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E40: Mrs. Potter's in Miami (and Barcelona)
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In this episode, we perform a deep dive into two of the Crows' most popular songs "Mrs. Potters Lullaby" and "Miami".
We explain how they are "kind of" singles, talk about how both are Top 15 concert songs, dissect the lyrics, and talk about some of their best live performances.
Eric also spends the first 15 minutes talking about his bucket list recent holiday in Spain....to watch "Holiday in Spain"
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Sullivan Street Show
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome to Sullivan Street, and this is what I'm calling the almost or kind of single show, as we're going focus on Mrs. Potter's Lullaby in Miami. I mean, two regular songs, two fan favorites. in fact, I just had looked up something on the net, and one of the first things that came up and read it was like, what's your favorite Crow song from like a year ago? And someone's like, it was always Mrs. Potter's, now it's Miami. So it just shows you those songs among Crow's fans that are very popular.
Welcoming Guests: Chris and Jeff
00:00:41
Speaker
But first, we will say hi to Chris. Chris, how you doing? i'm I'm glad to be here. Glad to be with back with you, Eric. um I'm excited to hear because I heard that you ah ah caught a plane to Barcelona because your city was a drag. That is exactly what happened. And the plane went right to Barcelona direct. My city is a drag, quite
Barcelona Trip and Concert Experiences
00:01:04
Speaker
frankly. We were talking about it in the in the blue room, if you will.
00:01:07
Speaker
The green room, blue room. Anyway, so and then guess what? We decided because it's been way too long, kind of like that old girlfriend that you're like, e you know, that you occasionally date, but you can't commit to.
00:01:18
Speaker
ah Kind of grows the story of Jeff Harkness. Jeff, welcome back to the show. Thank you. Always, always, ah always a pleasure. Because funny, I said to Jeff, I was like, I want you as a regular occasional guest. And I mean that. And I think it's been a couple episodes. So ah thanks. Thanks for joining us again.
00:01:37
Speaker
but Yeah, so I'll briefly talk about my holiday in Spain. And so that was on my, yeah, despite maybe my bank accounts and my wife's and maybe work's second guessing of it.
Counting Crows in Spain: Shows and Travel Stories
00:01:51
Speaker
ah It was on my bucket list to do in part because, as I mentioned on podcast before, I was actually living overseas for a little bit and had a chance to do this. And the shows in the Spanish shows in 2022,
00:02:04
Speaker
were either canceled or pseudo canceled or Adam was sick. I think there was three scheduled and I think one went through the entirety. um ah Maybe Barcelona was first and they did that. And then um the second one, he was sick and ended after like 15 songs or 13 or something like that back in 2022.
00:02:24
Speaker
And then canceled the third show, which was in Bilbao, which was the one that I was supposed to attend and was about to attend five hours. I was at the Guggenheim Museum, got an email and said, your show in five hours is canceled. I was very upset, but I was like, you know, maybe I'll get a chance to do it again. And this time I did and flew to the back to back um So I flew into Barcelona and they didn't take a day off between they played in Madrid the next day. So I took a bullet train, which we basically do not have in the United States.
00:02:53
Speaker
It was quick. hundred bucks. Got to Madrid in whatever it was, three hours and watched them there and then and then took it took took a train back. um I'll give a shot. You know, I said to you guys, the funniest thing is there has not been a lot of negativity about this tour, you know, on, on you know, but but on Reddit though, occasionally someone's criticizing the set list or whatever, but um right after the Madrid show, which I thought was basically the best show I've seen in 10 years, someone said that it was a complete disaster. So I might have to start a new thread about that because it was so strange. I thought,
00:03:30
Speaker
uh, it was amazing.
Meeting International Fans
00:03:31
Speaker
Uh, and Adam was not sick. The band was, was, was, uh, on point as they say here in Southern California. And, um, Yeah, so we'll talk ah talk about that.
00:03:42
Speaker
what was your favorite What was your favorite moment from the shows? Oh, yeah yeah, that's what i was going to say. I do give a shout. It wasn't too much, but there were a lot of international fans, and I might mention that. It's still majority, especially the Madrid show. I think the majority were locals and and the Barcelona show as well.
00:04:00
Speaker
But, you know, in line, there were people. um There were a bunch of people from Malta for whatever reason. That that made me laugh. ah So a shout out to them. a guy came in from France. A guy came, you know, I thought about like the people that were like the first 10, 20 in line.
00:04:15
Speaker
um And I met quite a bit of Americans. oh You know, it's funny. I didn't see a lot of people with like, usually you see Americans all over wearing like their pro- their pro sports gear or college gear. And I didn't see a ton of that in Spain, although I tried to stay away from the heavily touristed areas.
00:04:31
Speaker
But I actually saw a guy with a Syracuse shirt. And I think I've seen him at a different concert. It was one of the few college things I went to. And he I don't know if he's from maybe he's from and his daughter goes there. But they flew in just to those shows.
00:04:42
Speaker
I guess he's a big Crows fan and said to his family, every year you can choose which show to go to. And this year they chose Spain. So he flew them out there.
Setlist Discussions and Fan Reactions
00:04:52
Speaker
So I'm not the only one, I guess, that had the seat of holiday in Spain on my bucket list.
00:04:57
Speaker
I'm curious what the history is for them. What what what other shows they've chosen? I know a couple of those people i talked to after the show was over and I didn't want to. And I think it was two families, one in Madrid, one in Barcelona. And they came with like a family of four or five from the U.S.
00:05:13
Speaker
um And I did want to know a little more about it. Yeah, I should have ah shouldve got their details. And ah couple of them I told about the podcast. they They didn't know. So hopefully the words continues to spread.
00:05:24
Speaker
um I did, as I told them, just real quickly, I did i was able to sneak front row Next to the gate, both times. Not enough to get to the center, but that's fine. One of them, I was literally right in front right in front of Bryson, and I could basically touch the stage, which, of course, I did not. I did not want to be annoying or kicked out.
00:05:44
Speaker
And then then the second show, I stood right in front of Dan, which I hadn't been in front of Dan in a while. That's where I used to be when when I was younger. At the Barcelona show... ah so So the set list for both... Look, they did not add any songs for the European tour. of their They basically have almost like... you know, there's a couple they might swap out here and there overall, like we know this year, like Big Yellow Taxi or or Hard Candy.
00:06:11
Speaker
But they've pretty much been playing those two almost every time now. So there's really only like three spots where they're even subbing in everything. Now, again, don't forget, they're playing all five of their new songs.
00:06:22
Speaker
And I'll give him a pass for that because that's exactly what I want to hear is all five new songs. And I told some people next to me, some liked it, some didn't, some, um you know, a lot of people that I talked to next to me of course, there were some hardcore fans there like me, no doubt.
00:06:36
Speaker
There's a lot of fans though, that really, that they had the first three albums, you know, Maybe they had the fourth,
Origins and Stories of 'Mrs. Potter's Lullaby'
00:06:42
Speaker
didn't listen to it as much. you know Some of them bought the new one, maybe you only listened to it a couple times. So you know as I'm trying to put myself in some of their shoes sometimes too, that it was one of their favorite bands ever, but just maybe he hasn't followed them as deeply as are as we have.
00:06:56
Speaker
So the only ones they're really plugging in is when they do the acoustic. there's like a right There's like a three set songs that they do acoustic. and um And there's some stuff early in the set, right? that but Yeah, and there's always one or two early in the set.
00:07:10
Speaker
So on the first one, they played um they played all the songs I wanted. So they played Mrs. Potters, and they played Anna Begins. So those those were ah both amazing. well First of all... i knew you were coming, Eric. They knew I was coming. We're going to talk about Mrs. Potters. So first of all, Space Fan and Tulsa, I do think that's a great opening song.
00:07:31
Speaker
it's, it's energetic. It's, it's like, but you don't have to start with like Mr. Mr. Jones or whatever. But if someone wants to hear a new song, that's kind of energetic and he's starting off, I, you know, I'm a rock and roll star, right. Deal with it.
00:07:42
Speaker
And I think, I think the crap, um, that the band gets, uh, into it is, I think they like playing that in the beginning. Um, Hey, spoiler alert, I love all the new five songs.
00:07:53
Speaker
ah i you know Both times, I thought the crowd was almost, and they were receptive to all of them. I mean, of course, Virginia Through the Rain is a little quiet, ah you know so they're not going to be jumping up and down.
00:08:04
Speaker
ah was kind of surprised both times the crowd was really receptive to boxcars. I think it's because it's a rocker. And a lot of their new songs, or sorry, it was and it's shortly after the acoustic,
00:08:15
Speaker
ah portion of the of the set list. So I think that was part of it. um So the crowd yeah, they play God of Ocean Tides, which which I love, and Washington Square. So I guess, ah yeah, he always makes a joke that that maybe the European fans don't know The One by Taylor Swift, because she might not be as popular in Europe as she is in the US. And I think that's generally true.
00:08:41
Speaker
ah One funny thing that I was just remembering um that he gave the story both times about, um oh, when he talks about With Love From to Z, which i Jeff, I know you agree with me.
