Het verhaal van de Counting Crows begon in 1989.
Zanger Adam Duritz (geboren 1 augustus 1964) en gitarist David Bryson (geboren 5 oktober 1961)
maakten al een tijdje samen muziek en werden tijdens een bezoekje aan San Francisco voorgesteld
aan ene David Immergluck. Het klikte meteen en het drietal besloot samen nummers te gaan schrijven.
In 1990 begonnen Duritz en Bryson als duo op te treden in plaatselijke kroegjes en clubs.
Ze noemden zichzelf vanaf dat moment Counting Crows. Ze kwamen op de naam door een oud Engels rijmpje.
De moraal van het versje is dat het leven net zo moeilijk is als het tellen van alle kraaien.
Zo kwamen Duritz en Bryson op de naam Counting Crows.
Een jaar later besloten ze samen met een aantal vrienden een demo op te nemen.
Bassist Matt Malley (geboren 4 juli 1963), toetsenist Charles Gillingham (geboren 12 januari 1960)
en drummer Steve Bowman (geboren 14 januari 1967) werden bij de band gehaal
en dit vijftal besloot een demo op te nemen.
De samenwerking beviel echter zo goed dat ze besloten gezamenlijk door te gaan als de Counting Crows.
Na een optreden tijdens de BMI New Music Showcase in San Francisco in februari 1992
worden ze ontdekt door een producer. Nog geen twee maanden later hebben ze een platencontract
en in juni van dat jaar staan ze al in het voorprogramma van Bob Dylan in Los Angeles.
Na de vliegende start trekken de Counting Crows zich begin 1993 terug in een villa in Hollywood
om hun debuut-cd "August And Everything After" op te nemen. Nadat later dat jaar gitarist Dan Vickrey
(geboren 26 augustus 1966) bij de band is gehaald komt eind 1993 de debuut-cd uit.
De muziekcritici zijn het er unaniem over eens dat dit één van de beste albums van 1993 is.
Daarna gaan alle deuren open voor de Counting Crows.
Ze gaan op tournee door Amerika, staan op het podium met de Rolling Stones,
scoren hit na hit en veroveren ook Europa.
Daar het drukke leven besluit drummer Steve Bowman eind 1994 de band te verlaten.
Op 12 oktober van dat jaar wordt hij vervangen door Ben Mize (geboren 2 februari 1971).
(http://www.ondarock.it/photo/Counting.jpg)
Eind 1996 blijkt het noodlot toe te slaan.
De Counting Crows staan aan de vooravond van een reeks van vier grote concerten in het New Yorkse
Beacon Theathre op het moment dat Duritz zeer ernstig geblesseerd raakt aan zijn knie.
Maar Duritz is niet klein te krijgen.
Met flink veel pijn gaat hij toch verder met optreden maar begin december moet hij er toch aan geloven
en wordt hij geopereerd aan zijn knie. Maar op 11 en 12 december is Duritz al weer op de been.
Counting Crows staan die twee avonden in "The Late Show" van David Letterman
en zijn daarmee de eerste band die het is gelukt om twee keer in deze populaire show op te treden.
Er volgen flink wat hits, albums en tournees door Europa en Amerika.
In 2002 komt Counting Crows met hun album 'Hard Candy'.
Op dit album staat de verborgen track 'Big Yellow Taxi', een duet met Vanessa Carlton.
Het nummer klinkt bekend want Joni Mitchell had in 1970 al een hit met 'Big Yellow Taxi'
en Janet Jackson leunde een aantal jaren geleden in haar hit 'Got til it's gone' zwaar
op enkele fragmenten van dit nummer. De versie van de Counting Crows is gemaakt voor de film
Two Weeks Notice, met Hugh Grant en Sandra Bullock, die begin 2003 in premiére ging.
33 jaar na het origineel scoorde de Counting Crows begin 2003 een hit met "Big Yellow Taxi".
