Nearly Every Counting Crows song ranked

For some reason it never crossed my mind to rank all 72* Counting Crows’ songs. One of Adam Duritz songs appeared on shuffle while doing research for my upcoming top-50 projected NBA players for 2016-2017 season when the idea to rank all 72 songs came to mind. I immediately stopped researching basketball data and wrote down various songs by Counting Crows. I’ve written about Adam Duritz before here and here.  Adam’s a poet. He’s one of the reasons why I am a writer. My dad put on Films About Ghost:(The Best of…) during various road trips. I didn’t know who the band was. I didn’t know any of the song titles. I might have been 12 years old, but I remember one line sticking out, “there’s a piece of Maria in every song that I sing.” It’s a simple line, but it has real meaning behind it. I found out that song title a little while later. I grew up in the 11 years since I first was introduced to Counting Crows. It’s been 22 years since their debut album August and Everything After. Since then, Counting Crows have sold more than 20 million records, dropped seven records and toured nearly everywhere. They’ve had their hiccups. Adam has a dissociative disorder. He’s been open about it, but his mental health put his band on the back burner briefly. No one would’ve blamed Adam for quitting. He already made enough money for the rest of his life. Lots of people assumed Adam was done. I think people thought he was done in the early 2000s after the release of Hard Candy. Adam re-focused himself after his 2008 somewhat unsuccessful album titled Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings. He said he didn’t write any songs after that album until their newest album released last fall titled Somewhere Under Wonderland. Adam did release another album in between the 2008 and 2014 ones. It was a cover album that featured a wide variety of artists ranging from Madonna to unknown Coby Brown. Counting Crows performed many songs that aren’t included on this list. I only included songs written by the band on their albums August and Everything After, Recovering the Satellites, This Desert Life, Hard Candy, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings and Somewhere Under Wonderland. 

Nothing really beats seeing Counting Crows in concert. You obviously have to like their music to enjoy it, but Adam really puts his heart into every song. He literally puts everything he has into every song on the setlist. He doesn’t talk often during shows, but he’ll sample other artists, he’ll sample other bits of his songs or he’ll just add random stuff that he’s never done before. He’ll repeat lines with so much emotion. Even if you only like Counting Crows a tiny bit, I highly recommend seeing them in concert. You won’t be disappointed.

Without further ado, the top 72 songs by Counting Crows.

72. New Frontier – Hard Candy

Best line- “Nobody here gets a word that I say and the problems I’m told are more than medical.”

This song isn’t for me. It’s my least favorite Crows song. It’s not a terrible song. It’s just not for me.

71. Los Angeles – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line – “And man it’s a really good place to find yourself a taco.”

I like this song. I just like some songs more than others. Los Angeles just happens to be the song I like the second least.

70. I Wish I Was a Girl – This Desert Life

Best line- “For all the things you’re losing you might as well resign yourself to try and make a change.”

Like so many of Adam’s lyrics, I Wish I Was a Girl deals with relationships and understanding woman. This song deals with Adam wishing his ex-girlfriend would believe him.

69. Why Should You Come When I Call? – Hard Candy

Best line- “Why do I go, when I go/ it’s leaving me here all alone, you ought to get out on your own.”

This all about late night hook ups. It’s all about booty calls.

68. Scarecrow – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “She dreams of sunlight, sings of smaller things/ white sugar bowls and wedding rings.”

I like this song a lot. It’s off the most recent album. It has fun word play. It’s catchy. It’s terrific songwriting. Maybe one day it’ll rise on this list, but for now it’s where it belongs.

67. 1492 – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “Oh, where did we disappear into the silence that surrounds us and then drowns us in the end.”

When I first heard 1492 I didn’t love it. But that was a long time ago. I really really like it now. It’s upbeat at first, unlike most of Adam’s songs, but lyrically it’s one of Adam’s finer songs. It’s all about Adam and his mental health. It’s about being totally lost. It’s about insanity.

66. John Appleseed’s Lament – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “I call the winter Maria cause I do not know her face”

I’m partial because John Appleseed’s in the title. I’m a big Johnny Appleseed fan. One of the biggest out there, really. I did a biography on him in 3rd grade. Anyway, this song’s really good.

65. Daylight Fading – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “She said, “everybody loves you,” she says, “everybody cares”/ But all the things I keep inside myself they vanish in the air.”

Like many of Adam’s earlier songs, Daylight Fading deals with a girl who Adam previously dated.