00:08:52
Speaker
That song is just amazing. And I think it's a real treat to listen to that live. I don't think the the crowd appreciates how, because it's new to them, most of them, how great that song is, how great the lyrics are. And both times he basically says,
00:09:07
Speaker
And it's funny because he he kind of bites himself in the foot a little or, you know, right. It's ups on his own feet a little because he says, basically, when it comes to the story of his life, he used to always say round here is the story of my life.
00:09:20
Speaker
But now it's from A to Z. And partly because he fell in love with, you know, his his girlfriend. he He basically says that without saying that. And he says it's also a tribute to his whole career and everything like that.
00:09:33
Speaker
But when he mentions around here, the Spanish crowd thinks he's going to play around here because that that part of
Concert Memories and Cultural Observations
00:09:38
Speaker
the set list, it didn't happen yet. So. so But yeah, Under the Aurora is great live because it has a little cloud crowd participation.
00:09:47
Speaker
so and and then I sent to these guys, watch it online. Surprisingly, so a lot of people were recording, especially in Madrid. I haven't seen a lot of the recordings online, but the Barcelona show, which had maybe limited people recording, the people that did were close up and they have good quality video and it's up there.
00:10:05
Speaker
So check it out. I think round here was especially good with the reigning and button. I think Chris saw both times they did the entire reigning in Baltimore lyrics, right? They didn't miss one song, one, one, one word. Yeah, no, which is awesome. I mean, I think that's one of the best.
00:10:19
Speaker
um It's one of the best around here. All right. mean, reigning in Baltimore, especially i think they've been playing it very well. And I think Adam's really been kind of weaving it together in a really nice way this, this year. Yeah, and of course there's part of me that's like, oh, I'd like to hear him play at the piano. It's probably not going to happen, but just to hear him him do the words to Reigning in Baltimore live is just something that does not happen very often. So so that that's that's a real treat.
00:10:45
Speaker
And ah yeah, Under the Aurora gets a crowd participation. And for the Barcelona show in particular, Holiday in Spain, when but he mentions Barcelona and the crowd completely erupts, and the best was...
00:10:57
Speaker
um because not everybody's in the frame, but Adam loves it. And Jim has this huge smile on his face. And even Charlie starts to smile a little bit because Charlie is pretty much, uh, you know, he doesn't show a lot of emotion on, on, on, on stage. He's into it, but, uh, yeah. So, so that was great.
00:11:17
Speaker
Hey, Jim came out both times and, uh, And he even mentioned, so Jim is a really high energy guy, as you know. He comes out afterwards and tries to high five people in the front row, cetera.
00:11:30
Speaker
he um He came out before the Barcelona show and said, hey, let's go... This is my favorite one of my favorite places to play. want the crowd. We've been talking about this.
00:11:42
Speaker
ah He didn't do the intro on the strip, but on Madrid, he came out and, um oh, during the um right before the encore, right? You know you go through the routine, the crowd cheers. you know, to get them to come out for the encore, and which I haven't seen forever.
00:11:57
Speaker
Jim comes out and says, and they were loud. And Jim comes out and says, this isn't loud enough. You need to get louder. And then they did. And it was twice as loud. So again, I felt like I was at some NBA playoff where, you know, they're trying to pump the crowd up.
00:12:11
Speaker
Y'all break this. to tut yeah Exactly. So, you know, one of the reasons I went and, and so I'll just say this quickly that I had heard and actually was Emmy that said it, but I kind of knew from online that the Spanish crowd is a little more lively than the American crowd.
Underwater Sunshine Fest Promotion
00:12:27
Speaker
And if you're up to being the kind of old style general admission and a place that now forgetting, is it 3000?
00:12:34
Speaker
See, three or five. think it's three that fits in. And, um, Yeah, I thought the Madrid was, yeah, the Barcelona crowd was really wild, but the Madrid was three times louder, which, and I kind of knew early. You just could kind of tell the way the crowd, you could feel the energy. um And then Jim thanked, and then Jim wrote on Facebook, this was like my favorite place to play because...
00:12:55
Speaker
And they were singing along. And then somebody wrote on Facebook, well, I don't want like when people sing along. Well, you're talking about some drunk guy who
Setlists and Song Evolution Analysis
00:13:04
Speaker
behind you in the US who doesn't know what they're doing. They're off key. They're singing it.
00:13:08
Speaker
This is different. They're culturally much more talented at singing along than Americans. Yes. And they're doing it. The Irish, the Spanish, they're they're much better at it than we are. Yeah, don't take it as like, yeah, the drunk guy to your night. This is like collective, somehow singing yeah one key together.
00:13:25
Speaker
um Exactly. and the And the British show did it. ah Brits did it when I was there. And now they only did it for a couple songs when I was in the UK, right? Round Here and Rain King, but they were perfect. And that's kind of what got me motivated to this.
00:13:36
Speaker
But here, especially in the second show, they were singing along to almost every song. Now, of course, the the you know the Round Here and the Rain King and whatever were the showstoppers and the place was loud.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I'm not saying they knew every lyric, but... um as I told Chris through text, like, Goodnight Elizabeth, they were doing the chorus. But it was never, and it was perfect. It was never enough to drown out what Adam and the band were doing. You could hear them perfectly.
00:14:00
Speaker
It was just like, again, if you're watching, like, just reminded me of watching a sports game or whatever, and Angels of the Silences, they're going you know, wait and I was like, geez, I don't even know they, how did how do they know these lyrics of Angels of the Silences? And they did.
00:14:13
Speaker
um so they did that. Elizabeth sing-alongs are the best. meaning I mean, I got to get to Europe and and do a Goodnight Elizabeth sing-along. Yeah. And so, so exactly. when are you, you're not going experience that. You're never going experience that in U S so, um, and angels and silences, you know, this happened when I saw them play it last, which I think was two years ago or something.
00:14:30
Speaker
There's one part. Cause I, I guess they, I, I, they have like someone that does like staging and stuff for them. i know that. So there, there's one part in angels acoustic where even Dan goes over and there's all four of them kind of playing together.
00:14:44
Speaker
I think if i remember correctly, so Adam's still singing and then the four of them are immediately to, to I guess it would be three of them. no charlie No, Charlie's there. So the four of them are immediately to Adam's left, our right.
00:14:57
Speaker
and And they're playing in such harmony and together, it gave it absolutely gave me the chills because it's so good. And to have it be Angels of the Silence is acoustic. So I hope somehow that that gets up there.
00:15:10
Speaker
Chris asked me, was there any song that they were surprisingly into? And the answer, particularly in the second show, was Hard Candy. They were absolutely into Hard Candy. They knew all the songs, ah lyrics. ah I almost think they were. Yeah. So anyway, and my only guess is that ah holiday and that Hard Candy was probably their best selling album there because of Holiday in Spain. Right.
00:15:36
Speaker
So that's the record. That's the record. that That's their August. Right. It probably in some ways is true. um So but so there was no disappointments. I mean, if there was any disappointment, actually, it was the two songs today.
00:15:49
Speaker
Not that the quality of the performance. But um for the Barcelona show, I don't think it would happen to murder Madrid you know when he when he's like, hey, Mrs. bo Potter, talk to me. I almost thought that the crowd should be louder.
00:16:00
Speaker
And Miami, the crowd was excellent. They were singing along to Miami. But I almost thought it would have been out of control, like back to the ping-pong days where everybody was jumping. You didn't really get that, although the crowd was ah lively. So I guess – Also, if you are Spanish and you can explain to us why ah the country of Spain loves hard candy, Sullivan Street PC at ProtonMail.com.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I guess that's it. I did want to thank, I, i you know, I try not to be too ah religious or I change my opinion about religion a lot. But the fact that both nights I got a set list without asking for it, um because I think both Dave and Dan saw.
00:16:45
Speaker
my enthusiasm and I try to give them some shout outs without like staring at them too much during the show. ah So, but yeah, so I, I, and I'm not really a set list kind of person cause I'm like, okay, I can download that, but I thought it was really cool and I'll probably do something with them or save that maybe even frame them just cause it was such a cool experience.
00:17:02
Speaker
So, so yes, hopefully you guys can join next time or the, the fans of the podcast or head over to, head over to the u k Those shows are great too, I'm sure. Or anywhere. So, okay.
00:17:14
Speaker
Good, good, good, good. if i think p Plug for Under the Aurora too, like yeah special mention. i just I just think that is... one of the best songs that they have released and in, I mean, that particular song, I just think it's so good.
00:17:28
Speaker
And it's, it's always surprising when a band that's 30 plus years into their career puts out a song that holds up as well as anything they've ever done.
00:17:39
Speaker
And I really think that, I mean, A to Z, I think also is, is a very special song, but yeah, to me, Under the Aurora, like that could have been on This Desert Life or it would have fit in comfortably with a number of their other albums. And not many bands are capable of pulling off something like that. I think, you know, this latent to a band's career often is like, well, you know, that the releases are are good, but not not like the classics. But I really think that that song, there's something about it, but I haven't stopped listening to it since it came out.
00:18:16
Speaker
And I just think it's it's one of the best songs they have done Ever, really. well It's also really unique too, right? It's both familiar and new at the same time.
00:18:28
Speaker
Yeah. And I do think it's a great starting the, ah if you're if you're going to play three songs in the encore,
Acoustic vs. Electric Performances: Impact Discussion
00:18:34
Speaker
um Now, know there's people that and I might be one of them that kind of think you could swap out hanging around. And then after this tour, at least after I visited Spain, maybe you can swap out holiday in Spain.
