You know grey is my favorite color… March 29, 2006
This morning, the year was 1994. In 1994 I was in 8th grade at Kimbrough Middle School, and slowly making the musical transition from the music that defined my junior high years (Boyz II Men, Shai, Mariah Carey) to the more rock-oriented tastes of early high school. I had a boyfriend named Randy who I broke up with after a few weeks because our names rhymed. I played volleyball, ran track, and played percussion in the junior high band, something I would quit after that year because sports were cooler.
So. Year: 1994. Song: Mr. Jones by Counting Crows.
I remember the first time I heard that song. I was at the 8th grade spring dance. I had just finished slow “dancing†with a guy named Lance, who I had only danced with because my friend who had a crush on him dared me to. (How do I remember these things? I also remember that Lance rode his bike to school and drank milk at lunch while the rest of us were chugging giant sodas.) Mr. Jones started, and everyone went crazy. Clearly, I was missing something.
I loved it. It became my new favorite song on the spot. I went out the very next day and bought the cassette, and drove my parents crazy listening to it over and over and over again.
It occurred to me this morning that August and Everything After has been in my regular rotation for twelve years. TWELVE. I can’t think of any other music that has consistently been a part of my life for that long. I pulled it out at work today and have already listened to it twice. It has some of my very favorite songs: Anna Begins, Sullivan Street, A Murder of One. But Mr. Jones, while possibly overplayed to many, will always be special to me. That opening guitar will always make me want to turn it up, roll the windows down, and sing at the top of my lungs.
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Brandi. In 1994 I was a freshman in college. And you were in the 8th grade. GAH. But I bought that CD too (though, because I was cheap, no doubt I bought it the next year when there were plenty of used copies to be had at the new & used music place and because I way way too cool for tapes) because it is GREAT. You know that line in Round Here where “something radiates”? The summer of 1994 was the time that I was sick and had the radiation, and I remember every time that song would come on the radio, I would think ” . . . it’s me . . . I’m radiating . . . ” and then be embarrassed for myself for being such a dork.
I have loved Mr. Jones ever since then, too… I listened to the radio obsessively during 8th and 9th grade, and knew pretty much every word to every Top 40 song at the time… mysteriously, as much as I loved Mr. Jones in all it’s “grey guitar” beauty, I never bought August and Everything After (or anything else by the Counting Crows!) until I heard them live at Davidson my senior year. Odd.
[...] Even through they are one of my very favorite bands, I had only seen Counting Crows in concert one time. A friend took me to see them at the Backyard in Austin for my birthday several years ago. It’s a relatively small outdoor venue with a dirt floor surrounded by trees, and it was the perfect setting to see the Crows. They played a good, long set and pretty much blew me away. [...]
[...] Counting Crows. I love you. You have been one of my favorite bands for years. But seriously, we need to [...]