Catapult
All of the sudden she disappears
Just yesterday she was here
Somebody tell me if I am sleeping
Someone should be with me here
(cause I don't wanna be alone)
I wanna be the knife that cuts into my hand
And I wanna be scattered from here in this Catapult
What a big baby
Won't somebody save me please
You won't find nobody home
All of these quiet battered voices
Wait for the hunger to come
We got little revolvers and stupid choices
And no one to say when we're done
(Well I don't wanna bring you down)
I wanna be the light that burns out your eyes
'Cause I know there's little things about me
That would sing in the silence of so much rejection
In every connection I make
I can't find nobody home
I wanna be the light that burns out your eyes,
Cause I know theres little things about me
That would sing in the silence of so much rejection
In every connection I make
I wanna be the last thing that you hear
When you're falling asleep....
I wanna be the knife that cuts into my hand
And I want to be scattered
From here in this catupult
What a big baby
Won't somebody save me please I can't find nobody home
Another Horsedreamer's Blues
Margery's dreaming of the middle of the day
Tiyuri to win
Perfect Dozen to place
Money is the matter that's been on her mind
Time ticks by her one race at a time
She's trying to be a good girl
And give 'em what they want
But Margery's dreaming of horses
Looking at a green sky
Sun like a red eye
Bright blue horses are the fortune she lives by
She's tired and lonely
Scared and depressed
Her visions of one day go racing the next
She's trying to be a good girl
And give 'em what they want
But Margery's dreaming of horses
Margery doesn't say anything all the way home
So afraid she'll awake to find she's all alone
Margery's wingspans all feathers and coke cans, and
TV dinners and letters she won't send, and
Every race night is shot through with sunlight
Trying to hit the big one one last time tonight for...
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
But she's trying to be a good girl
And give 'em what they want
But Margery's dreaming of...
Trying to be a good girl
And give 'em what they want
But Margery's dreaming of horses
Eind jaren '90 (denk 1998) kocht ik mijn eerste Counting Crows CD.
Ik kende band niet echt, alleen van de cover van Acda en de Munnik; Slaap zacht, Elisabeth (http://www.iwaanidee.nl/forum/index.php?topic=691.msg7173#msg7173).
De cd die ik kocht was Recovering the Satellites, een geweldig album met schitterende nummers.
Een echte aanrader voor mensen die niet bekend zijn met de muziek van de Counting Crows.
Goodnight Elisabeth
I was wasted in the afternoon
Waiting on a train
I woke up in pieces and Elisabeth had disappeared again
I wish you were inside of me
I hope that you're ok
I hope you're resting quietly
I just wanted to say....
Goodnight Elisabeth
Goodnight Elisabeth, goodnight
Goodnight Elisabeth
Goodnight Elisabeth, goodnight
We couldn't all be cowboys
So some of us are clowns
Some of us are dancers on the midway
We roam from town to town
I hope that everybody can find a little flame
Me, I say my prayers, then I just light myself on fire
And walk out on the wire once again
And I say...
Goodnight Elisabeth
Goodnight Elisabeth, goodnight
Goodnight Elisabeth
Goodnight Elisabeth, goodnight
I will wait for you in Baton Rouge
I'll miss you down in New Orleans
I'll wait for you while she slips in something comfortable
I'll miss you when I'm slipping in between
If you wrap yourself in daffodils
I will wrap myself in pain
If you're the queen of California,
Baby I am the king of the rain
And I said...
Goodnight Elisabeth
Goodnight Elisabeth, goodnight
Goodnight Elisabeth,
The moon is a satellite
And wont you fall down on me now,
Wont you fall down on me
Wont you fall down on me now
Wont you fall down on me
Cause I'm all alone, you ain't coming home
We just settle down down into bone
I said I'm all alone, you ain't coming home
We just settle down down down into bone
Have You Seen Me Lately
Get away from me, just get away from me
This isn't gonna be easy
But I don't need you
Believe me
You got a piece of me
But it's just a little piece of me
And I don't need anyone
These days I feel like I'm fading away
Like sometimes when I hear myself on the radio
Have you seen me lately?
Have you seen me lately?
I was out on the radio starting to change
Somewhere out in America, it's starting to rain
Could you tell me the things you remember About me
And have you seen me lately?
I remember me
And all the little things that make up a memory
Like she said she loved to watch me sleep
Like she said:
"It's the breathing, it's the breathing in and out and in and..."
Have you seen me lately?
Have you seen me lately?