64. Butterfly in Reverse – Hard Candy

Best line- “And everything that hurts you is locked up inside you / like butterflies with wings or other perfect things.”

This is a phenomenal song. It’s about previous relationships that for some reason end, but they don’t end on a sour note. You look back on the memories of that relationship, and remember the good times and how fun it is to be in love. The harmonies are nearly perfect, too.

63. Miller’s Angels – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “But you never know where they’re gonna go.”

I think this is about death, but I’m not entirely sure. I like the sound of this song.

62. On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “When every thing’s over and every thing’s clear/ when everyone’s older and no one is here/ I try to remember a girl on a wire/ tumbling and diving above Stephen’s Green like a kite on the air/ come back to me.”

What a depressingly slow song. It’s well written. But it’s even slow for Adam’s standards. It’s just Adam and his piano.

61. Earthquake Driver – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “Well, I am a cypher, I am a blank space/ filled up with words you remember from whenever you saw my face.”

Adam writes about traveling quite a bit. I started to track down every city or state he mentions in his lyrics, but it was too tough as task. Maybe one day I’ll blog about every place Adam mentions in his lyrics.

60. Anyone But You – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “You think about anything you can, I think about you.”

This ones about imperfect relationships, I believe. Even if you feel like a relationships failing, there’s still that glimmer of hope that it won’t fail. Even though he should get over this girl because she’s not the one for him, he’s still stuck on her for reasons he can’t really explain.

59. Elvis Went to Hollywood – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “When Elvis went to Hollywood that’s when everything went wrong.”

In an honest interview with CL Tampa before the last album dropped, Adam talked about the meaning behind Elvis Went to Hollywood. Here’s an excerpt:

I have to laugh at some of the stupid shit in my head. There’s a song on the record called “Elvis Went to Hollywood.” People always talk about the decline of Western civilization or whatever. I think Elvis going to Hollywood was one of those points. So this is where my crazy head comes in and takes the thought of the decline of Western civilization and thought ‘what if it wasn’t just the artsy fartsy thing?’. What if there were Aliens coming over the mountains and burned everything down? What if there were much more severe consequences?’ So I wrote a song about the decline of Western civilization that also involves aliens.

“Elvis Went to Hollywood” is actually one of the most emotional beautiful songs ever I’ve written before, and yet it’s got all this other ridiculous stuff in it. I was never able to write that kind of thing before.

58. Washington Square – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “When nothing I needed is left there behind me I walk out through the shadows of Washington Square.”

This is a song about going home. It’s beautifully written.

57. Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood) – Hard Candy

Best line- “And I’ve been up all night, I might sleep all day/ Get your dreams just right and let them slip away, I might sleep all day.”

It’s a literal song. “I’ve been up all night, I might sleep all day.” The song flows really well together. I love the instrumental right before “Fix your hair just right Put your jeans on tight, Wear a dress, so I can get it off real easy.” It’s a really solid, sound song.

56. I’m Not Sleeping – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “But I’m not sleeping anymore, anymore.”

Rain, rain, go away
Come again some other day
Cuz I’ve got all this shit to say
But I’m going back to find my way
My sister’s mother’s favorite son
Lost among the chosen ones
But I’ve got news for everyone
Cuz I’m going out that door

55. Mercury – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “In the absence of a place to be she stands there looking back at me.”

It’s about a girl who drives Adam absolutely insane, but she’s still alright to him.

54. Come Around – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “I’m one of the million pieces fallen on the ground.”

The album Saturday Nights & Sundays Mornings is supposed to represent what happens on weekends. You go out partying on Saturday night. You try to meet people. You drink. You do things that you might regret the next morning. Sunday morning you wake up hungover and sometimes confused. You say to yourself, “I’m not doing that ever again.” You try to tell yourself you’ll change and everything like that, but in reality it’s a lot easier said than done.

53. Black and Blue – Hard Candy

Best line- “Fall asleep next to me, wait for everyone to go away.”

I found this quote by Adam on the meaning behind this song:

‘Black and Blue’ is about the fragility of people. It’s not necessarily about the girl doing all these things to herself as much as about her imagining doing all these things to herself. I didn’t want to write a big song about suicide or anything; it’s really a song about being so sad that you sit around and think about suicide, which I think people do all the time. That’s why it says, in the last verse, ‘tell yourself, or we’ll read a note that says, “I’m sorry everyone. I’m tired of feeling nothing. Goodbye.”

52. Cowboys – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “This is a list of what I should have been but I’m not/ this is a list of the things that I should have seen but I’m not seeing.”

