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)
Carriage
Counting Crows Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From underneath you
Staring at the ceiling
It's another world of chocolate bars
And baseball cards and it hides
Inside of all this tension that I'm feeling
But it's all inside of you
And it's all inside of you
Surprise, Surprise
I miss your hair, you miss my eyes
And this solitude is my confidence eroding
So We slide inside of someone's mouth
And someone's eyes until
There's a sound of something intimate exploding.
But it's all inside of you
It's all inside of you.
I wish that I'd had anesthetized and sterilized and then
I wouldn't have this evidence congealing
Surprise, surprise
Another pair of lips and eyes
And that's the consequence from actually feeling.
But it's all inside of you
It's all inside of you
The song "Carriage" by Counting Crows tells a story of a person's internal struggle. The lyrics suggest that the singer is experiencing some turmoil and is finding it hard to keep their emotions in check. The opening lines, "If anything it should have been a better thing, from underneath you staring at the ceiling," suggest that the singer is reflecting on something that has happened in the past that was not a positive experience. They are lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and possibly feeling lost and confused.
The next lines, "It's another world of chocolate bars and baseball cards and it hides inside of all this tension that I'm feeling," suggest that the singer is trying to distract themselves from their distress by focusing on more mundane things. They are trying to find comfort in the familiar, but it's not enough. The lines "But it's all inside of you, and it's all inside of you" suggest that the singer realizes that the underlying cause of their distress is not external but rather an internal struggle.
The chorus, "Surprise, surprise, I miss your hair, you miss my eyes, and this solitude is my confidence eroding so we slide inside of someone's mouth and someone's eyes until there's a sound of something intimate exploding," suggests that the singer is reeling from a break-up or some other kind of separation from another person. They miss the physical intimacy they once shared and are using other people to fill the void, but it's not satisfying. The lines "But it's all inside of you, it's all inside of you" suggest that the singer is realizing that the real issue is their own internal struggles, not external circumstances.
The last verse, "I wish that I'd had anesthetized and sterilized and then I wouldn't have this evidence congealing, surprise, surprise, another pair of lips and eyes, and that's the consequence from actually feeling," suggest that the singer wishes they could numb themselves to the pain they're feeling. They're tired of feeling this way, but they also acknowledge that feeling is part of the human experience. They have to face the consequences of their actions and the emotions that come with them.
Overall, "Carriage" is an introspective song that explores the struggles of the human condition. It speaks to the universal experience of grappling with internal struggles and trying to find meaning in difficult times.
Line by Line Meaning
If anything it should have been a better thing,
I had hoped for something better.
From underneath you
Looking up at you from below.
Staring at the ceiling
Looking upwards and not facing reality.
It's another world of chocolate bars
A world of sweet delights.
And baseball cards and it hides
A world of childhood memories that is kept hidden.
Inside of all this tension that I'm feeling
The tension I feel is rooted within myself.
But it's all inside of you
What I am feeling is also within you.
Surprise, Surprise
I am taken aback.
I miss your hair, you miss my eyes
We both miss each other's physical features.
And this solitude is my confidence eroding
Being alone is harming my self-assurance.
So we slide inside of someone's mouth
We seek intimacy with someone else.
And someone's eyes until
We want to be close to another person both physically and emotionally.
There's a sound of something intimate exploding.
The release of our pent-up emotions and desires is like an explosion.
But it's all inside of you
The emotions and desires we feel are within us both.
I wish that I'd had anesthetized and sterilized and then
I wish I could have numbed and separated myself from these feelings.
I wouldn't have this evidence congealing
I wouldn't have to face the proof of my emotions and their consequences.
Another pair of lips and eyes
I have found another person to be intimate with.
And that's the consequence from actually feeling.
This is the outcome of allowing our emotions to take over.
But it's all inside of you
Our feelings and experiences are shared between us.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID LYNN BRYSON, ADAM FREDRIC DURITZ, CHARLES THOMAS GILLINGHAM, DAVID A IMMERGLUCK, MATTHEW MARK MALLEY, BEN G MIZE, DANIEL JOHN VICKREY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind