Counting Crows

Round Here

Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white
And in between the moon and you the angels get a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right
I walk in the air between the rain through myself and back again
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying through the door I hear her crying
Why? I don't know

Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates

Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
She said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
She parks her car outside of my house
Takes her clothes off
Says she's close to understanding Jesus
She knows she's more than just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous

Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands

Sleeping children better run like the wind
Out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
Out of the lightning

She says it's only in my head
She says Shhh I know it's only in my head
But the girl on car in the parking lot says
"Man you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Then she looks up at the building and says she's thinking of jumping
She says she's tired of life she must be tired of something

Round here she's always on my mind
Round here hey man got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late

I, I can't see nothing, nothing, round here
Oh and you catch me if I'm falling
You catch me if I'm falling
You catch me cause I'm falling down on you
I said I'm under the gun round here
Oh man, I said I'm under the gun round here
And I can't see nothing, nothing, round here

Omaha

Start tearing the old man down
Run past the heather and down to the old road
Start turning the grain into the ground
Roll a new leaf over
In the middle of the night there's an old man
Treading around in the gathered rain
Hey mister if you want to walk on water
Would you drop a line my way

Omaha
Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you'd better turn your ticket in
And get your money right at the door

Start threading the needle
Brush past the shuttle that slides through the cold room
Start turning the wool across the wire
Roll the new life over
In the middle of the night there's an old man
Threading his toes through a bucket of rain
Hey mister if you want to walk on water
You're only going to walk all over me

Omaha
Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you'd better turn your ticket in
And get your money right at the door

Start running the banner down
Drop past the color come up through the summer rain
Start turning the girl into the ground
Roll a new life over
In the middle of the day there's a young man
Rolling around in the earth and rain
Hey mister if you're going to walk on water, you know you're only going to walk all over me

Omaha
Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you'd better turn your ticket in
And get your money right at the door

Mr. Jones

I was down at the New Amsterdam staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones srikes up a coversation with this black-haired flamenco dancer
She dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
We all want something beautiful
I wish I was beautiful

So come dance this silence down through the morning

Cut up, Maria!
Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
Cause I want to be someone who believes

Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales
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

I will paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful
Gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic, yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play

Mr. Jones and me look into the future
Stare at the beautiful women
"She's looking at you. Uh, 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 never gonna be..lonely

I wanna to be a lion
Everybody wants to pass as cats
We all want to be big, big stars, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me, because I don't believe in anything
And I want to be someone to believe, to believe

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 want to be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, son, that's just about as funky as you can be

Mr. Jones and me staring at the video
When I look at the televison I want to see me staring right back at me
We all want to be big stars, but we don't know why and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me
I'm going to be just about as happy as I can be
Mr. Jones and me: we're gonna be big stars...

Perfect Blue Buildings

Just down the street from your hotel, baby
I stay at home with my disease
And ain't this position familiar, darling
Well, all monkeys do what they see
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

Down on Virginia and La Loma
Where I got friends who'll care for me
You got an attitude of everything I ever wanted
I got an attitude of need
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me

It's 4:30 a.m. on a Tuesday
It doesn't get much worse than this
In beds in little rooms in buildings in the middle of these lives which are completely meaningless
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me

I got bones beneath my skin, and mister...
There's a skeleton in every man's house
Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hangs on everybody
There's a dead man trying to get out
Please help me stay awake, I'm falling...

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me

I can't keep myself away from me
How am I gonna keep myself away from me

Anna Begins

My friend assures me "it's all or nothing"
I am not worried, I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me: "For one time only make an exeption"
I am not not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried, I am not overly concered
With the status of my emotions "Oh", She says, "You're changing."
But we're always changing

It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But, I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey or something in between
And I can always change my name if that's what you mean

My friend assures me "It's all or nothing"
But I am not really worried, I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you tell yourself to make yourself forget
I am not worried
"If it's love", she said, "then were gonna have to think about the consequences"
She can't stop shaking and I can't stop touching her and.....

This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering for days" she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing

But I'm not gonna break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not gonna bend and I'm not gonna break
I'm not gonna worry about it anymore
It seems like I should say "as long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should just:
Snap her up in a butter fly net and just pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried, I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...