00:18:45
Speaker
um But I think starting the encore three songs that and under the Aurora is a nice choice, actually. Yeah. Great song. ah I have found listening to that as long as continue grow me as well.
00:18:55
Speaker
Great song. like kind of coming out of the train on your way to work in the morning. You know? Yeah. Because it tended to hit if I was listening to a show and kind of skipping around. Obviously, it's towards the end of a show.
00:19:06
Speaker
So, you know, kind of get hit there as I was like coming out of the train. Grand Central just good. Get you going in the morning. No, I agree. i mean, I love Virginia Through the Rain, and I think that could have been in any album too, Jeff. I guess, the and and as edit is if we we've talked, I forget if it was online or offline, maybe offline, is that um that is maybe their first, like,
00:19:28
Speaker
true ballad in a while. I mean, I guess possibility days, you know what i mean? Where it's like kind of the old school ballad. But, um but I guess one difference of under the Aurora is that it's, it's also like really unique, you know, that they they haven't really done anything like that.
00:19:42
Speaker
No, I agree. And to hear all five. so oh So that's what I said. I said to the guy next to me, I said, you have to understand, not only does someone like me want to hear all these new five songs, but after this tour, we might never hear these songs again live.
00:19:56
Speaker
It's possible. all five. Yeah. Yeah, not all five. And then maybe they play one because, you know, what songs are they playing from somewhere in their wonderland?
Personal Concert Stories and Emotional Connections
00:20:04
Speaker
Well, luckily I got to hear Gods of Ocean Tides, but not a lot.
00:20:07
Speaker
So during that tour, they were playing all of them. Right. They played, um I think they played Cover Up the Sun like Oh, yeah. Or something like that. And in the UK, they played that as well a couple years ago, Cover Up the Sun. but And you know every so often, they'll bring up Palisades Park. But you know you're not hearing Elvis Goes to Hollywood or Dislocation a lot. And I feel that some of these songs, even if Adam loves them, you might not hear Under the Aurora after this especially you know after this tour. I'm curious. I do think... I think these songs will have a longer life than those. And when think about those songs, I mean, they did play them for ah a good number of years after they were released. They've kind of...
00:20:43
Speaker
Although, again, part of it may be simply, right, they kind of replaced those songs with the first set of sweet songs when that happened. And then they replaced that with the second set of sweet songs.
00:20:54
Speaker
So ah maybe that's really the ah trigger there was what's newest. um But we we'll see. Yeah, no, that's true. So let's think if I think of something else, I will. Thank you to the people I met. And yeah, hopefully someday the three of us can go together, if not there somewhere.
00:21:10
Speaker
ah they got Oh, quick plug i ah for those because I will publish, try to publish this today or tomorrow. The Underwater Sunshine Fest is coming up in about a month. So what do we say? I think it's November 21st and twenty second Yeah. And is that a Friday, Saturday, I'm assuming?
00:21:26
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. So New York City, go go see that. um you know Adam you know might make an appearance, likely does at some point, but but it's it's it's him and James Campion and yeah putting together some of the yeah best, I don't know, how would you describe the, i just different kind of acts and acts that they want to promote.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah. ah and a glimpse into their taste in music for the year. Um, yeah what's going on and what's going through their heads. And, uh, they're actually also doing, they just announced on Saturday night, a talk related to James's new book, um, which is about Prince and the revolution. Yes. Adam is going to be involved in that.
00:22:03
Speaker
A couple other people too. And I, I'm forgetting, but, um, yes. So you'll be able to hear them have a chat. Uh, if you missed the podcast, I'm not sure you're able to make it Saturday night, unfortunately, but I mean, am i I hate to make this up, Chris, but I think when James and,
00:22:20
Speaker
Adam talked about Prince over like five episodes. I think that's what triggered writing the book, right? I think. I mean, James might have written it anyway, but I mean... have to ask We could ask James for that should that change the timeline if that's what did it or not. Yeah, I almost think, they because that he realized he knew so much you know that they knew so much about him and they were so enthusiastic that he goes, oh, I can write a book about but this guy. Yeah.
00:22:43
Speaker
um Okay, so let's go to the main part of today's ah talk, which is, as I said, the almost kind of single show. Miami and Mrs. Potters, we're going to go deep dive into the the songs themselves, the lyrics.
'Miami' and 'Mrs. Potter's Lullaby' Song Analysis
00:22:55
Speaker
ah chris Chris has ah ah had some highlighting some of their best and unique live performances, which we will link either to... Chris's Instagram or the the the show's YouTube, etc.
00:23:07
Speaker
So I say that they were the almost kind of singles because ah officially they both were singles, but people don't really know they're singles. And I think neither of them, so even with the CDs,
00:23:22
Speaker
Both of them had CD releases, but they were only to the radio stations. Unlike Hanging Around and Angels, ah they um yeah did not get in like kind of an official ah you know release that had like a unique B-side on it or whatever.
00:23:38
Speaker
and we'll so We'll talk about that. so Miami... um I guess officially got released in July of 2002. I just saw that the that the CD single that went to radio state. And again, I never heard either of these two songs on the radio. Now, Mrs. Potter's, I was overseas when it got released, so maybe that's why i missed it.
00:23:58
Speaker
um This said that the radio edit was up was for Miami a minute and 30 seconds. Cut out, which I would I didn't get a chance. I'd like to see if I can find the radio at it. Because said the radio at it was three thirty and the regular Miami is is five minutes.
00:24:16
Speaker
I'm pretty sure I heard that in a grocery store once. OK. And i cause I know I've heard a lot of crew songs, even some non singles. At least this is one of the first. I think we talked about this. It might've been one of the first songs that Emmy got official writing credit for. I know he does. I think it's Adam, Charlie and Emmy.
00:24:33
Speaker
um Just, we were talking about the tours and, you know, we've joked on the podcast of Miami being played a lot. um If I remember correctly, it was not played when I saw them earlier this year. And this guy I saw after the audience, like I've been, I've seen them 43 times. I'm like, what do you think of the new album? Oh, haven't bought it yet. Okay.
00:24:49
Speaker
How do you think of the concert? Great. I wish they played Miami, though. That's my favorite live. And I'm thinking, well, it's okay, but I'm sure you've heard it 41 of the 43 times. And I say that because it is the eighth most played song in their concert history.
00:25:03
Speaker
And if you think about that, it wasn't it was on the fourth album. That means that out of since the fourth album, it might be like their fifth most played song or fourth. um And that's more than colorblind and twice as much as Angels of the Silence is.
00:25:17
Speaker
which is a single, had the acoustic version, and came out two years i two albums prior. According to what I found, even though I didn't think it was ah it was a single, it hit number nine in the U.S. Adult Alternative chart.
00:25:32
Speaker
And the only other thing, and then I'll let ah you two talk, I've been talking a lot, is I won't recap the whole thing, but... Um, he's talked quite a bit about, uh, what the song means and how to do with his, uh, girlfriend at the time coming back to Miami, uh, in an air, uh, you know, by the airport and he, and he, one one thing that dates us, I do like that. He talks about that back then you could actually go to the gates to meet people. I don't remember that. So I definitely remember going to gates to say goodbye to people departing, which even seems more wild to me. ah now I guess, yeah, for the pickup thing.
00:26:08
Speaker
ah so but he but But also that even though he missed her so much and like loved her, was like so excited to see her, he knew that eventually, based upon his personality, that it will end and that he would leave.
00:26:23
Speaker
um And so the only other two quotes I had, and then we'll get there, is is one thing he said about the song, about this world, that this life gives you both everything and nothing at the same time.
00:26:37
Speaker
And this song partly is about how to deal with that because life doesn't tell you exactly how to deal with that. And the other interesting quote I thought was, um oh because I think this is about the everything and nothing again.
00:26:49
Speaker
The truth is you have to hold them both. And I didn't know how to do that. um How do you live? this This is a great final and such an Adam line. How do you live with loving something and knowing that you're going to throw it away?
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah. and it's it' so And so part of that, i would say, part of the the to to sort of bring people in here, the the behind the scenes, right? Part of the theory behind this episode, you know, we had done episodes about songs in the past. And um part is of were looking at these last two records we've covered, This Desert Life and Hard Candy. And part the hard thing was that there's not a lot of alts and changes in those songs live relative to the first couple of records.
00:27:28
Speaker
Yeah. you know um With Hard Candy, you know you can point to there's an acoustic version of American Girls, but we probably said all that we were going to say about American Girls um when we covered it in the that episode.
00:27:42
Speaker
um And you know the couple of acoustic versions of Richard Manuel, which are sort of not wildly different. um And then ah i was I was pitching, why should you come when I call? But again, i'd we probably have all said what we need to say about why should you come when I call on Monday.
00:27:56
Speaker
the episode But um Miami is, I think, one of their um has become kind of one of their classic songs. And there's a ah really beautiful set of acoustic versions that they did in 2008. um It's actually interesting kind of going back um because I could have sworn that they were alternating between the acoustic and the electric pretty much every night.
