Mr. Jones

## Single by Counting Crows

"**Mr. Jones**" is a song by Counting Crows, their first commercial single. It was released in December 1993 as the lead single and third track from their debut album, *August and Everything After* (1993). It debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay charts.

The official music video was directed by Charles Wittenmeier. It won Best New Artist in a Video at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.

## Background and composition

Adam Duritz explained about the track to VH1's *Storytellers*, "It's really a song about all the dreams and all the things that make you want to go into doing whatever it is that seizes your heart, whether it's being a rock star or being a doctor or whatever. Those things run from 'All this stuff I have pent up inside of me' to 'I want to meet girls because I'm tired of not being able to' ... but it's also kind of cautionary because it's about how misguided you may be about some of those things and how hollow they may be too. Like the character in the song keeps saying, 'When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely,' and you're supposed to know that that's not the way it's gonna be. I knew that even then."

The name is inspired by his friend and former bassist from The Himalayans, Marty Jones, though actually based on Duritz himself. They went to a bar in Los Angeles and saw a musician flirting with three women. Duritz explained, "We couldn't even manage to talk to girls. We were just thinking if we were rock stars, it would be easier. I went home and wrote the song." Regarding the chord structure, Duritz told *American Songwriter* in 2021 that guitarist Dave Bryson wrote part of it, possibly on the bridge, though Duritz wrote most of it. Initially they were unable to piece together the track because Counting Crows wasn't yet established, and with the Himalayans didn't work out, though they performed it at various concerts. He continued, "I remember bringing in "Omaha" and "Mr. Jones" and we just couldn't get the feel of them together. Even when we finally taught it in Counting Crows for the band, it was hard for people to get either of those songs. They didn't really come together until we were in the studio recording the record. People didn't seem to grasp the grooves. Bands had a lot of trouble playing both those songs. But we worked it out in the studio. As far as the vocal takes, though, I don't really remember. I was just singing."

## Credits and personnel

### Song

* Adam Duritz – lead vocals, composition, lyricist
* Bruce Ranes – producer, engineer
* David Bryson – composition
* Gary Gersh – executive producer
* Joseph "T Bone" Burnett III – producer
* Patrick McCarthy – mixing, engineer
* Scott Litt – mixing

### Video

* Charles Wittenmeier – director
* Jim Haygood – editor
* Phyllis Koenig – producer

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[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 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, red, 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 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 will 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 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 wanna 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 wanna be big stars

But we don't know why and we don't know how

But when everybody loves me

I wanna be just about as happy as I can be

[Outro]

Mr. Jones and me, we're gonna be big stars

## References

1. ↑ "Adam Duritz, Counting Crows Frontman, Reveals 'Mr. Jones'". *HuffPost*. June 6, 2013.
2. ↑ Uitti, Jacob (2021). "Behind the Song: "Mr. Jones," Adam Duritz of Counting Crows". *American Songwriter*. June 30, 2021.

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