Mr. Jones (Counting Crows song)

Last updated

"Mr. Jones"
Mr. Jones (Counting Crows song) cover.jpg
Single by Counting Crows
from the album August and Everything After
B-side "Raining in Baltimore" (LP version)
ReleasedDecember 1, 1993 (1993-12-01)
Genre
Length4:32
Label Geffen
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) T-Bone Burnett
Counting Crows singles chronology
"Mr. Jones"
(1993)		"Round Here"
(1994)
Audio sample
Counting Crows – "Mr. Jones"

"Mr. Jones" is the debut single of American rock band Counting Crows. It was released in December 1993 by Geffen as the lead single from the band's debut album, August and Everything After (1993). The song was the band's first radio hit and has been described as their breakout single. [5] "Mr. Jones" reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay charts. Internationally, the song peaked at number one in Canada and number seven in France. In April 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song at number four on their list of "The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs". [6]

Contents

Background and composition

"Mr. Jones" debuted on the US Billboard Radio Songs chart on January 22, 1994, and entered the top 10 five weeks later. On May 14, 1994, the song reached its peak US chart position at number five. [7]

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." [8] 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'." [9]

The song incorporates two different keys, as demonstrated by verses being written in A minor with a chord structure of Am-F-Dm-G-Am-F-G before transitioning into C major in the chorus and a new chord sequence of C-F-G. In addition, "Mr. Jones" is written in 4
4 time and is performed at 142 beats per minute.

Lyrics and performances

The song is about struggling musicians (Duritz and bassist Marty Jones of The Himalayans) who "want to be big stars", believing that "when everybody loves me, I will never be lonely". Duritz would later recant these values; and in some later concert appearances, "Mr. Jones" was played in a subdued acoustic style, if at all. [8] 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"; he also changed the lyrics "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." [10]

Some believe the song is a veiled reference to the protagonist of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man", [11] 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 Storytellers, "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." [12]

In a 2013 interview, Duritz explained that even though the song is named for his friend Marty Jones, it is actually 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. [13]

In the live version of the song, as on the album Across a Wire: Live in New York City , the first couplet of the song is a quotation of the 1967 song "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" by The Byrds.

Critical reception

Mark Tremblay from Calgary Herald felt that "they’re best uptempo, especially when they parade their youthful naivete" as in "Mr. Jones". [14] HMV named the song Single of the Week in the last week of April 1994. [15] Stuart Bailie from NME wrote, "On "Mr. Jones", Adam Duritz sings, I want to be a lion/Everybody wants to pass as cats, and you're on his side, even if the music and the tortured scrawl of a voice suggest that lionisation may be a long way off." [16] The magazine's Johnny Cigarettes felt the first lines of the song "are Sha la la la la in a please-let-me-be-reincarnated-as-Van-Morrison voice." He viewed it as "an inoffensive folk-pop tune that trundles along without the obscene diversions into Hothouse Flowers hell that you half expect." [17]

Accolades

YearAssociationCategoryResult
1994 MTV Video Music Awards Best New Artist Won

Track listings

Australian CD single; UK 7-inch and cassette single [18] [19] [20]

  1. "Mr. Jones" (LP version) – 4:31
  2. "Raining in Baltimore" (LP version) – 4:38
  3. "Mr. Jones" (acoustic live recording from World Cafe ) – 4:42

UK CD single [21]

  1. "Mr. Jones" (LP version) – 4:31
  2. "Raining in Baltimore" (LP version) – 4:38
  3. "Mr. Jones" (acoustic live recording from World Cafe) – 4:42
  4. "Rain King" (acoustic live recording from World Cafe) – 5:10

French CD single [22]

  1. "Mr. Jones" (LP version) – 4:31
  2. "Mr. Jones" (acoustic live recording from World Cafe) – 4:42

Personnel

Personnel are taken from AllMusic. [23]

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [51] Gold45,000‡
Italy (FIMI) [52] Gold25,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [53] Platinum60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [54] Platinum600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref.
EuropeDecember 1, 1993CD Geffen [24]
United KingdomApril 18, 1994
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [55]

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References

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  2. ↑ Vanhorn, Teri (July 24, 1999). "WOODSTOCK '99 REPORT #29: COUNTING CROWS INTRODUCE NEW SINGLE WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS". MTV News. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  3. ↑ Waldman, Scott (April 3, 2020). "10 Best Pop-Rock Songs of the '90s". Loudwire . Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Mr. Jones by Counting Crows – RYM/Sonemic". Rate Your Music . Retrieved April 4, 2023.
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  6. ↑ Uitti, Jacob (April 29, 2022). "The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs". American Songwriter . Retrieved April 30, 2022.
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  8. 1 2 Spendlove, Barry (July 4, 1999). "The new Counting Crows FAQ (Version 3)". Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
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  14. ↑ Tremblay, Mark (September 26, 1993). "Recent Releases". p. C2. Calgary Herald .
  15. ↑ "HMV Single of the Week". NME . April 23, 1994. p. 43. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  16. ↑ Bailie, Stuart (March 5, 1994). "Long Play". NME . p. 52. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  17. ↑ Cigarettes, Johnny (April 23, 1994). "Singles". NME . p. 43. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  18. ↑ Mr. Jones (Australian CD single liner notes). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GEFDM21889.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. ↑ Mr. Jones (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GFS 69.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  20. ↑ Mr. Jones (UK cassette single sleeve). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GFSC 69.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ↑ Mr. Jones (UK CD single disc notes). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GFSTD 69.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. ↑ Mr. Jones (French CD single liner notes). Counting Crows. Geffen Records. 1994. GED 21935.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  38. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  39. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
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  41. ↑ "Counting Crows Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  42. ↑ "Counting Crows Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  43. ↑ "Counting Crows Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  44. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Counting Crows". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  45. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
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  50. ↑ "The Year In Music 1994: Hot Modern Rock Tracks". Billboard . Vol. 106, no. 52. December 24, 1994. p. YE-62. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  51. ↑ "Danish single certifications – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones". IFPI Danmark . Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  52. ↑ "Italian single certifications – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana . Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  53. ↑ "Spanish single certifications – Counting Crows – Mr. Jones". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España . Retrieved April 13, 2024.
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