00:28:14
Speaker
um And they played that song most of that tour, um but only the only four acoustic versions. um So there's only four of them. um If you're looking for them, all of them are on nugs ah from that 2008 tour.
00:28:27
Speaker
um If you're looking ah August 19th and August 29th and then September 6th and September 18th are the four versions, acoustic versions that you can listen to. But what's really interesting, kind of what Eric was referring to there, is that that's really when Adam started to do that long section about which he then truncated and has done ever since. The sort of what would you do right you know now?
00:28:50
Speaker
i you know you can You can kind of quote him pretty quickly, right? He was says, if you knew everything, if you could see anything before it happened, what would you do? If you knew the love you threw away meant everything to her. If you knew this would ruin her, what would you do? That's what he does now.
00:29:04
Speaker
But that's, you know, 20 seconds of of a couple of lines. um And these were like multi-minute sort of improvisations around the idea of, you know, what would you do, you know,
00:29:17
Speaker
these things to Eric's point, what about these things about love, um, and what that meant and, and sort of your connections to people and knowing, ah knowing you're going to leave, but staying and and all of these thoughts that he's having.
00:29:29
Speaker
Um, it's also kind of interesting because I think the, um, uh, the when you realize as he's explaining the song is how, because I don't think it's clear the first time you listen to that song, I don't think it's obvious to what extent that song is really one moment in an airport and a very visual representation of what he is seeing and feeling in that moment.
00:29:51
Speaker
um I don't know if that's an obvious thing from the lyrics, but when he says it, you go, oh, like, This is just one moment in this guy's life um that he is sort of extrapolating into something very um long lasting. Right. As you said, Erica, the songs they played the most. So clearly it's one that's worked for them on an ongoing basis.
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great, and it and yeah wouldn and I'll get Jeff's takes on either of the the background of it recording or anything else that Jeff knows. I always love the Crow songs that crescendo also, especially live, but even, that's one of the reasons I like.
00:30:26
Speaker
I like songs that, they're songs that like their third or fourth verse is the best and musically it crescendos up and Miami kind of does that too and and even for people that don't know the song it's always a good one because right they get that kind of stop in the middle of the lot right where it kind of ends and people that don't know the song like oh it's over and they start clapping and then boom the bus is running and it crescendos even more powerful I think, though, you know, it's even people know the song. There's something about stopping that makes people clap.
00:30:54
Speaker
It's weird. like Like, you could know a song super well. Like, there's that Strokes song, Hard to Explain, that has a stop. And, like, anyone who's at a kind a Strokes concert knows the song, Hard to Explain. Like, there's no.
00:31:05
Speaker
But, like, they stop and go, yeah. And the song keeps going. Oh, my God. yeah i know And now I clap during that part, too, I have to admit. Something about our brains, that you know.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah, Jeff, your take your take before we get into more about Miami. Well, um I mean, one thing that I maybe I knew this, but it was really in doing this closer listen to it that the song is about Amy of Amy in the atmosphere, which.
00:31:35
Speaker
OK. Oh, I don't know if it is. is Is Yes. sort of kind looked I looked at the actual printed lyrics from the CD booklet on their website to verify that that was true, because I thought, am I just hearing this?
00:31:47
Speaker
But it's specifically he mentions Amy in the lyrics. No, and it's definitely the same name, but I was always under the impression that there's an Amelia, he says, sometimes he says live, Amelia, but that that was someone he dated and Amy was like a friend, although who knows, right? i Good point, good point. there There may have been more than one Amy. um So, yeah, i don't I don't know. But I never, i didn't realize like that there was a specific name in the song. i think I was mishearing the lyric.
00:32:17
Speaker
And then when we went... The day like Amy? Yes, you're right. i like He sounds like i'm like he's saying aiming on what we do. Yeah, there are a few places, i think maybe even more than once. But he definitely says the name Amy, which I didn't realize. So there's a specific person.
00:32:33
Speaker
And of course, it's a specific place. um As I'm listening to all these versions and my wife is like, I really like songs where they mention a place, you know, not just counting crows, but in general. And, you know, they they kind of do that well. Adam, of course, has talked about how that always gets ah a big applause, you know, whenever they mention a place in a and location where they're playing.
00:32:57
Speaker
And I remember seeing this song performed live for the first time in New Orleans when they were previewing Hard Candy. So in 2001, and of course it ends with a line about New Orleans and it got a huge, ah you know, applause, even at the time when it was an unknown song. I think they opened with it both nights.
00:33:18
Speaker
So they've always you know ben been really into this song. I think also something that's just interesting about the song is that it the studio version and sometimes the live version, but it starts with a drum machine.
00:33:34
Speaker
It's a drum machine that's playing and then the drummer you know kicks in and and joins the song in the studio version. Sometimes I think they do that live, but often it's just done with drums.
00:33:46
Speaker
I also found some versions when we were playing the live ones. I love those acoustic takes on it, by the way. I just think Adam's vocals are so good in the way that he sings the you know the down lines and and how he moves his voice around. It's just, it's so good.
00:34:04
Speaker
But yeah, I think um sometimes i so I found versions where it started off acoustic and then where the drums kick in on the bus it's running, the whole band would come in.
00:34:16
Speaker
um Maybe it was 2007 even where there were some versions where it was kind of a hybrid acoustic electric. And i loved that, too. I thought that was very cool. But um yeah, I mean, it's it I was thinking i think I probably have about 25 songs in my Counting Crows top 10 songs.
00:34:37
Speaker
Aurora just joined. It's like, oh, this is easily in my top 10. And there's like got to be 25 songs. um Miami and and Potters are actually both really high on my list. I think um they're really enduring songs, some of the best songs they've done.
00:34:51
Speaker
um I think I looked up to see, and Potters was my number one when we did Desert Life, and Miami was my number two when we did Hard Candy. um So definitely two of my favorite songs, but also...
00:35:03
Speaker
the songs are so different. I mean, they're great, but for very different reasons. Um, and they just sound different. I think one of the things that's great about Miami is that it's really, um it's a really kind of like a slow burn, you know, they just hold that tempo and it could be because at least on the studio track, there's a drum machine, but they do it this way live too, but they just, they hold it and hold it.
00:35:28
Speaker
And, um, but it But somehow, and I think it's maybe Adam's voice, um how he really just brings it to a crescendo at the end vocally, um and it gains its power from from that. you know I think in the studio version live, the band you know emphasizes it more, but um it's one of his best vocal performances. And I think that his control through through through the song and then at the end, he just really kind of lets go, gives it um just an amazing sense of power or something.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah. and it's one of the great things about the the acoustic versions too, is he sings it. And this is, I think when they do stuff acoustic, just in general, he's so great at singing it like totally differently, but still in a very resonant and and sort of impactful way where he can sort of find a different way into the song and that is is, you know, just as affecting, but go but quite different. Right. I mean, you're really, yeah yeah that there's something about the electric version that, um,
00:36:27
Speaker
sort of over like there's an attempt at overcoming sort of the melancholy um where, where the acoustic version sort of emphasize that melancholy of like, this is, this is a pretty sad moment in time. Like the idea that you're realizing that you're with someone and you're going to leave them.
00:36:43
Speaker
would say I've always felt very connected to it. It's kind of a, cause when they started doing that long thing and, late summer and ah early fall of 2008, I was having that experience. like I was legitimately being like, was in a long relationship. show i was like, I think this is probably going I think i got to end this. I think this is like, think this is like coming to a moment. And i and and that ah aspect, which is in that, the song he talks about in the lyrics, ah was so not really in my, in the lyrics, but in when he does sort of explication of sort of like,
00:37:19
Speaker
what does it mean to sort of like leave something that may be more meaningful to someone else than you? It's very kind of think difficult thing to negotiate emotionally because, you know, you can't, you have to make a choice for yourself, right? You have to find, i think in that version, the, the, like particularly well that the nine 18 version, that there might be someone perfect waiting just for you, which of course for Adam Dirtz turns out there wasn't for me as well.
00:37:45
Speaker
um But that's an incredibly difficult thing. And so it was a very interesting thing. I was listening to all the tapes that summer because they were doing nugs. And we were it wasn't it was before the the streaming. But some of us found ways to share them with one another so that we could hear the whole tour.
00:38:04
Speaker
And um I think the Statue of Limitations is passed on that. But the... the ah just hearing them that night after night was a really interesting sort of experience in my life. Cause I was just sort of like, is he like, is he in my head? Like this is but this an interesting as he slowly started explicating more and more. Cause if you go back to them, some of the first ones are very short. And then again, by the end they're doing, these are eight and a half, nine minute versions of Miami.
00:38:31
Speaker
Um, Which actually, it's interesting, I did not see an acoustic version that summer, but I did see them do it ah at the Wellmont. Because there was a stretch actually early in the tour where they were not playing Miami. One of the very rare stretches post-release where they weren't playing Miami for like a few weeks.
00:38:47
Speaker
And then they were like, yeah, let's play Miami every night again. um And they did pretty much again like the rest of the the summer and fall. Yeah, that that's interesting. i was looking at... um Yeah, and really lucky that you got to see um some of those some of those great versions. I think i I mentioned on the podcast once, maybe it was even on the yeah one of the earliest shows, is that this was one of the songs I saw, I think it was fall of or late winter, or you know almost winter of 2001, the end of that year, when they were like demoing some of the songs from Hard Candy.