Most of Adam’s song deals with relationships. Either his relationship with himself or his relationship with different women. This song isn’t about relationships in that sense. It’s about humanity; and all of the greed, scandal and bad that humanity is responsible for.

51. Walkaways – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “Someday I’m going to stay, but not today.”

The beauty is the length and the simplicity. As a writer, you’re allowed to explore your creative side and write at length. Adam has a number of 5-minute plus songs filled with detail, emotion and meaning. This song’s barely over a minute, but still has the same detail, emotion and meaning.

50. Kid Things – This Desert Life

Best line- “But I sleep better when I’m not alone.”

Not many songs written by Adam put you in this happy-go-lucky mood. Kid Things is one of them.

49. Speedway – This Desert Life

Best line- “Thinking bout getting out.”

Another simple song. It’s about someone who wants to leave. It’s so easy to stay complacent in one place. In your mind, you’re already gone, but you’re still physically in that place. This song is the thought process of leaving a place for good.

48. Monkey – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “Hey monkey, when you open your blue eyes I don’t know if I’m wide awake or dreaming but all I ever need is everything.”

I really love August and Everything After. I mean the standard Adam set was pretty high. But Recovering the Satellites might be better. The album is full of awesome after awesome song. Monkey is a beautiful song about being in love.

47. Another Horsedreamer’s Blues – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “Drunken fathers and stupid mothers and boys who can’t tell one girl from another So she takes her pills, careful and round / One of these days she’s gonna throw the whole bottle down.”

This is a song about a women who wants to get out of her situation. She wants to be better. She wants to be free. But everyone in her life is holding her back. Her environment is a terrible one.

46. Children in the Bloom – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “All these wasted dreams just waiting for the sun to open up my heart to anyone”

Recovering the Satellites has so many quality songs on it. It’s not just top heavy. It’s solid from beginning to end. This is a terrifically written song. It’s about growing up, and realizing you can’t get away with all of those fun things like you used to. You’re growing up. You have responsibilities. You have to make mistakes and deal with the consequences.

45. You Can’t Count On Me – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “There’s just one thing you need to know and that’s that you can’t count on me.”

Adam’s imperfect. He always has been. He makes that known in so many of his songs. This sounds upbeat. It has a real nice rhythm. And the lyrics are real. He’s telling people he isn’t good. He can’t be counted on. That’s the whole premise of the song. He isn’t good enough to be counted on.

44. Ghost Train – August and Everything After

Best line- “Love is a ghost train howling on the radio.”

What a song. This is the first time a song from Adam’s debut album appears on the list. That just shows how good August and Everything After truly is. Adam does a really good job with this song live. Past relationships impact future relationships is the message behind this one.

43. High Life – This Desert Life

Best line- “I don’t wanna go home alone I wanna come on home to you.”

Man, this song is beautiful. So much is going on during this one. Musically, you have the violins. Lyrically, you have Adam rambling on during parts, but he’s also brutally honest throughout the song. This song’s about change. Definitely a change in a relationship.

42. When I Dream of Michelangelo – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “And he seems so close as he reaches out his hand, but we are never quite as close as we are led to understand.”

I just love this line so much: We are never quite as close as we are led to understand. People can be deceiving. You can think one thing, but the thing you think isn’t what you thought, or better yet, what you wanted it to be. Adam Duritz references Michelangelo on Recovering the Satellites in “Angels of the Silences.”

41. Sundays – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “I wanna look into your eyes until I go blind.”

This is about a woman leaving a man on a Sunday morning. The man’s attached. He wants her, but she doesn’t want him. At least he thinks he wants her.

40. On Almost Any Sunday Morning – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “You keep yourself too clean, you dig yourself a dream that we won’t be coming home alone.”

Acoustic and the harmonica really makes this song work. It fits with the theme of it, for sure. It’s a damn depressing number, but that’s the best kind of Adam. His music is there for you when you really need it. He’s got his fair share of up-tempo tunes, but the best Counting Crows songs really make you think, and most importantly, feel.

39. American Girls – Hard Candy

Best line- “I could have been anyone you see, I wish it was anyone but me.”

This is one of the earliest songs I remember hearing. It’s good. Just an overall solid song.

38. Cover Up the Sun – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “I pray the water come and wash me away.”

Lots of Bob Dylan influence in this one. Adam writes about traveling all over the place. I really like this lyric, “If you can’t keep your shit together when God is on your side What chance do you have when he’s not around?” Adam writes about Colorado, Texas, California and New Orleans during this country road trip. I think it’s awesome when artists mention different cities in their songs because it reaches an infinite audience. I’ve visited New Orleans and California, so I know what those places are about, and it’s just another way an artist can connect with their audience.