This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And everytime she sneezes I believe it's it's love and
Oh lord.... I'm not ready for this sort of thing

She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh lord... I'm not ready for this sort of thing

Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

Time and Time Again

I wanted so badly somebody other than me
Staring back at me but you were gone
I wanted to see you walking backwards
And get the sensation of you coming home
I wanted to see you walking away from me
Without the sensation of you leaving me alone

Time and time again
Time and time again
Time and time again
I can't please myself

I wanted the ocean to cover over me
I wanna sink slowly without getting wet
Maybe someday, I won't be so lonely
And I'll walk on water every chance I get

Time and time again
Time and time again
Time and time again
I can't please myself

So when are you coming home, Sweet angel?
You leaving me alone? All alone?
Well if I'm drowning darling, you'll come down this way on your own

I wish I was traveling on a freeway
Beneath this graveyard western sky
I'm gonna set fire to this city
And out into the desert we're gonna ride

Time and time again
Time and time again
Time and time again
I can't please myself

I can't please myself
I can't please nobody else

Rain King

When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God in the belly of a black-winged bird.
Don't try to feed me
I've been here before and I deserve a little more

I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying, I've been thinking
And I am the Rain King

And I said mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone?
I can't go outside
I'm scared I might not make it home
I'm alive, I'm alive but I'm sinking in
If there's anyone at home at your place, darling
Why don't you invite me in?
Don't try to bleed me
Cause I've been there before and I deserve a little more

I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been lying, I've been sinking
And I am the Rain King

Hey, I only want the same as anyone
Henderson is waiting for the sun
Oh, it seems night endlessly begins and ends
After all the dreaming I come home again...

When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of dying
Lay me down in a field of flame and heather
Render up my body into the burning heart of God in the belly of a black-winged bird
Don't try to bleed me
Cause I've been here before and I deserve a little more

I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been dying, I've been drinking
And I am the Rain King

Sullivan Street

Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Cross the water and home through the town
Past the shadows that fall down wherever we meet
Pretty soon now I won't come around

I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly fallen to her knees

Take the way home
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Where all the bodies hang on the air
If she remembers, she hides it whenever we meet
Either way now, I don't really care
Cause I'm gone from there

I'm almost drowning in her seas
She's nearly crawling on her knees
She's down on her knees

Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Where I'm just another rider burned to the ground
Come tumbling down

I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly crawling on her knees
It's almost everything I need
I'm down on my knees
I'm down on my knees

Ghost Train

I took the cannonball down to the ocean
Across the desert from the sea to shining sea
I rode a ladder that climbed across the nation
Fifty million feet of earth between the buried and me

"How do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"

She buys a ticket cause it's cold were she comes from
She climbes aboard because she's scared of getting older in the snow
Love is a ghost train rumbling through the darkness
Hold on to me darling I've got nowhere else to go

"How do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"

I took the cannonball down to the ocean
Watched the diesel dissapear beneath the tumbling waves
Love is a ghost train howling on the radio
"Rember everything" she said "When only memory remains"

"How do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"

Raining in Baltimore

This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call

These train conversations are passing me by
And I don't have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way

I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don't get no change
It's raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same

There's things I remember and things I forget
I miss you I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?

I need a phone call
Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train if I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I'm lonely for the big towns
I'd like to hear a little guitar
I think it's time to put the top down

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

A Murder of One

Blue morning, blue morning
Wrapped in strands of fist and bone
Curiosity, Kitten, doesn't have to mean you're on your own
You can look outside your window
He doesn't have to know
We can talk awhile, baby
We can take it nice and slow

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream

Are you happy where you're sleeping?
Does he keep you safe and warm?
Does he tell you when you're sorry?
Does he tell you when you're wrong?
I've been watching you for hours
It's been years since we were born
We were perfect when we started
I've been wondering where we've gone

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream

Well, I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there counting crows
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver
Six for gold and
Seven for a secret never to be told

There's a bird that nests inside you
Sleeping underneath your skin
When you open up your wings to speak
I wish you'd let me in

All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream

Open up your eyes
You can see the flames of your wasted life
You should be ashamed
You don't want to waste your life

I walk along these hillsides
In the summer 'neath the sunshine
I am feathered by the moonlight falling down on me

Change, change, change

August and Everything After (1993)