00:39:20
Speaker
and We heard me and my buddy, we heard this and we looked to each other. We said, ah, that song was pretty incredible. I am looking forward to this album. And I didn't feel that way.
00:39:30
Speaker
you know, maybe they played black and blue as as also. Right. And that's a good song, but it didn't hit. It wasn't like this one. I'm like, I knew this was kind of special. And it's funny you said that about the lyrics, Chris. it just got me thinking that.
Personal Impact of Counting Crows Songs
00:39:42
Speaker
the part at the end that is kind of the most energetic that you really could jump up and down to is the lyrics, of course, are the most depressing. So when that when the when the music is the most, like, enthus I don't know, energetic, right?
00:39:56
Speaker
The summer is gone and so are we. And then it's like, okay, that's the anthem. The summer is gone and so are we. you know, let's shut it down, right? um which Which is kind of funny going back to ping-pong. Yeah, I was looking, there's,
00:40:08
Speaker
um Jeff, I know you like some of the calls. I don't know if it's a straight callback, but in addition to mentioning Amy, he mentions you know daylight and sunlight. He mentions Angel a couple times.
00:40:19
Speaker
you know i I've never written about angels. He likes to write about angels. um yeah Is this also the first song that he drops in F-bomb or even any kind of curse, really? um I think so. Because he's not a real cursing lyricist for the most part.
00:40:35
Speaker
um I think you're correct about that, Eric. I don't think i don't think there's a recorded Counting Crows F-bomb before this song. I remember I kind of heard it. I was like, okay, I guess he meant that. um you know With but the Spaceman in Tulsa, which by the way also uses, well, if not a drum machine, it uses the, I forget. But you know they do have other songs where ah Jeff, they mentioned or they they use some other either percussion or beats in addition to the, by the way, the guy next to me at the, who saw them a lot in the first couple of tours, he didn't recognize Jim. I think he never saw them after the first hard candy or, you know, about that time.
00:41:10
Speaker
And he goes, oh my gosh, this drummer is so good and so enthusiastic. I said, yeah, he's been doing it for 20 years, but that's that's exactly right. um Okay, i guess that I guess that, by the way, fans, when they do the halo with your hands, I know it might be a little cheesy, but everybody should be putting the halo, especially if you're standing, yeah, above your head if possible. Come on, that's how you know that you're a hardcore Crows fan or whatever.
00:41:38
Speaker
So, Um, real quick, uh, you were just talking about that. You know, you go to a counting crows concert and it's like, Adam is in your head. i will. I mean, it's really unforgettable, but I think it's still the best counting crows show I saw was, uh, in Omaha on the desert life tour.
00:41:57
Speaker
And, um, the backstory to that show is I was supposed to go to it with, go to the show with my then girlfriend and, um And we got in an argument and broke up.
00:42:08
Speaker
And I went to the show alone. And the whole Adam comes out and like after the third song or something, he's like, I just broke up with my girlfriend and goes into this whole thing about it. And the whole show was like that. And I'm like, oh, my like every song is about that. Everything he gets into is about that.
00:42:29
Speaker
And, you know, it was like, I think for that reason, it was such an emotional show for me um because we, you know, and I was thinking the same thing. Like, this guy's like, you know, singing about my life right now. This is ah pretty unbelievable. So, yeah, as you were telling that story, it reminded me of that.
00:42:50
Speaker
Was that earlier towards the end of the Desert Live tour? Yeah. I think it, well, I mean, I saw two, no, I saw three shows on that tour. It must have been in the middle. it was maybe, you probably April or May of 2000. And I saw a show in December, right when the album came out in December 99. So this was in May or something. I saw them with live after that. So Yeah.
00:43:16
Speaker
Well, maybe they got back together. Because I'm just saying, think the timeline, right? Because hes that with Miami, it's the end of the tour, right? They did that last section of ah with with live. And i'm I'm pretty sure based on that timeline, right, that's when the song Miami is happening is sort of like September.
00:43:30
Speaker
She had left. She'd gone, been away for a few months. And maybe they broke up and got back together. And then, you know. Or maybe it different girlfriend. I don't know. know But the timeline wouldn't work doesn't really work for a different girlfriend. That's what I'm saying. It feels like it would have to...
00:43:45
Speaker
It feels it would have to be. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe if Adam, if Adam ah comes on the show, we'll ask him about that. Well, yeah. And if, if anybody, that's like my most, my Holy grail of bootlegs. I've never heard a bootleg of that show in Omaha, but God, I would love to hear it because it was great.
Comprehensive Analysis of 'Mrs. Potter's Lullaby'
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, which is actually a good segue. Cause if we talk about the next song, we'll talk about my Holy grail of bootlegs in terms of shows I've been to. All right, great. and So we'll we'll go into the other almost single, Concert Mainstay. And these are all, and and yeah as you said, it's almost, I guess, like Ranking, but Ranking such a unique song, right Because that was never an official single or kind of was, but they didn't have a video. you know It would have been if Adam, right, he said he wanted to like you know close the spigot a little bit because he thought they were getting you know too much exposure.
00:44:31
Speaker
ah But Mrs. Potters, in fact, I just... I had a um yeah you joke when you have like, sometimes when you're single, of course, you go on dates. And then when you're married, you kind of might date other couples, right? That kind of happens where you all to go together.
00:44:46
Speaker
And then if you have kids and they have kids, then you're kind of dating the whole family because they have to have kids the same age. So I had one of those this summer, like a pool party kind of thing. and And somehow my wife mentioned to them that I'm a Big Crows fan and and the and the husband's like,
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, I like them too. And i i used to listen to their albums on road trips. But again, he was like... He had like the first, I guess, four albums is what he had. But um I just said, oh, what's your favorite song? And he said, Mrs. Potters.
00:45:13
Speaker
And he loved Mrs. Potters. So people... Love this song. Um, on the Counting Crows set list, official, unofficial stats, it is number 14 all time played in concerts, which is quite a bit. Cause again, wasn't a single. I don't hear it that often and just under big yellow taxi.
00:45:33
Speaker
And I couldn't believe it was played so far played more than recovering the satellites, which they still play quite a bit. um was released as a single officially April 3rd, 2000. Again, I wasn't in the States, so I maybe.
00:45:47
Speaker
And again, ah that one did not, right, it was not sold, so it didn't have like any cool B-sides or acoustic. Because that Acoustic Miami, Chris, i'll have to look at my notes. I think that was on, I almost want to say one of the CD singles somewhere had the Acoustic Miami on it.
00:46:03
Speaker
you know like Maybe like a hanging around B-side or something like that. I have to go back to my... um But Mrs. Potters, you're going to love what the B-sides were for this. So A was Mrs. Potters, B was Mrs. Potters Part 1, and C was Mrs. Potters Part 2, which if if you add them up, somehow add to more than a total.
00:46:20
Speaker
So I'm guessing they just cut... There's like a a fade in, fade out or something like that. Yeah, or or they kept the intro and the ending, but they got rid of verses. Because this what always struck me about this song is that it has four verses, right?
00:46:35
Speaker
Even back then, I was like, okay, most songs have three verses that are on the radio. This one has four, which makes it longer. And as I don't want to repeat myself, but I said, this has got to be like the song that... um Oh, by the way, just trivia, just because if I said if anything else comes up, God of Ocean Tides, Adam said that that is his favorite arrangement of any song they've ever done.
00:46:59
Speaker
Because he said it would not be as good except that everybody contributed their parts. And he doesn't think it's necessarily their best song, but he thought it was their best arrangement ever. So that's just the for those that like that kind of trivia.
00:47:11
Speaker
And he's like, if you just knew what everybody added to that song so subtly that you wouldn't even know about. ah He just wanted to give a shout out to that. So, um yeah, I this song is also one that I think, Jeff, we talked about when we did Desert Life.
00:47:25
Speaker
It like doesn't seem that it seems like such a simple song, but it's so and it like doesn't change that much. Unlike, you know, Miami in some ways, but it's yet so great and so complex in the simpleness.
00:47:39
Speaker
And then, of course, the lyrics might be. arguably their best lyrics, it depending on... Some people would definitely make a strong case for that. Yeah, I would. I'll talk about the video in a second.
00:47:51
Speaker
um I think last I checked, which, again, this really shocked me, that it has tons... Given that it wasn't a single and most you know non-Cros fans wouldn't know about it, it has ah almost 7 million views.
00:48:08
Speaker
which is a lot higher than you know some some of even their singles, etc.
00:48:17
Speaker
According to Wikipedia, it hit number three in the US alternative chart, number 40 in the US s pop chart. And number 11 on the US AAA chart is which is where they mostly chart.
00:48:30
Speaker
ah Chris, I said before you get into it, i might i kind of it does have a video. It's a very simple video. about i Actually, even though, and Adam recently has gone on record saying he doesn't think that the Crows have ever really made a great video. He just thinks that's not...
00:48:46
Speaker
not that he's kind of disappointed or thought they could have done things better. i thought the idea of the video is actually pretty good about him in and out of the heart house party. Um, I just think now that I've watched it in real detail the other day, i was like, you know, what's really bad about this video is the editing.
