‘Mr. Jones’ is the debut single of American rock band Counting Crows. It was released in December 1993 by Geffen as the lead single from the band's debut album, August and Everything After (1993). The song was the band's first radio hit and has been described as their breakout single. ‘Mr. Jones’ debuted on the US Billboard Radio Songs chart on January 22, 1994, and entered the top 10 five weeks later. On May 14, 1994, the song reached its peak US chart position at number five. Internationally, the song peaked at number one in Canada and number seven in France. In April 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song at number four on their list of "The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs".
The band's surprise success happened to coincide with Kurt Cobain's death. These events took a significant toll on Adam Duritz, the lead vocalist and principal songwriter. Duritz said in an interview, "We heard that, that [Kurt] had shot himself. And it really scared the hell out of me because I thought, these things in my life are getting so out of control." These events and feelings were the basis for "Catapult", the first track of Recovering the Satellites. According to Duritz (who was born in 1964), the song title had a hand in the naming by Jonathan Pontell of "Generation Jones", the group of people born between 1954 and 1965. "I feel honored that my song Mr. Jones was part of the inspiration for the name 'Generation Jones'."
The song is about struggling musicians (Duritz and bassist Marty Jones of The Himalayans) who "want to be big stars", believing that "when everybody loves me, I will never be lonely". Duritz would later recant these values; and in some later concert appearances, ‘Mr. Jones’ was played in a subdued acoustic style, if at all. On the live CD Across a Wire Duritz changes the lyrics "We all wanna be big, big stars, but we got different reasons for that" to "We all wanna be big, big stars, but then we get second thoughts about that"; he also changed the lyrics "when everybody loves you, sometimes that's just about as funky as you can be" to "when everybody loves you, sometimes that's just about as fucked up as you can be."
n a 2013 interview, Duritz explained that even though the song is named for his friend Marty Jones, it is actually about Duritz himself. "I wrote a song about me, I just happened to be out with him that night", Duritz said. The inspiration for the song came as Duritz and Jones were drunk at a bar after watching Jones' father perform, when they saw Kenney Dale Johnson, longtime drummer for the musician Chris Isaak, sitting with three women. "It just seemed like, you know, we couldn't even manage to talk to girls, ... we were just thinking if we were rock stars, it'd be easier. I went home and wrote the song", Duritz said.
Label – Geffen
Songwriters – David Bryson, Adam Duritz
Producer - T-Bone Burnett
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Sha-la-la-la, la-la-la
Mm, uh-huh
[Verse 1]
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know, she dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
And we all want something beautiful
Man, I wish I was beautiful
[Verse 2]
So come dance this silence down through the morning
Sha-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, yeah
Uh-huh, yeah
Cut up, Maria
Show me some of them Spanish dances and
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
'Cause I wanna be someone who believes
Yeah
[Chorus]
Mr. Jones and me
Tell each other fairy tales
And we stare at them beautiful women
She's looking at you
Oh 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
[Verse 3]
Well, I'm gon' paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red, and black, and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful
Yeah, well, you know gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
[Chorus]
Mr. Jones and me
Look into the future
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you
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
[Post-Chorus]
I will never be lonely
Said, I'm never gonna be lonely
[Bridge]
I wanna be a lion
Yeah, everybody wanna pass as cats
We all wanna be big, big stars
Yeah, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me
'Cause I don't believe in anything
And I, I wanna be someone to believe
To believe, to believe, yeah
[Chorus]
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 wanna be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone
Just a little more funky
When everybody loves you
Oh son, that's just about as funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me
Staring at the video
When I look at the television, I wanna see me
Staring right back at me
We all wanna be big stars
But we don't know why and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me
I wanna be just about as happy as I can be
[Outro]
Mr. Jones and me
We're gonna be big stars