Counting Crows' "August and Everything After"

[pezwookiee]

I was sifting through some of my early nineties music when I cqame across my copy of Counting Crows’ album, “August and Everything After.”

The lyrics to the song entitles “August and Everything After” appear on the cover of the album and yet the song is absent from the album. Anybody have any idea if this song was ever released / has ever been played in concert / available on a bootleg somewhere? (Note to moderators - I’m not asking for bootlegs or anything illegal - just wondering if this song exists somewhere.)

Also, who is the “Maria” who is continually mentioned in the lyrics throughout the album?

[tavalla]

According to Adam Duritz, quoted at http://www.thegrid.net/dlebarre/Lisa/ (click on “Meanings” in the right hand frame)…

"Maria is the only one who’s not completely real. She’s just an idea of someone I came up with when I was writing “Round Here.” I mean, she’s me. It’s through the eyes of a girl, but it’s someone very much like me struggling at the edge, not sure if she’s going to fall off on one side or the other. It’s a theme that’s stuck through songs. So she keeps popping up. "

And from http://dnausers.d-n-a.net/dnetYjqY/ccfaq/newfaq.htm#4.1b

What’s the story behind the song “August and Everything After” and where can I find a copy of it?

You can’t.

The song’s lyrics appear on the front and back of the CD insert for the album, but the song is not on the album. Rumor is that the band recorded the song for AAEA but couldn’t come up with a version that they liked enough to put on the album.

As for the meaning of the song, it was posted to the newsgroup that Adam was born in August and each song is a portion of his life.

That help?

[Superdude]

And, actually, there are only two known copies of August and Everything After. One is kept by either Adam Duritz’s father or grandfather. I can’t recall what happened to the other one. AAEA was going to be the last song on that CD, but the band felt it reached a logical conclusion with A Murder of One. They’ve said it may be added on another CD sometime. You may want to see, in addition to the links posted above, www.annabegins.com. The person who runs that site, Lisa, knows the band, has been to a couple of their rehearsals, etc. She’s always a good source to check for info.