00:49:02
Speaker
I think they had all the right clips, but it wasn't edited right. That some of the ones were too far. And I'm like that, that should be a group shot. That should be at that shot. I don't know. um yeah, I got to know about your artistic interest in edit and video editing. Well, yeah, I mean, I did study a little bit of TV production, and but in this one, it really really stuck out.
00:49:22
Speaker
ah Matt Malley, i like he has a he's he's featured a little bit when he has that little bass part. Is that on the fourth ah third or fourth verse? was like, boom, boom, boom. But anyway, do a cool close-up on him.
00:49:32
Speaker
I laugh because I... it's not great photos of them but just because last episode we interviewed ah curtis watson right see what as he's called and he was talking about partying with the crows a lot and it's like there's quick cuts to two african-americans at the party and one of them from behind i'm like i wonder if that's curtis watson with short hair it just it it almost kind of looked like him i just wanted to know because i did I'm guessing these are their friends that they were hanging out somewhere. I don't think they're paid actors to come into the Mrs. Potter's video for 10 seconds. I could be wrong.
00:50:05
Speaker
you um Okay. did Did I want to say, um and Jeff, you're the historian. I don't want to take too much away. And his official line of the song is, it's a song about an imaginary version of you.
00:50:19
Speaker
The song is about, and I guess an imaginary of other people. The song is about what happens when you fall in love with people who don't exist, like a person on the movie screen. And I guess famously, and I knew and then forgot and had to know again that He wrote the song about, you know, Mrs. Potter, the actress, who I guess at that time was most famous for Con Air and Patch Adams.
00:50:40
Speaker
I guess she was Nick Cage's wife, I guess, in the Con Air. I only saw that when it got released. Monica Potter. Monica Potter. Yeah, sorry. Those Monica Potter, that was the, those the two songs, the two movies she, and they were released in 97 and 98, right? And this came out in 99. So that makes sense. She was in two pretty big movies.
00:50:58
Speaker
And of course, you know, attractive actress. And that he wrote about her, but met her like shortly after and right before they were recording it. Like it all happened within like a week or something. I don't know. And Jeff. Right. And then she was actually there for them doing takes of the song or something like that. a wild story. I mean, that song is basically a couple of takes.
00:51:20
Speaker
Yes. The version on the ah the record, which is kind of crazy, too. Right. And she is the one that either had. Oh, she had a copy of the take for. Yeah, so Monica Potter ah had heard through the grapevine that Adam Duritz had written a song about her.
00:51:38
Speaker
A friend of hers takes her out to dinner who knows Adam, calls Adam and says, you're not going to believe this, but I'm having dinner with Monica Potter. Come down right now and meet her.
00:51:49
Speaker
So Adam had said, wow, this is crazy. They were just getting ready to record the song that night. So he goes down to the restaurant, meets her, and tells her, I wrote this song about you. And she's like, wait, what? you tell I got to hear this song.
00:52:03
Speaker
So he invites her back to the studio. She comes to the studio and sits in while they're recording the song. They record the song. They do a number of takes on it. At the end of the night, he gives her a cassette of the song to take home.
00:52:16
Speaker
Now, they continue to sort of hang out afterwards. And a week or two goes by and Adam tells her, we've decided to get rid of this song. We're not going to record it on the album because we've been working on it and we have like overproduced it and worked it to death.
00:52:34
Speaker
And this song that we really liked, now we can't stand. And she says, wait a minute, this is an amazing song. You got to hear this. So she says, I've been playing it nonstop. She presses play on her cassette recorder and plays him the song.
00:52:48
Speaker
And he says, where did you get this? This is like an amazing version of this song. Where did this come from? And she says, shows him the tape and it says, Potter's take four.
00:52:59
Speaker
So this was apparently the fourth take. And he said that they had done it live in the studio. He was playing piano on it. And um he says, all right, I'm going to have to borrow this cassette from you because this is this is like the superior version of this. He takes it back to the band and the producers. He plays it for everybody. And everybody agrees. Like, yeah, we had messed up this song and like overproduced it and turned it into something it wasn't.
00:53:24
Speaker
And ultimately, they recorded or released the version that Mrs. Potter had. So it was the take for the live take in the studio. And it was much more apparently stripped down than than what they had ultimately been working on. I wonder if she's still got that tape. I've got a couple of mixtapes people made me in the late 90s. But this seems like a tape you'd keep, you know.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yeah, and it's funny, Jeff. I saw recently, yeah, that that that story is exactly what I saw. And I also saw recently that I think it was last year, just again, I'm not even on social media, but I was trying to do some research for this show.
00:53:58
Speaker
And it looked like she mentioned it, I think, a year or two ago. She talked about it on Facebook. you know i think, right, she's getting older. I think she's, you know I don't know, I think early fifty s or ah maybe a couple years older.
00:54:10
Speaker
And then she's like, hey, it's pretty cool. I had a famous song written about me. Do you guys that are fans of me, did you know that? I think you do. And she, yeah, so some of that was, um was, resre oh, dad that's what she did. She goes, oh, it's my friend Adam's birthday today and I want to wish him a very happy day.
00:54:27
Speaker
i am still very honored that Ken and Cruz, you know, wrote Mrs. Lullaby and it remains a special time in my life. ah So, yeah, Yeah. And then people who are just Monica Potter, like fans of that song who are just Monica Potter fans. Maybe, maybe.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah. I'm really into other Counting Crow songs, but big Monica Potter fan. and so Yeah. I bet you, I bet you there is. Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. They're just fans of her in general. I know. Right.
00:54:55
Speaker
You know, and he said, Jeff, to your point, he said, which um sometimes you do need to, you know, I know Adam's talked about, I can't think of any on the top my head. i know he's talked about, that, um well, he almost talked about for the new album, but but you know how sometimes you do have to keep working on a song or breaking it down and bringing the other band members to get it right.
00:55:15
Speaker
And then, but here he was, this was like 20 years after the release. So this is around, i guess, maybe five, seven years ago. ah He was on a call at the New York Times and he said, it's funny. You can also destroy a song by breaking it down too much.
00:55:29
Speaker
You lose perspective. And that was a perfect example of how you can completely screw up something that was already great. um So, yeah. And this is this is interesting one from a live perspective. I mean, they've mostly played the song.
00:55:44
Speaker
essentially is written. um Although there's a period in 2006 where they were playing versions that had and ah a sort of a spoken word section in the middle, um for lack of a better term. Not really alts in the traditional sense. It's really just Adam talking.
00:55:59
Speaker
um And what they was talking about um was that um the The back half of the song is about going up to Pioneertown and up in Joshua Tree and and playing a festival of all and singing.
00:56:12
Speaker
um We talked quite a bit about that with Dave Lowery. um When you want to go back to that episode, listeners, we were talking about the making of of ah but of this desert life. And he what what had happened was that there was a fire in Joshua Tree that had basically burned most of the buildings to the ground.
00:56:30
Speaker
um But the only thing, the thing that was standing was ah the palace. He says, when he says the palace, it's Pappy and Harry, it's Pioneertown Palace. um And so he he kind of tells that story. And he kind of it's interesting.
00:56:43
Speaker
There's not a not a ton of tapes from that 2006 tour, unfortunately. um And um not not all of them have Mrs. Potters. And not all of them are very good tapes, unfortunately.
00:56:54
Speaker
There's like one from the show I went to where the tape was just... It was so boomy that I was like, I can't send this to my fine but co-host and make you listen to this. um But he goes in a lot of different directions and talking about, you know, the girl on the movie screen, um you know, coming down. and what And that might not be what you expected, but you you still have these things that are real, which is like your friends and singing up, standing up on a stage with them and singing.
00:57:21
Speaker
Um, he tells a nice story about there's a guy named Johnny Legs who apparently was their friend who had passed away. I believe he was a big bootleg guy. Um, he had like passed away. And so Adam weaves that in and one of the versions, um, if you're on the Crow's town archive, you can find some versions. I can't find any of them on YouTube, but, um, there's, uh, a few from, uh, the summer that are pretty good. you through the 2006 tapes,
00:57:45
Speaker
um But yeah, did you guys think of that? Because that's really again that's really the only time they've ever done like Mrs. Potter alts. And they basically stopped after a few weeks in 2006 and then decided to never do that again.
00:57:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was an interesting story. and i mean, Eric, you've been there, right? Yeah, and in fact, it motivated me to... You got the video. Yeah, well, yeah, I did the video. It's on a YouTube short. And I also just looked at who they're playing.
00:58:11
Speaker
And it's so weird because i you know I'm also a Pete Yorn fan. I mentioned it. I tend to wear a Pete Yorn shirt at the Crows concerts. It's just a thing. And actually, when I... And Millard actually mentioned something about it when I... um just saw him in Spain. He's like, oh, Pete Yarn, I think I played with him you know once or whatever.
00:58:27
Speaker
And so I heard that he played at Pioneertown, and then I just looked up yesterday, and he's playing in January. So i'm going to go. I've never seen live music there. It's on a Friday night. um Yeah, it's like actually a pretty famous barbecue place. It's in the middle of this in the middle of nowhere, because you know Joshua Tree, although it's getting built up a little, is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and it's about...