37. All My Friends – This Desert Life

Best line- “And I’m tryin’ to find me a better way to get through the things I do and the things I should.”

Adam says this is about coming back from a long tour. His friends did things like get married or have kids while he was away. It’s the reality of being on tour and being away from the people you care about that aren’t band members.

36. Good Time – Hard Candy

Best line- “You know you made my heart real strong even if you made my head real thin.”

After a break-up, you want to rebound as quickly as possible. You want to do things just like everybody else does. “You want to have a good time just like everybody else you don’t want to fall apart this time,” explains that notion. It’s not fun to breakdown and feel miserable after a break-up.

35. Le ballet d’or – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “Wasted time running scared/ all that I need is to believe in something.”

This is songwriting at its finest. Adam goes through each season as he reminisces on a previous relationship. He wishes he could’ve changed how the relationship ended. He wish he could’ve believed in it more.

34. Goodnight L.A. – Hard Candy

Best line- “But what brings me down now is love cause I can never get enough.”

Adam’s take:

I can’t sleep very well. I mean you must have noticed this in songs before, but I’m up all night a lot. And this is about this one particular time when I’d been up for about two days. And it was coming on dawn one morning and I was thinking about shit.

33. Four Days – This Desert Life

Best line- “Take a breath. Take your time. Spread your wings and rise.”

Another song about love. This is about liking someone, but not physically being with them. And some days you don’t even hear from them. The opening lines run deep:

All I want is something good, It gets harder every time

She is leaving here tonight

Take a breath Take your time Spread your wings and rise

32. Carriage – Hard Candy

Best line- “And all this solitude is just my confidence eroding.”

You and your significant other did everything together. I mean everything together. You were in love. But you break up. You go from doing everything with one another to not speaking. This song perfects the aftermath of a breakup.

31. Hanging Tree – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “You open windows and you wait for someone warm to come inside and then you freeze to death alone.”

It’s easy to downplay Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings. There really wasn’t any big time song on the album. It is a phenomenal album, though. It’s sort of depressing, but it’s how Adam felt during that time. He was in his mid-40s, and he wasn’t doing too well with his mental health. It’s an important album, though. The way I see it, if Adam never made this album, maybe he never gets better, maybe he doesn’t quit writing for a bit before making Somewhere Under Wonderland. This song is depressing as they come, but like so many Counting Crows song provide hope by the end of it.

30. St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream – This Desert Life

Best line- “Some people are never quite what they seem.”

What a great line.

29. Insignificant – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Best line- “I don’t want to feel so different but I don’t want to be insignificant.”

This song is relatable on so many levels. You want to be better than you are. You want to matter to someone else. You want to be significant.

28. Hanginaround – This Desert Life

Best line- “We spent all day getting sober just hiding from daylight watching TV.”

It’s a more fun song. It’s kind of carefree. This Desert Life has a little bit of everything. Adam doesn’t have many songs that could be labeled carefree, but Hanginaround’s definitely one of them.

27. Catapult – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “I wanna be the last thing you hear when you’re falling asleep.”

It’s about rejection. It’s about not feeling good enough. It’s about insecurities.

26. Colorblind – This Desert Life

Best line- “I am colorblind. Coffee black and egg white. Pull me out from inside.”

This song gives you goosebumps.

25. God of Ocean Tides – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “I know I said I never loved you but I might just try again tonight.”

Lyrically this is some of Adam’s best work. It’s slow and beautiful. Here are my favorite lines:

Gods of water, Gods of rain Cover up the sun again
We are crossing it at the Mississippi line
And I tried all my days To love you just the way you hoped I might,
But I’m leaving here tonight. I can’t remember yesterday I tried, if I said I could I lied.

24. Goodnight Elisabeth – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “We couldn’t all be cowboys, so some of us are clowns.”

Not every one can be famous. Not every one can be desired. Not every can be a cowboy. Some have to be a clown. One of Adam’s best lines.

23. Time and Time Again – August and Everything After

Best line- “I’m gonna set fire to this city and out into the desert we’re gonna ride.”

I wanted the ocean to cover over me
I wanna sink slowly without getting wet
Maybe someday, I won’t be so lonely
And I’ll walk on water every chance I get

Those lines symbolize the meaning behind this song. Adam breaks up with a girl because he’s afraid of being in a relationship. The line, “Maybe someday, I won’t be so lonely and I’ll walk on water every chance I get,” shows that one day maybe one day he won’t be afraid to take chances. Maybe one day he’ll figure himself out.

