“I wanna be bob dylan. Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky. Well man, when everybody loves you, sometimes, thats just about as fucked up as you can be.”
Author’s note: I originally posted this on Facebook in 2021 before I started posting on my blog or on substack. So I am reposting here without editing. Enjoy.
I’ve talked and written about this song and specifically this version of this song since it was released (circa 1998). There a lot that is going on here and this version of the song conveys so much emotion and so much of what the song is trying to get across that once I heard this version, I was in love. I wrote an entire essay for business school about this song and what it meant to me.
I’m going into this discussion assuming you’re familiar with the super popular, fast version of Mr. Jones. I’ll post a version in the comments in case you don’t have it easily accessible. It’s important to have the context of the original version, because Adam makes some very specific and notable adjustments to the original arrangement based on where his headspace is when he recorded this version. And, you need to know the original to appreciate the choices Adam (and the CC band more broadly) make.
From the very beginning the tone of the song is totally different. A jangly guitar is replaced by an acoustic guitar and…an accordion. And, rather than the happy and up beat scatting, there is a pre-song tag about being a rock n roll star (byrds cover). This is super poignant because the song he is about to sing about his dreams of wanting to be a rock n roll star and while the original had a happy version of stardom, this newer take is cynical and dark. You know immediately that this will be a darker take on an upbeat song. Not just any song, but their most popular song and the song that broke things for them. Imagine that you loved that happy version of the song and Adam shows up and sings this version. After achieving his dreams, and in fact, this version was put together at the height of Counting Crows rock stardom. He has achieve all his goals, yet he is unhappy and considers reaching his dreams something that anyone who can pick up a guitar and learn to how to play can achieve. And we haven’t even gotten to the actual song yet. But, context for this song is everything.
Now we enter the song and within the first verse, Adam is making choices about the words he sings and how he sings them. In the original, “I wish i was beautiful,” is almost rushed through, whereas in this version, its the point. This is a man who (when this song was recorded) had dated two Friend’s stars in the span of a two years wishes he was more beautiful. He has achieved the dreams in this song. He has dated Hollywood A list stars. And he still wishes he was more beautiful. Because, as he conveys numerous times in the song, he is still lonely. So, so lonely.
In fact, another distinctive choice Adam makes here is how he how approaches reaching his dreams and the loneliness he feels. In the original he makes the assumption that achieving his dreams will solve his problem of being alone. In the new version of the song, its clear the process of reaching your dreams only exasperates the negative feelings you’ve been feeling all along.
This new version and its differences from the original come to a head towards the end. While in the original Adam asks everyone listening to believe in him, he is now explicitly saying that you should NOT believe in him. This is followed by another complete reversal in the song and really the highlight of the new version. Adam still wants to be bob dylan. Rather than beating around the bush, he completely contradicts the original by stating that when everybody loves you it just fucks you up. And in extension reaching your dreams can in fact fuck you up for lots of reasons that we can talk about later. He then goes totally off script and tags another his songs that is about his disappointment with reaching his dreams. And, how awful that feels to him. And how it is has just caused despair, depression, agoraphobia, and a host of other ailments.
It’s clear why this song resonates with me and so many other people. It’s clear why this version in particular resonates with so many people. Adam is for sure talking explicitly about his specific dream of being a rock star and in the new version, how disappointed he is with the experience so far. Lots of people set goals and reach them or have dreams that come true. And, sometimes when that happens it doesn’t feel as great as you thought it was going to be. You gotta focus on the journey; not the end result.
No comments:
Post a Comment