00:58:48
Speaker
20, 15 minutes off to the side a little. You got to go down this other street street and then kind of in middle the middle of nowhere. There is like behind it. There's like, ah think it's the only other place it didn't get destroyed or maybe they rebuild it. Like almost like it looked like it would be like what you would think of a pioneer town for kids or something. But I think you could shoot like a Western there too, which is why it might've been built originally. I don't think it was supposed to be a theme.
00:59:10
Speaker
Park kind of thing. But people ah rave about that. the I've had a beer there, but people rave about the barbecue there as well. And it's a very small place. I think it fits... 300, mean, for a concert, because I see where the concert is, the concert area, maybe 300 or 500. I mean, it is small.
00:59:29
Speaker
feel like they got to live band karaoke there, so we can all shout out some songs against the clang of electric guitars. There you go. Exactly. In terms of, Jeff was talking about his sort of ah bootleg white whale.
00:59:43
Speaker
um The one i have, so I saw them ah three times in the summer of 2006. One twice at Jones Beach, um but also once in Hershey, Pennsylvania the week before with my ah friend Maggie.
00:59:56
Speaker
And um so... Again, i was I was going through, it was just likes like a ah ah lot was going on in my life, and I felt like that show was very, like felt very transformative to me, the one Hershey. I've never had this feeling before. It was literally like they'd sort of like hypnotized me for about 80 minutes. i I have this distinct recollection of Adam like pulling his arm down at the end of Rain King, and it was just sort of like ah like they'd snap the illusion.
01:00:21
Speaker
was like, ooh. ah something. um And that is actually why I wasn't sure I was going to go see them at Jones Beach because I was going to go see them. That's kind of but part of when I decided, like, oh, i I see this band a lot. I'm going to go. They're playing twice at Jones Beach next week. I'm going to go go see them twice at Jones Beach.
01:00:35
Speaker
um And there was a version of Mrs. Potter's, which I'm pretty sure would have had the the alts. Um... But um there's no tape of that. And I've always it's one those where I've always wondered, like, is the show as good as my memory?
01:00:48
Speaker
Like, was that show spectacular or was I just in the right place in the right time? And the band was as good as they normally are on like a Friday night and in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah. i Maybe we'll never know the answer to that question. Maybe they'll, or guys, I think you got everything. Throw throw up some more whole tours on Nugs if anyone's listening.
01:01:10
Speaker
Just throw that 2006 tour up on Nugs too. um There's a couple, by the way, there's good tapes of some of those shows because that's the first time and in 2006 they streamed a couple of the shows.
01:01:22
Speaker
um So they they were like, they did it on the website. So I guess they were starting to think towards what ended up being, well, what if we just did every show, um but it goes that far back, which is is ah interesting.
01:01:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that would have been about the time they started that. Right. cause I know that that nugs, I guess, or something was in full force by like, oh, eight definitely. um Yeah, I don't know if it's worth, Jeff, since this might be the last time we go really deep into Mrs. Potter's. i already i We might have done this for Desert Life, but I think it's worth, I want to not dissect, but I want to highlight some of the genius lyrics of this.
01:01:57
Speaker
he might They might have done that take quickly, but I want to know how quick it took them to write these lyrics. Because, I mean, they're... are so good. And, um, I mean know he spends a lot of time, you know, nowadays he says, you know, on his, on his lyrics, but, um, and you know, it's, I almost wanted to say this was like, so he's, he's always talked about himself. And then of course, like, um,
01:02:22
Speaker
you know Even like Recovering the Satellites was so much about like him and his ascent to stardom and coming back down and stuff. So I guess it's not the first time he talked about himself or maybe in third thing. But I do i did find it interesting like when he's like, you know there's a piece of Maria of every song ah that I sing. Because that's a little different.
01:02:40
Speaker
That's like commenting on his songwriting, which is a little different than... him talking about ah him being star, of you know, and then the line about if dreams are like memories, memories, sorry, if dreams are like movies, memories, films about ghosts, that line is so good that that's what they created their greatest hits.
01:02:56
Speaker
Of course, they called it a film films about ghosts, which the movies filmed at pioneer town is kind of an interesting just yeah connection there that I, I hadn't really thought about, but you know, he, he's sort of talking about, you know, memories and movies and,
01:03:12
Speaker
And then also Pioneertown, which was at one point a place where, you know, it a film set. Yeah. And people might not realize, especially if you live in L.A., which has like the worst light pollution of the planet, maybe outside of China or something like that, is that um a people do from L.A. drive to Joshua Tree to see the stars, basically.
01:03:33
Speaker
So that's why it kind of hits now a little harder about, oh about the you know, to lie down beneath the bowl of stars, because definitely people go out there. ah Just just for that. And as I said, until I met Lowry, I did not know this place existed. I thought it was just some saloon that was that he made up, you know, like like like or the Hollywood Palace. I thought it was singing about the Hollywood Palace, which is a yes venue in L.A.
01:03:58
Speaker
You know, we stand up in the palace like it was some old pioneer town, you know, bar. in Exactly. Exactly. I really thought it was referencing that. And then, you know, when I listened to the Lowry show, it was like, wow, that's mind blowing. I didn't realize the whole history to the place.
01:04:18
Speaker
Yeah, I love that line about the the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep. And then this is almost like, you know, such great wordplay and the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep.
01:04:29
Speaker
ah Yeah, that that's that's, yeah, when I was looking at this for the show, I even um texted my friend who who, you know, off and on has loved the crows and talked about the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep.
01:04:42
Speaker
and and And he definitely appreciated that. Yeah, I know Adam would say like, you know, song lyrics are not poetry, but this is probably like the closest. Yes. He's gotten to this. be I mean, this could be a poem, right? It would be a really good poem.
01:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that about three, and and they're all three my favorite. I absolutely agree with what Adam's saying. I know what he's saying, but this song, and, you spoiler alert for the future, I think this song, Possibility Days and front With Love From A to Z are the closest to actual poetry. And I, not surprisingly, I think those are maybe the top three ah of of their lyrics of all time.
01:05:20
Speaker
Jeff, you know you you made me laugh a little, not laugh, but you made me think about, because he talks in what in Good Night Elizabeth about the Queen of California, and then here he's talking about the King of Hollywood.
01:05:31
Speaker
so Yeah, i think interesting. you got the the royalty together. ah yeah so Which is sort of self-referential. I mean, he's he's sort of saying, when he sort of explains it in one of those versions, right? He's like,
01:05:44
Speaker
You know, the last thing of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor is the feeling of getting tired of Hollywood needing to leave. And it's presumably that's a feeling he was having. So ah she's the queen of the rain. re he He may be he's the king of the rain, he's also the last king of Hollywood, apparently, maybe.
01:06:01
Speaker
yeah And i will I want to know if he actually, because I hate to admit I might have done it once when I was young and drunk and stupid, but I want to know if he actually threw down his glass somewhere and broke it at around this time, either ah either at the saloon or not. At the Viper Room, maybe. Yeah, at the at the Viper Room, ah maybe. So, okay. Any other thoughts about... um I think it's it's kind of interesting. I think it it's similar to Miami. I think it's interesting sort of...
01:06:30
Speaker
yeah similarity between these two songs, they're both essentially things happening in Adam's head, right? Basically all of the action in Miami, other than the sort of the literal things like the plane going down and stuff like that is basically a story about what he's thinking about in that moment.
01:06:47
Speaker
It's kind of Mrs. Potter too, right? There's actually very little action. You think about it, right?
Themes of Travel and Endings in Songs
01:06:53
Speaker
A lot of this is very much, presumably you wake up in mid afternoon and you start thinking about this stuff and it just sort of,
01:07:01
Speaker
These are the things that go through your mind. um So they're they're interesting in sort of songs in a lot of ways and also kind of songs about traveling a little bit, movement, right? Going up to Pioneertown, someone flying in and then going to New Orleans. there's It's an interesting thread that I hadn't really thought about. And so you're talking about now, you kind of they are a little bit linked in that way. And again, in a way that I think a lot of the band songs are sort of linked together. You could probably pull some of those threads, but well, kind of interesting in that way that we're about endings as well. You know, they're both about something that's ending. So in Miami, it's about a relationship that's ending. And in, um in Mrs. Potter's, it's about a time in his life that is ending as he um is going to, you know, give up,
01:07:49
Speaker
his role as the the king of Hollywood. And, um you know, and they're both about, in some ways, about like maturity and wisdom, I guess. um Another sort of connection. i always thought that Potter's, I mean, it's just one of my favorite songs by them, but it is about,
01:08:07
Speaker
a time when he's, he doesn't want to wake up in mid afternoon hungover anymore. you know, he doesn't want to have a seat at the bar anymore. He's, he's, there's a wisdom to it, a kind of a resigned wisdom. But, um, I think also, I mean, we probably mentioned this when we talked about the desert life show, um,
01:08:28
Speaker
But it's one of their longer songs, Potters. And also, it's the song that he played for Interscope when they had changed over, um or the the label, I guess it was Geffen had sold to Interscope.
01:08:40
Speaker
So the suits from Interscope come in to hear how the new album is going. And he plays them Potters and says, here's the first single. And they're just going, you know, this is a label that has Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Eminem. And he's just...
