I listen to a wide variety of music, but there are particular artists who speak to me. The most obvious is American Music Club. But another is Counting Crows, who I’m sure a lot of people now hate simply because they were so popular. But I am never disappointed when I go back to them.

The song of their’s that most stood out to me was “Perfect Blue Buildings” off August and Everything After. It’s depressing even by the standards of Adam Duritz.

To me, it’s always been a junkie song. Just in the first verse we have “I stay at home with my disease” and “Help me stay awake, I’m falling.” There are other lines. Hell, almost every other line speaks about despair and death.

Obviously, it doesn’t have to be heroin — or any drug for that matter. In fact, it would be kind of a stereotype of heroin addiction, which normally gives junkies plenty of meaning, even if it is pretty thin.

But people do all kinds of things to keep themselves away from themselves. And the connection with the song is emotional. I think that the fear of a life out of control is universal.

This is an excellent live version of the song:

Image of August and Everything After via Amazon under Fair Use.