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)
Good Luck
Counting Crows Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With some chick from LA,
The best things are sevens
And sex is just okay,
So please stay,
She said just stay.
'Cause there's a show at 11,
Maybe you can do better for yourself but not me,
So please stay, keep me company.
All the while thinking this is the good luck,
Stays with her most of the time,
It takes time to make these machines work,
But people are so unkind,
Gets kinda nervous,
Where it used to be hard.
She takes the edges off evenings in bedrooms,
And back seats in big cars,
All the while thinking this is the good luck,
Stays with her most of the time,
It takes time to make these machines work,
And people are so unkind, people are so unkind.
She looks in the mirror,
To make sure she's here,
She keeps disappearing and dreaming,
Of movie stars weddings,
And nothing is happening,
He tries not to notice,
She thinks he doesn't care,
You capture yourself in a jar,
And you stay there until you vanish,
Thin air.
All the while thinking this is the good luck,
Stays with her most of the time,
It takes time to make these machines work,
But he ain't got time while,
She's riding in black cars and pokes at the sky,
To see if he can make stars and,
People are so unkind,
People are so unkind,
People are so unkind,
People are so unkind,
People are so unkind,
People are so unkind.
"Good Luck" by Counting Crows is a song that tells the story of a woman who is living a life that may seem glamorous and exciting to those on the outside, but is actually quite hollow and unhappy. The song begins with Larry and a woman in Las Vegas, where the woman admits that the best things in life are mediocre at best, and asks Larry to stay with her. She is aware that her life is lacking and the excitement and company of Larry (even if it is just temporary) is what she yearns for.
The chorus of the song goes on to talk about the woman's continual belief that her life is good luck despite its hardships, and she takes the edges off her evenings with sexual affairs and fantasies about movie stars and glamourous events. The line "people are so unkind" seems to reflect her disappointment with the harsh reality of her life, and she feels as if the world is not giving her the love, attention, and success that she deserves. The line "You capture yourself in a jar, And you stay there until you vanish, Thin air" is particularly poignant as it highlights the futility and sadness of the woman's life. Despite her best efforts to make something of herself, she feels trapped, isolated, and unsupported by those around her.
Overall, "Good Luck" is a somber song that reflects on the difficulty of maintaining a happy life in a world that can be harsh and unforgiving. The woman in the song is constantly seeking validation and fulfillment, but ultimately feels trapped by the system she is in.
Line by Line Meaning
Larry's in Vegas,
Larry is in Las Vegas,
With some chick from LA,
He's with a girl from Los Angeles who is a stranger to him,
The best things are sevens,
He finds seven to be the luckiest number and the best outcome,
And sex is just okay,
Although he's having sexual relations with her, it doesn't mean much to him,
So please stay,
She wants him to stay with her,
She said just stay.
She directly tells Larry to stay with her.
'Cause there's a show at 11,
There's an event happening at 11 o'clock,
And the drinks are all free,
The drinks are complimentary,
Maybe you can do better for yourself but not me,
Maybe Larry could find something better to do, but she can't.
So please stay, keep me company.
She wants Larry to stay with her and give her company.
All the while thinking this is the good luck,
She believes that their current situation is lucky,
Stays with her most of the time,
She often thinks and feels this way about her luck,
It takes time to make these machines work,
It's difficult and takes time to get what she wants,
But people are so unkind,
However, people can be cruel,
Gets kinda nervous,
She starts to feel anxious,
Where it used to be hard.
Whereas things used to be difficult for her.
She takes the edges off evenings in bedrooms,
She uses sex to take away the stress of her days,
And back seats in big cars,
Also in the back seats of big fancy cars,
She looks in the mirror,
She examines herself in the mirror,
To make sure she's here,
To make sure that she exists and does not disappear,
She keeps disappearing and dreaming,
She often feels like she doesn't exist and daydreams often,
Of movie stars weddings,
She fantasizes about getting married to movie stars,
And nothing is happening,
However, nothing in her life is happening,
He tries not to notice,
Larry tries not to pay attention to her,
She thinks he doesn't care,
She believes that he doesn't love her or care about her,
You capture yourself in a jar,
You trap yourself and your feelings in a contained environment,
And you stay there until you vanish,
You stay there with your trapped feelings until you disappear,
Thin air.
You vanish into thin air.
But he ain't got time while,
Larry doesn't have much time on his hands,
She's riding in black cars and pokes at the sky,
She goes around in fancy cars and looks at the sky,
To see if he can make stars and,
She hopes that Larry could make stars and bring her luck,
People are so unkind,
However, people can be very cruel and unkind.
People are so unkind,
People can be cruel and unkind (repeated).
People are so unkind,
People can be cruel and unkind (repeated).
People are so unkind,
People can be cruel and unkind (repeated).
People are so unkind,
People can be cruel and unkind (repeated).
People are so unkind.
People can be cruel and unkind (last repeated line).
Contributed by Ian S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Lo Jun
one of his finest, if not the finest, with this nice crispy spiky bittersweet chord progression. it s like A Long December twin sister who left home and went to the other part of the world just to find out even there it is the same shit
rainkinggw
A very underrated track... Best things are sevens and the sex is just ok.
Stephanie Sprague
Thank you for this! I’ve got the original recorded in a bar.
Billy K
Super Rare: I think this is the only version. I fu*king love this song.
Billy K
Well this is awkward...I’m going to ‘comment on my own comment’ from 10yrs ago. Back to the Future I guess?...Doesn’t anyone want to hear the Studio version of this song? We’re all getting older, I want these to be released before I die....Can anyone help??? Otherwise these tracks may be lost forever...Bill (+10yrs)
Craig Buckser
@Billy K I can't help, but I sure would love to hear additional recordings of this song.
7th AngelAD
Finally found this song!!
BROTHER TIMOTHY 3X
Reminds me of Chelsea from their live album.
Barely Out Of Tuesday
Funny you say that....There was a studio version recorded along with Chelsea. Sadly - its either: lost in that fire, sitting on a shelf at Adam's parents house, or disappeared with the 'Black Sun' play. There is a snippet available online which was used in a movie called "Burn (1998)" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVBq3cepeNI) - but its only a bit of the song.
tommy toal
no its not. it was recorded but never released suprise suprise lol. it was recorded during recovering the sat same with chelsea.