01:08:53
Speaker
They just can't even wrap their heads around, you know, this song and what he wants to do and everything else. So, but yet it's, you know, he's clearly very determined that this is what they're going to do and that he wants to do this as a single. And, you know, he sat down with the head of Interscope and convinced them that this was going to be, you know, song that they were going release as a single. And they ultimately did.
Radio Edits and Song Integrity Discussion
01:09:23
Speaker
But and I think and he was and it's interesting that Miami had a radio edit because this one does not have radio edit. And I remember that was the fight. Right. wasn't one of the things that they said you could maybe if you cut a verse, maybe we'll think about it. It's like, no, not i that will not be happening.
01:09:38
Speaker
Yeah. so ah Yeah. Yeah. But you're right. You know, you just got me thinking about the hangover, but the starting the line, i mean, starting the whole song with waking up in mid afternoon when it all hurts the most. And um that's so great. And and obviously being hung over, mean, hang being hung over comes out in hanging and hanging around. Holiday in Spain.
01:09:57
Speaker
Holiday in Spain. Yeah. I was thinking a lot about, and I almost think about the the swirling, just, you know, which by the way is an amazing line. The swirling, it's something that we all know. and i Yeah, just let's just say there's been a lot of times that I was hung over trying to wait put my arm in the swirling, you know, dust sparkle jet stream because I couldn't do much else and I couldn't get myself out of bed. The other thing I'm thinking about as we were talking about this and that the parallels, if they're both about endings, they're both about knowing the ending before they happen, right? Obviously, Miami pretty clearly, right? He talks about like, I know it's over, but it goes on for a while longer, the relationship.
01:10:36
Speaker
But if he's giving up his seat as the King of Hollywood in in Mrs. Potter, he doesn't move out of L.A. until, think, like 2002. So that song's written, latest, it could have been written somewhere in 1999, right? Something like that.
01:10:50
Speaker
So there's, interestingly, in both, like that sense of like knowing something is ending, but it not... being over yet and sort of lingering and that ah sort of in between feeling that feeling again, like in that Miami version of like of everything and nothing, right. Of all these things together. Yeah. He's a really good, I think Adam dirt is a really good songwriter and this is a very good band and we should start a podcast about these guys. They should stick with this whole music thing. ah yeah Funny, Chris, your point about the, about the lyrics and the and the poetry is, and that's what,
01:11:26
Speaker
got me to like highlight some other lines again. The last last one I think I highlighted was, which I think another classic, but is the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it
Poetic Impact of Song Lyrics
01:11:35
Speaker
brings. I mean, I'm not coming up with that no matter how much I try. that is a great line. But one of the reasons I said this, when I looked at the video and Chris, I think you stepped away for a second. I said it has like 7 million views, which is a lot of views, which an old song that wasn't, um you know, an official or wasn't a single, maybe as we think it is that when I look at the comments for the video,
01:11:56
Speaker
everybody was commenting about a different line that was their favorite line. Where on some of the other Crow songs, there might be two or three lines that are always highlighted. um And this one, it's like, oh, this is my favorite line about the circus or whatever. So um someone, the last, I guess, point, which is not a lyric, but someone made a point.
01:12:15
Speaker
I don't think it was me. Maybe it was in that New York Times article about it that said this might have been the first song, the idea of it that hinted to the disassociative disorder. that definitely comes up more in Saturday night, Sunday mornings.
01:12:29
Speaker
Um, I think a little less than hard candy, maybe a little bit, but you know, the idea of that, what's real and who, do who what's the real me. And maybe the girl I think I love isn't even the real her.
01:12:41
Speaker
And, um, yeah. They also, uh, they debuted the, this song at the Shim Sham club, in May of 1999, just throwing back to the Curtis episode.
01:12:54
Speaker
Um, And you can actually watch that. I don't know, Chris, if it's your video, but it's on your... so It's on your... It's definitely not my video. I think i think um we we talked about this but on that episode of the Shim Sham Show. It's um the the owner of the club's video. He like filmed it.
01:13:11
Speaker
um And that was an underground, not not traded video for a long time. And I think it popped out maybe 10 years after the show happened or something like that. And so I... Do we know who the women on stage with him are? are they from a band or what some New Orleans band? I was wondering.
01:13:29
Speaker
I think I mentioned that on the Shim Sham. Now I forget. I think they were... I think one of them was in a band or a singer. and and But I said, if you watched the video, I thought they i thought they weren't.
01:13:40
Speaker
like yeah When you first watch it, it comes across as just like two fans of the band ask that come up on stage. right and then um And I think I did find out later that one of the two was in a band. that Because didn't other bands play that same day, I think? Maybe for the Shim Sham? Yeah, there's many people on and off the stage. and Yeah.
Concert Staples and Song Longevity
01:14:00
Speaker
So then Monica Potter is in Patch Adams. Adam. Patch Adams about a doctor. His parents are doctors. I mean, come on. The connections are just everywhere.
01:14:13
Speaker
With love from A to Z, right? yeah I think I'm now overthinking it. Yeah, that's pretty funny, though. did um So, Chris, anything else about the but these songs or the or the live shows? Yeah.
01:14:28
Speaker
I think we covered all the I didn't mention the other the other runner up we had for for um for this desert life in terms of the time to talk about was St. Robinson's. I chose one of your favorites. um If you've never heard any of the acoustic versions from late 2003 or 2004, go ah find those. They're very cool and very different.
01:14:45
Speaker
i'm But again, it's not an album. but Those are really the only ultimate album, interestingly, whereas obviously we could spend many more hours and will at some point talking about various changes to versions of songs from August and everything after.
01:14:58
Speaker
and who knows, any of those songs we mentioned, you know, even American Girls, maybe we'll do a show on that at some point or something. Who knows? um But, well, thank you, Jeff. Anything else about the history? It is interesting, though, right, about how these songs are considered Crows classics, and not just by fans, but even in the concert.
01:15:15
Speaker
I think they're very unique in that in that way, that these are the two post-August concert staples, if you will, that... that that um Yeah, kind of right. You almost think they're singles and the fans want to hear it.
01:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, classics. Yeah, I think in the the show that we did on um Desert Life, I mentioned Clay Jones as this North Carolina bluegrass musician who plays on four songs on Desert Life.
01:15:43
Speaker
And he contributes acoustic guitar to Potters. And I think that hes He's one of those like unsung heroes of this desert life because he shows up on four different songs and I think plays sort of key parts on them too and does does some really nice ah nice work. But yeah, I think Mrs. Potters is one of those songs that when I play it for people who aren't counting Crows fans, they always love it.
01:16:08
Speaker
it's like it just There's something about this song that people love despite the fact that it it's long, but Adam always said that you know Part of the challenge of writing a song like that was that it doesn't seem long, even though it's a long song, it doesn't seem like it.
01:16:24
Speaker
And I don't know what it is, whether it's the instrumentation. um i think that You know, sometimes they do upbeat songs like a 1492 or something that are like in that fifth gear.
01:16:36
Speaker
um But this is an example of, i think, an upbeat song that's perfect for them. It's like right in their wheelhouse, so almost like a Rain King or something where it's like it just hits that sweet spot of being an upbeat song.
01:16:49
Speaker
But it's not so fast and like ah almost a punk rock tempo or something. Maybe that's why it's like it's an upbeat song, but and it it feels short, even though it's long.
01:17:00
Speaker
um The great lyrics, the instrumentation. I don't know. There's something just really magic about. I mean, I think both of these songs, but Potters is one of those ones that I've never found anyone who doesn't like this song. Even people who aren't Counting Grows fans are like, oh, that's great. You know?
01:17:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's one reason that the that that they play it regularly. I know it is a longer song, but it doesn't take like Adam sings his heart out on it, but it doesn't take a ton out of them like some of the other songs, either yeah the range or the energy.
Instrumentation Details in 'Miami'
01:17:31
Speaker
Right. for you know As I said, i when I him play 1492 afterwards, he's like, now I remember why I don't play this, this sing this song very much. It's very hard to sing.
01:17:40
Speaker
And it takes, right um, by the way, if you're mentioning other instrument ah instruments, uh, instruments, uh, it's worth noting. I forgot. i had one little note here that Miami does have a little bit of strings in it.
01:17:51
Speaker
True. Yeah. And it said, uh, which I didn't, I never looked up before. It says strings conducted by, so not played by conducted by Jerry Hay, but, um, arranged by Charlie and Adam, the horns and strings arranged by Charlie and Adam.
01:18:05
Speaker
So. And Jerry Hay played a flug horn on carriage. Oh, okay. Yeah. See, that's one of the few, Chris, as much as we keep connecting you these new names, we keep coming up with new ones.
01:18:19
Speaker
I mean, you know, like I was like, I know CWAT now, and I know this, and then now we got to learn the official horn or the arranger, the strings arranger. Sorry. now wait We got to get Jerry on the show.
01:18:31
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it sounds like it. Well, thanks guys. that This was, this was a fun show. So always fun to geek out on counting crows for, for, uh, an hour with you guys.
Conclusion and Upcoming Content Tease
01:18:42
Speaker
Always. Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I, I, uh, I appreciate it too. So we'll see everyone else. We got all sorts of exciting, uh, ideas for the next year or so on Sullivan street. So hope to have you join us.
01:18:53
Speaker
Yeah.