What The Heck Is Counting Crows' "Holiday In Spain"?
Let me say right at the start that there is no actual Counting Crows holiday in Spain. This comes as a bitter disappointment to this writer, who happens to admire the crow family of birds, known as corvids (which includes crows, magpies, ravens and jays). I was hoping to unearth a treasure trove of a little known holiday where by the appearance of crows was celebrated rather than frowned upon.
All My Hopes Are Dead
However, if you are a fan of the pop band Counting Crows' song "Holiday In Spain," then you are already intimately aware of what the rest of this article is going to be about. Counting Crows' "Holiday In Spain" is a single from their 2002 album "Hard Candy", their fourth album. Fans and critics alike say that "Hard Candy" harkened back to their first and most popular album "August and Everything After".
Yes, I called Counting Crows a pop band. They are usually classified as "alternative rock", but (quite frankly), what are they an alternative to? Formed during the grunge era of the early 1990's, they pretty much kept on with whatever they felt like it. The grunge sound in the early 1990's was anything less than alternative. The smooth 1970's Santana rock feel of the 2002 "Hard Candy" also is less than alternative. But I suppose you have to label them something.
OK, Back To The Song
True to the tradition of pop songs, Counting Crows' "Holiday In Spain" is not a song about a holiday in Spain. It is about a misunderstood depressed man who drinks too much and has a girlfriend in Mexico. As an alternative to the bleary life he leads, he thinks he might feel better if he takes a holiday in Spain. Appropriately enough, he thinks this on New Year's Day, around when people make resolutions they never keep.
As Bart Simpson said, "Trying to make teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel." If you REALLY want to be depressed, skip the pop music and put on either country music legend Hank Williams or get yourself the Real World CD called "Lament", which is full of traditional Irish lamentations done by various artists.
No, I am not a big fan of Counting Crows' "Holiday In Spain". Although the lead singer has a powerful voice, nothing else makes this band or this song stick out from among the blur that is modern music. Listen to U2 and Peter Gabriel instead, kids.
