Mr. Jones (Counting Crows song)

"Mr. Jones"
Single by Counting Crows
from the album August and Everything After
Released December 1, 1993
Format CD single
Genre Alternative rock, jangle pop
Length 4:32
Label Geffen
Writer(s) David Bryson, Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, Matt Malley, Ben Mize, Dan Vickrey.
Producer(s) T-Bone Burnett
Counting Crows singles chronology
"Mr. Jones"
(1993)		 "Round Here"
(1994)
Music sample
Counting Crows - "Mr. Jones"

"Mr. Jones" is a song by American alternative rock band Counting Crows. It was released in December 1993 as the lead single and third track from their debut album, August and Everything After (1993). It was the band's first radio hit and one of their most popular singles.

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. Duritz said 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.

According to Duritz (who was born in 1964), the song title had a hand in the naming by Jonathan Pontell of "Generation Jones", the group of people born between 1954 and 1965. "I feel honored that my song Mr. Jones was part of the inspiration for the name 'Generation Jones'."[3]

Lyrics and performances

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.[2] 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."[4]

Some believe the song is a veiled reference to the protagonist of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man",[5] based on the lyric "I wanna be Bob Dylan, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky." According to Adam Duritz on VH1 Story Tellers "It's really a song about my friend Marty and I. We went out one night to watch his dad play, his dad was a Flamenco guitar player who lived in Spain (David Serva), and he was in San Francisco in the mission playing with his old Flamenco troupe. And after the gig we all went to this bar called the New Amsterdam in San Francisco on Columbus."[6]

In a 2013 interview, Duritz explained that the song is named for his friend Marty Jones, but that it is about Duritz himself. "I wrote a song about me, I just happened to be out with him that night," Duritz said. The inspiration for the song came as Duritz and Jones were drunk at a bar after watching Jones' father perform, when they saw Kenney Dale Johnson, longtime drummer for the musician Chris Isaak, sitting with three women. "It just seemed like, you know, we couldn't even manage to talk to girls, ... we were just thinking if we were rock stars, it'd be easier. I went home and wrote the song," Duritz said.[7]

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.

Accolades

Year Association Category Result
1994 MTV Video Music Awards Best New Artist Won

Track listings

  1. "Mr. Jones" (LP version) – 4:32
  2. "Raining in Baltimore" (LP version) – 4:42
  3. "Mr. Jones" (acoustic version) – 4:44
  4. "Rain King" (acoustic version) – 5:10

Credits and personnel

Charts

Chart (1993–1994) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[9] 13
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 27
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 45
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] 1
France (SNEP)[13] 7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[14] 42
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15] 49
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[16] 28
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[17] 25
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks[17] 2
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[17] 2
US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 5

References

  1. ↑ "Counting Crows". Rock On The Net. 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 Spendlove, Barry (4 July 1999). "The new Counting Crows FAQ (Version 3)". Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Pontell, Jonathan (2007). "Generation Jones". The Jonathan Pontell Group. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Counting Crows - Mr. Jones (Live Acoustic) Lyrics". Lyrics007. 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Counting Crows & Shelby Lynne". Soundstage. PBS. August 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  6. ↑ Wiser, Carl. "Mr. Jones by Counting Crows". SongFacts.com. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Adam Duritz, Counting Crows Frontman, Reveals 'Mr. Jones'". 6 June 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Mr. Jones – Counting Crows: Credits". Allmusic. 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  9. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  10. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  11. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  12. ↑ "Top Singles - Volume 59, No. 8, March 14, 1994". RPM. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  13. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones" (in French). Les classement single.
  14. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  15. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones". Top 40 Singles.
  16. ↑ "COUNTING CROWS". The Official UK Charts Company. 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  17. 1 2 3 "Mr. Jones – Counting Crows". Billboard. 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
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