Mr. Jones

"Mr. Jones" is a song by American alternative rock band Counting Crows. It is the lead single and third track from their debut album, August and Everything After (1993). It was the band's first radio hit and remains one of their most popular singles. Overview "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"). 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. Said Duritz 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...". These events and feelings were the basis for "Catapult", the first track of Recovering the Satellites. 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. Most directly referencing this, 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." The song is often interpreted differently. One popular belief is that "Mr. Jones" refers to Adam's penis, although Duritz has refuted this claim. Others believe it is a thinly veiled reference to the protagonist of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man", a theory supported by the lyric "I wanna be Bob Dylan, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky." Others have suggested that Mr. Jones refers to Marty Jones's father, although the lyric "she dances while his father plays guitar" seems to suggest Mr Jones' father is another separate character within the song. Another possibility is that Mr. Jones is an imaginary friend. When the Counting Crows performed the song during the Recovering the Satellites tour, it would often include the first verse from The Byrds' "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star?" This version was often acoustic and was even performed on VH1's Storytellers.

[Intro] Shalalala la la la Uh huh [Verse 1] I was down at the New Amsterdam Staring at this yellow-haired girl Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation With a black-haired flamenco dancer You know she dances while his father plays guitar She's suddenly beautiful And we all want something beautiful Man, I wish I was beautiful So come dance this silence down through the morning Shalalala la la la la, yeah.. Uh huh, yeah.. Cut up, Maria! Show me some of them Spanish dances And pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones Believe in me, help me believe in anything 'Cause I wanna be someone who believes, yeah [Chorus for Verse 1] Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales And we stare at the beautiful women "She's looking at you. Ah, no, no, she's looking at me." Smiling in the bright lights, coming through in stereo When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely [Verse 2] Well, I'm gonna paint my picture Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful Yeah, well, you know gray is my favorite color I felt so symbolic yesterday If I knew Picasso, I would buy myself a gray guitar and play [Chorus for Verse 2] Mr. Jones and me look into the future Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women "She's looking at you. I don't think so. She's looking at me." Standing in the spotlight, I bought myself a gray guitar When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely I'll never be lonely Said I'm never gonna be lonely [Verse 3] I want to be a lion Yeah, everybody wants to pass as cats We all want to be big, big stars, yeah But we got different reasons for that Believe in me, 'cause I don't believe in anything And I, I want to be someone to believe To believe, to believe, yeah! [Chorus for Verse 3] Mr. Jones and me, stumbling through the barrio Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women "She's perfect for you, man, there's got to be somebody for me." I want to be Bob Dylan Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky When everybody loves you, ah son That's just about as funky as you can be [Chorus] Mr. Jones and me, staring at the video When I look at the television, I want to see me Staring right back at me We all want to be big stars But we don't know why, and we don't know how But when everybody loves me I want to be just about as happy as I can be [Outro] Mr. Jones and me, we're gonna be big stars