I was out on the radio starting to change
Somewhere out in America it's starting to rain
Could you tell me the things you remember About me
And have you seen me lately?
I thought that someone would notice
I thought somebody would say something
If I was missing
Can't you see me?
Come on color me in
Come on color me in
Give me your blue rain
Give me your black sky
Give me your green eyes
Come on give me your white skin
Come on give me your white skin
Come on give me your white skin
I was out on the radio starting to change
Somewhere out in America, it's starting to rain
Could you tell me the things you remember About me
And have you seen me lately?
Have you seen me lately
Holiday In Spain
Got no place to go
but there's a girl waiting for me down in Mexico
She's got a bottle of tequila, a bottle of gin
And if I bring a little music I can fit right in
We've got airplane rides
We got California drowning out the window side
We've got big black cars
And we've got stories how we slept with all the movie stars
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drink my worries down the drain
And fly away to somewhere new
Hop on my choo-choo
I'll be your engine driver in a bunny suit
If you dress me up in pink and white
We may be just a little fuzzy 'bout it later tonight
She's my angel
She's a little better than the one that used to be with me
Cause she liked to scream at me
Man, it's a miracle that she's not living up in a tree
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drive this little girl insane
And fly away to someone new
Everybody's gone
They left the television screaming that the radio's on
Someone stole my shoes
But there's a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze
Oh, well happy new year's baby
We could probably fix it if we clean it up all day
Or we could simply pack our bags
And catch a plane to Barcelona 'cause this city's a drag
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Flush my worries down the drain
And fly away to somewhere new
Take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drive this little girl insane
Fly away to someone new
Fly away to someone new
Fly away to someone new
American Girls
feat. Sheryl Crow
She comes out on Fridays every time
Stands out in a line
I could have been anyone she'd seen
She waits another week to fall apart
She couldn't make another day
I wish it was anyone but me
I could have been anyone you see
She had something breakable just under her skin
American girls are weather and noise
Playing the changes for all of the boys
Holding a candle right up to my hand
Making me feel so incredible
She comes out of closets every night
But then she locks herself away
Where she could keep everything from me
I could have been anyone you see
She's nothing but porcelain underneath her skin
American girls are weather and noise
Playing the changes for all of the boys
Holding a candle right up to my hand
Making me feel so incredible
Little shiver shaking me everyday
But I could get this same thing anywhere
So if she goes away
Well, it's alright and I'm ok
Hey, she said come back again tonight
And I said, I might, I might, I might
She said, well that's alright
If it's alright, it's alright with you
If it's alright, if it's alright with me
I waited for an hour last Friday night
She never came around
She took almost everything from me
I'm going through my closets
Trying on her clothes, almost everyday
I could have been anyone you see
I wish it was anyone but me
Nothing but pills and ashes under my skin
American girls are weather and noise
Playing the changes for all of the boys
Holding a candle right up to my hand
Making me feel so incredible
If I make you cry, you tell me why
I'll try again, if you'll let me try
American girls are feathers and cream
Coming to bed so edible
American girls, oh
American girls
American girls
Oh, oh, oh, oh
American girls, oh
American girls
American girls
Oh, oh, oh, oh
You made me cry
You made me cry
You made me cry
Yeah, you made me cry
You made me cry
Hey, Miss American Girl
Oh, oh, oh, yeah
http://www.youtube.com/v/tvtJPs8IDgU&hl=nl_NL&fs=1
Big Yellow Taxi
They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parkin' lot
Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees - please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now, they've paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not?
Listen, late last night, I heard the screen door swing,
And a big yellow taxi took my girl away
Now don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey now now, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Why not, they paved paradise
They put up a parking lot
Hey hey hey, paved paradise and put up a parking lot
I don't wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Hey, hey, hey
Now you wanna give it
I should wanna give it
Cuz you're givin it all away, no no
I don't wanna give it
Why you wanna give it
Why you wanna givin it all away
Cuz you're givin it all givin it all away yeah yeah
Cuz You're givin it all away hey, hey, hey
Hey, paved paradise, to put up a parking lot
la,la, la, la, la, la, la ,la ,la ,la ,la
Paved paradise, and put up a parking lot