The Creation of the Hit Song Mr Jones: How Counting Crows Developed Their Iconic Song

The Lead Singer Remembers the Beginnings

Our first albums were mostly recorded in houses located in the foothills above Los Angeles. Their debut major label album marked a significant milestone for the band, as it was their first release on a major label. We each got an advance of $3,000; I used mine to buy a classic red convertible and drove it to LA.

Each day, I would start by listening to Pickin’ Up the Pieces by Poco, which resembles the Beatles venturing into country music. Additionally, I was into a Benny Goodman album that my father had acquired as a complimentary item at a Texaco station during my childhood.

Mr Jones was included on a demo that we submitted to labels, but it was a very difficult song to finish. It lacked a solid grasp at first. Neither a leisurely tune nor a fast-paced rock song; instead, it moves with a rhythm, demanding a real feel to perform. It’s soul music – closer to the Stax Records style than country.

Our drummer couldn’t hear the track as the rest of us did – thus the producer enlisted one of his heroes to play it.

We considered several producers, but when I spoke with T Bone Burnett, he really understand where the band was headed. There was great potential, but I didn’t like with our overall tone – we hadn’t learned how to work together. Eliminated all the synths and effects pedals. Our drummer Steve Bowman had trouble with the tempo, so T Bone called in Denny Fongheiser, one of Steve’s heroes, to lay down the drums. It’s a funny story, but it was hard on Steve back then.

Marty Jones and I had played in groups together before Counting Crows. Marty’s dad, a flamenco musician, had made it in Spain and was back in the San Francisco area performing a tour. We went one of his performances and spent the night with the flamenco troupe bar-hopping. The next morning, I returned and composed Mr Jones. It’s about our experience that night, wishing we were accomplished artists so we could connect with the girls more confidently.

In my view, it’s one of the best pieces I’ve composed. After playing another track on Saturday Night Live in 1994, the album climbed dozens of positions each week for five or six weeks. Afterwards, Mr Jones turned into a huge hit.

The Multi-Instrumentalist Shares His Memories

In the late 1980s, Adam, David Bryson, and I were living together in a industrial building in Berkeley. Previously, I performed with Camper Van Beethoven and had an offshoot band named Monks of Doom.

Returning home one night, Adam had a new demo he’d just done with the guitarist. I heard this track titled Mr Jones. Recorded with a Dr Rhythm pocket drum machine that resembled a arcade sound or random noise, but his vocals were on another level.

Once T Bone got involved, it felt like a total reinvention of Counting Crows. The approach toward roots echoing folk and soul legends.

Adam called me asking, “Listen, can you join us and play on this album?” By the time I arrived, the producer had relocated us to a studio in Encino, Los Angeles – previously used by Tito Jackson. There were instruments that Dylan had just recorded on.

He told me to perform behind the tempo the beat. His words were, “If you rush before the drums comes off like an teenager hurrying.” With his southern accent, and his guidance was to imagine putting your feet up on the mixing board and staying casual while playing.

The band was, in some ways, a reaction to grunge. The tragic end of Cobain seemed the culmination. Back then, many used heroin. The goal was self-destruction, not enlightenment. The nihilism had reached an extreme, and the pendulum swung toward something emotional and sincere. Counting Crows blended acoustic and electric with a strong influence of soulful vibes.

The song never gets old. Sometimes, when I am rocking out with the singer, I remember that time when he first shared the early version. It’s insane.