22. If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead) – Hard Candy

Best line- “I’m an anchor on the line of a clock that tells the time that is running out on you.”

The Band’s Richard Manuel died at age 46. The Band had a major influence on Counting Crows, specifically Adam Duritz.  This song is about how brief life can be. Make the most of it.

21. Dislocation – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “Empty parties filled with people I don’t know.”

This is the third highest song from Adam’s last album. It’s a good one. I think I overlooked it initially, but the more I listened to Somewhere Under Wonderland I realized how great the song was. It’s more upbeat but lyrically it sounds like things from Adam’s earlier work. Like Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby or Have You Seen Me Lately.

20. Sullivan Street- August and Everything After

Best line- “Either way now, I don’t really care.”

Counting Crows did a live album from Town Hall a few years ago. They played the entire August and Everything After album. They even had some nice introductions to certain songs. It’s actually really honest. Adam wrote about how the band didn’t play Perfect Blue Buildings for a while because of the meaning behind it (more on that song later.) Adam said what Sullivan Street had been about. It’s about when he was living in California and he used to date this girl who stilled live at home. Apparently she didn’t let the girl spend the night at Adam’s, so Adam would have to drive her home some nights. On the way back to his apartment Adam would just have these thoughts about breaking up with her. Like he knew she was good for him, but in his mind things weren’t going to work out.

19. Angels of the Silences – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “I dream of Michelangelo when I’m lying in my bed.”

This song starts fast, and remains fast. This song deals with late night thoughts, “Little angels hang above my head read me like an open book.” 

18. Omaha – August and Everything After

Best line- “Get right to the heart of matters/ It’s the heart that matters more.”

During Omaha at Town Hall, Adam said how it’s not about that city in Nebraska. He actually had never been to Nebraska until Counting Crows toured there. Apparently the mayor gave Adam the key to Omaha. I think that song is about the common folk whose trying to make ends meet. The best line is without question, “Get right to the heart of matters, it’s the heart that matters more.” Goodness that line is ultra powerful.

17. Mr. Jones – August and Everything After

Best line- “I want to be someone who believes”

I think you’ve heard this one before. It’s what started Counting Crows. It’s a major reason why their famous. I’m not a hipster for having this song at 17 because I really do like it.

16. Raining in Baltimore – August and Everything After

Best line- “There’s things I remember and things I forget/ I miss you I guess that I should”

This might be Adam’s most depressing song, truthfully. It’s about being totally depressed. Nothing seems right anymore. All you need is a distraction, which is what Adam pleads for throughout the song. Adam recently broke up with a girl, but this song is relatable on so many different levels. Take one of the last lines in the song, “What would you change if you could?” To me, that line is so strong. Freaking phenomenal song.

15. Have You Seen Me Lately – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “Somewhere out in America it’s raining.”

This song deals with fame, fortune and not knowing yourself. Adam’s debut album was such a success, and he didn’t know how to deal with being famous. This is one of my favorite songs ever about someone’s inability to cope with fame.

14. Amy Hit the Atmosphere – This Desert Life

Best line- “Things are getting worse, but I feel a lot better and that’s all that really matters to me.”

Just listen. It’s beautiful. 

13. Holiday in Spain – Hard Candy

Best line- “Someone stole my shoes but there’s a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze.”

One of my personal favorites. Adam writes about not having any worries, about just going wherever because there really isn’t any place that actually needs him. It’s an emotionless number. I mean everyone wants a holiday. Everyone has felt trapped. This song is about starting a new. It’s beautiful, really.

12. Anna Begins – August and Everything After

Best line- “But we’re always changing.”

Adam explains it best:

It’s about denial — how far you’ll go to deny that somethings really happening because it’s too complicated, too terrifying, too difficult. It’s about me and Anna: The relationship was supposed to be light — we met on vacation — but we got further into it and it became harder and harder. It’s about all the things you go through trying to, sort of squash your feelings. to sort of shut it down, and how much you can hurt other people and yourself by doing that. The people in the song are just continuously telling themselves they don’t feel what they do feel, until the end when it’s too late, and then they realize what they were really, really not ready for was, you know, never being able to see each other again.

