For the group's first album, Adam and David added bassist Matt Malley, multi-instrument talent Charlie Gillingham, and drummer Steve Bowman. David Immergluck served as the second guitarist on the first album, but he did not officially join the band until 1999. Guitarist Dan Vickery was added just as the band set out on their first tour. As stated before, 'August and Everything After' provided the band with a surprise yet very welcome success, garnering them critical praise. Released on September 14, 1993 through Geffen Records, the album hit #2 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, showing that their tunes had tapped into something.
Counting Crows, with their intimate and confessional yet smooth, often catchy musical approach, achieved a large fan base among melodic rock fans over the years. Their 90s acclaim reflected that a significant music scene looked for something different from the raging guitars of the Seattle-based grunge movement as well as from either boilerplate pop music or the budding electronic music subgenres. The group kept on releasing new songs into the new millennium.
The band's more recent successes include the 2004 hit song "Accidentally In Love", which was featured on the Shrek 2 soundtrack (that has sold over 1,000,000 copies). That song has also garnered nominations for a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. That same year, the band released their first ever best of set, which they titled 'Films about Ghosts'. That album features songs from every phase of the Counting Crows' recording career. To date, the band has sold over 20 million albums worldwide.
The group made the news when 'Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings' was released on March 25th, 2008. In addition, on January 16, 2008, the band released a digital EP as a free download on their official web site, consisting of the songs "1492" and "When I Dream Of Michelangelo". The lead single from the album was "You Can't Count On Me", which was released for radio play on February 4, 2008.
The album itself is thematically and stylistically divided into two parts: the first, more rock-influenced Saturday Nights, and the second, more country-influenced Sunday Mornings. Theme changes along with style; in the Sunday Mornings portion of the album, songs become more reflective. The iTunes release contains several bonus tracks, including a track-by-track interview with Duritz.
Members of the band:
Adam Duritz - lead vocals, piano, wurlitzer, tamborine
David Bryson - guitars, dobro, vocals
Charles Gillingham - piano, organ, accordion, mellotron, vocals
Dan Vickery - guitars, sitar, banjo, vocals
David Immergluck - guitars, bass, electric sitar, mandolin, vocals
Jim Bogios - drums, percussion loops, vocals
Millard Powers - bass guitar, upright bass, piano, vocals
Ex-members of the band:
Matt Malley - guitars, double bass, vocals
Ben Mize - drums, percussion, tambourine, bulbs, vocals
Steve Bowman - drums, vocals
Ben Ulrich - drums
Marty Jones - bass guitar
Lydia Holly - keyboards
Toby Hawkins - drums
Albums
August And Everything After - (September 14, 1993)
Recovering The Satellites - (October 14, 1996)
Across a Wire - Live in New York City - (1998)
This Desert Life - (November 1, 1999)
Hard Candy - (July 8, 2002)
Films About Ghosts: The Best Of - (November 25, 2003)
*New Amsterdam: Live At Heineken Music Hall - (June 19, 2006)
August And Everything After, Deluxe Edition - (Fall 2007)
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings - (March 25, 2008)
Somewhere Under Wonderland - (September 2, 2014)
Another Horsedreamer's Blues
Counting Crows Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 tryin' to be a good girl
And give 'em what they want
Lookin' 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
Margie doesn't say anything all the way home
So afraid she'll awake to find she's all alone
Margery's wingspan's 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
The Counting Crows' "Another Horsedreamer's Blues" is a song that tells the story of Margery, a woman who is obsessed with horse racing, and her mediocre life. The title itself is a play on the phrase "horsefeathers," an old fashioned expression to express disbelief or nonsense, highlighting the impossibility of Margery's dreams.
At the beginning of the lyrics, Margery is swept away in her daydreams as she thinks about the horses she wants to bet on, revealing that she's hopelessly addicted to gambling. The lines "She's tryin' to be a good girl, And give 'em what they want, But Margery's dreaming of horses," suggest that she's trying to conform to societal expectations, but cannot shake her obsession. Throughout the song, she's depicted as someone who's struggling with loneliness, sadness, and addiction, which is evident in lines such as "Her visions of one day go racing the next" and "Every race night is shot through with sunlight/Trying to hit the big one one last time tonight for..."
The chorus of "Another Horsedreamer's Blues" is particularly telling, as it is repeated over and over again, effectively serving as a refrain that emphasizes Margery's attempts to balance her life with her addiction. The song closes with the lines "But she's trying to be a good girl, And give 'em what they want, But Margery's dreaming of horses," implying that her addiction will probably be with her for a long time to come.
Line by Line Meaning
Margery's dreaming of the middle of the day
Margery is dreaming of a time when everything is bright and clear, probably as a way to escape her current situation.
Tiyuri to win
Margery is hoping that her favorite horse, Tiyuri, will win the next race.
Perfect Dozen to place
Margery also hopes that another horse called Perfect Dozen will come in second or third place in the next race.
money is the matter that's been on her mind
Margery is worried about money and how she will afford to continue betting on horses.
time ticks by her one race at a time
Margery's world revolves around horse races and the time between them seems to crawl slowly.
She's tryin' to be a good girl
Margery is attempting to be a responsible and respectable member of society.
And give 'em what they want
Margery feels like she owes it to someone to live her life in a certain way.
But Margery's dreaming of horses
Ultimately, Margery's true passion and desire is for horses and horse racing.
Lookin' at a green sky
Margery is seeing things that don't exist in reality, perhaps due to drug use or mental health issues.
Sun like a red eye
The sun seems ominous and judging, almost like a disapproving authority figure.
Bright blue horses are the fortune she lives by
Margery's entire life is fueled by her dreams and hopes of horse racing and winning big.
She's tired and lonely
Despite her dreams, Margery is exhausted and isolated in her pursuit of happiness.
Scared and depressed
Margery's life is full of fear and sadness, which she tries to escape through her horse dreams.
Her visions of one day go racing the next
Margery's horse racing dreams are her only hope for a better future, but they always seem to fade away the next day.
Margie doesn't say anything all the way home
Margery is quiet and internalizes her thoughts and feelings. She feels alone in the world.
So afraid she'll awake to find she's all alone
Margery is terrified of being completely alone and forgotten.
Margery's wingspan's all feathers and coke cans, and
Margery's life is filled with cheap and fleeting pleasures, such as drugs and junk food.
TV dinners and letters she won't send, and
Margery's life is also characterized by procrastination and inaction, such as not sending important letters.
Every race night is shot through with sunlight
Despite the darkness and sadness in her life, Margery still sees moments of beauty, hope, and happiness during horse races.
Trying to hit the big one one last time tonight for...
Margery is hoping to win big in the next horse race so that she can finally escape her difficult life.
Drunken fathers and stupid mothers and
Margery's past is full of abuse, neglect, and dysfunction at the hands of her family.
Boys who can't tell one girl from another
Margery has probably been used and taken advantage of by men who don't really care about her as an individual.
So she takes her pills
Margery is using prescription drugs as a coping mechanism for the pain and sadness in her life.
Careful and round
Margery is taking her pills slowly and carefully, perhaps due to addiction and the need to make them last.
One of these days she's gonna throw the whole bottle down
Margery knows that she needs to stop relying on pills to cope with her life, but hasn't found the strength to do so yet.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID LYNN BRYSON, ADAM FREDRIC DURITZ, CHARLES THOMAS GILLINGHAM, MATTHEW MARK MALLEY, BEN G MIZE, DANIEL JOHN VICKREY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind