two singles, with two of those hitting the top ten. I also failed to note that they are a band from my forever home of San Francisco--so many cools kids in my city by the bay!
Fun Fact: "Mr. Jones" was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar, but my late nephew Josh, who called me one night to ask for a copy of the sheet music, played a much better version than I.
Fun Fact 2: At one time I played it well enough to play along with the video on MTV, which, as completely geeky as this may sound, was one of the major highlights of my now thirty some odd year foray into guitar playing....
"Mr. Jones" was the 1993 debut single from their debut (obviously) album, the rather forward-looking entitled August and Everything After. The single reached #7 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200.
There is so much to like in "Mr. Jones." To begin with: everything (may have stolen that line from a movie....). The lyrics--not your standard top forty fare by any means (with Picasso, Dylan, flamenco guitars and dancers, lions, and cool cats all getting a mention)--capture all the angst of being shy and geeky in a world where being cool is glorified. Duritz sings with all the abandon of a man who's got one chance to get it right and does indeed. The band kills it musically, and something I noticed while doing my half-assed research, has some killer backing vocals (sha-la-la, man--may have stolen that from a song....) in the all-important ending. There's a bridge that's almost poetic, and the "sha-la-las" are one of those small facets of a song that just adds to its perfection. And to top it all off, it has one of my favorite lines in a song (see below). As my loyal readers (all three of you) have heard me say a time or two, just a fantastic addition to the annals that are Friday Night Jukebox.
Lyric Sheet: "She's perfect for you/Man, there's got to be somebody for me/I wanna be Bob Dylan/Mr. Jones wishes he was someone/Just a little more funky..."
[Blogger's Aside: Who'd have ever guessed that Bob Dylan just wasn't funky enough?]
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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