11. Possibility Days – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “Still you’re gone, long gone.”

Holy hell, this song. This song. It’s off their last album. It’s the last song on the album, actually.  I couldn’t stop playing this one last fall, I remember. It’s about a man and a woman who like each other, but other things (a job, life) get in their way. It’s kind of like a back-and-forth between two people. Should they be together? Do they feel that strongly about one another? My favorite lines from the song have to be:

I said good night, goodbye Seems like a good thing
So you know it’s a good lie You can run out of choices
And still hear a voice in your head When you’re lying in bed
And it says that the best part of a bad day Is knowing it’s ok

This is an honest song. A sad, honest song. But the song, to me, screams hope.

10. Hard Candy – Hard Candy

Best line- “She is something all together different never just an ordinary girl.”

The imagery is fantastic. It’s about a past relationship. Certain months and moments bring memories of that girl back to Adam’s mind. The song’s filled with regrets. Hard Candy serves as metaphor. “It’s just the same hard candy you’re remembering again.” Yeah, it was good, but it happened. It’s in the past. It didn’t work out for a reason, so why should you still be hung up on her?

9. Miami – Hard Candy

Best line- “Make a circle in the sand/ Make a halo with your hands/ I’ll make a place for you to land.”

Surprisingly this is about a woman. Adam’s on tour, waiting for his girlfriend to join. He just contemplates his relationship. It might end, but we might as well make it fun.

8. A Long December – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

This song might be about love, but it’s the most relatable Crows song. Some years are shitty. Some years you see friends or family die. Some years you lose your job. Some years are just so unbearably difficult. For some reason, December feels like forever. There’s excitement because of the holidays, but you reminisce on the previous year, and right away Adam throws this line: “A long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” Incredible line. Another incredible line is “I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.” Yes, bad things happen all the time. People break up. People lose jobs. But make sure you capture the important moments. Grab them. Hold them. Make them last. Because you never know when they’ll leave forever.

7. Perfect Blue Buildings – August and Everything After

Best line- “Please help me stay awake, I’m falling…”

Just listen to this one. And Adam’s honesty.

6. A Murder of One – August and Everything After

Best line- “I am feathered by the moonlight falling down on me”

Make the most of your life. A group of Crows is called a Murder, so this is an appropriate title. Where do you want your life to go? Who do you want to spend your days with? Don’t dream; do. The more I listened to this one, the more it inspired me. I don’t know if there’s a better version than A Murder of One live at Town Hall. Change. Change. Change. 

5. Palisades Park – Somewhere Under Wonderland

Best line- “It’s a long life full of long nights”

According to Adam, this is his best written piece of music. I can’t disagree with him. It’s no. 5 right now, but 10 years from now, if it stands the test, it can rise to no. 1. The song itself is over eight minutes long. It’s just so beautifully written. Adam talks about life before signing a record deal.

4. Rain King – August and Everything After

Best line- “I belong anywhere but in between”

Another absolutely inspiring song from their debut album. Similar to A Murder of One, this song’s about taking chances and making a name for yourself. Although Adam’s songs mainly deal with love, more times than not his songs deal with your relationship with yourself. No one has the answers. People struggle with all sorts of addictions, troubles and heartaches. I guess I appreciate Adam because he puts every emotion into his work. He tries to be as real as possible in his words.

3. Recovering the Satellites – Recovering the Satellites

Best line- “But we were gonna be the wildest people they ever hoped to see/ Just you and me”

Sometimes it’s impossible to escape where you grew up. This song is about going back because for some reason you and this girl’s dreams didn’t work out initially. The first several lines illustrate that:

Gonna get back to basics
Guess I’ll start it up again
I’m fallin’ from the ceiling
You’re falling from the sky now and then
Maybe you were shot down in pieces
Maybe I slipped in between
But we were gonna be the wildest people they ever hoped to see
Just you and me

2. Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby – This Desert Life

Best line- “Well, you can see a million miles tonight but you can’t get very far”

The song that really started it all for me. This remains the best Counting Crows song to quote. There’s just so many wonderful lyrics.

Well I woke up in mid afternoon cause that’s when it all hurts the most.

If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts.

And though I’ll never forget your face sometimes I can’t remember my name.

Well there’s a piece of Maria in every song that I sing.

And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings.

Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone but I need someone to help me sleep.

Hey, Mrs. Potter, won’t you talk to me.

1. Round Here – August and Everything After

Best line- “Round here she’s always on my mind”

No other song will ever make me feel like this one. The emotion. The meaning. It’s Counting Crows best song. It’s my favorite. Hearing it live for the first time last summer was the best musical experience of my life.

I’m a fan of Counting Crows. I don’t own any pictures or video.