Anna Begins
A lot of people ask artists what the meaning was behind their song lyrics and it's interesting, but I think it's really a silly thing to do. I doubt someone after reading a book would ask the author what it was about. To me it's the same. It's about what it means to the listener and that may be different for everyone. That being said, the following song has a tremendous impact on me every time I listen to it. This particular song seems to be speaking to me (I've never claimed to be sane) and has great similarities to events in my life.
I'd be really interested in hearing what someone else thinks it means and what it's about, if anything and you care to say.
I'd be really interested in hearing what someone else thinks it means and what it's about, if anything and you care to say.
Counting Crows - Anna Begins Lyrics
My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
I am not worried
I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me, "For one time only,
Make an exception."
I am not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried
I am not overly concerned with the status of my emotions
"Oh," she says, "you're changing."
But we're always changing
It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey
Or something in between
And I can always change my name
If that's what you mean
My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
But I am not really worried
I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try to tell yourself
To make yourself forget
I am not worried
"If it's love," she said, "then we're going to have to
think about the consequences."
She can't stop shaking
I can't stop touching her and...
This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering
for days," she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing
But I'm not going to break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not going to bend and I'm not going to break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
No no no no no,
It seems like I should say, "As long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should
Snap her up in a butterfly net
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried
I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...
The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And everytime she sneezes I believe it's love and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing
posted by mcse96 at 8:52 PM
29 Comments:
This is my favourite song. it came up on the ipod this morning while i was on the train - surely one of the most beautiful commutes in the world along the south coast of England. I hadn't heard it in so long and i'd forgotten that i loved it so much... it's come to make even more sense to me as i've grown.
i know what you mean about discussing song meanings, i described it to a friend of mine as "the musico equivalent of relating last night's dream". but to me this song is about the fear and fascination of falling in love. the writer doesn't know what it's like, "it's all or nothing" his friend says but his feelings at the moment are "a shade of grey" and surely that's enough?
but as the song moves on, as the elements develop, from simple melody and drums to harmonies and more, his feelings move on. they're still not talking about it but he begins to think it might be love. stupid, unattractive things like sneezing make him love her and as he realises this, he runs away. the feelings are "chasing" him away because it's not what he wants. he's not ready for love and no matter how wonderful it could be, he can't let himself fall in love.
it resonates with me because i love films and books and songs that go on about love and how exciting it is; all that emo crap which they feed you along with solids. i've still not fallen in love though and while i couldn't know if i'm ready "for this sort of thing", i'd almost certainly let it chase me away. to disappear. and to console myself with the fact i hadn't been ready for it anyway...
I like the way you wrote that Koffs. Thanks for the thoughts.
I think my take on this is similar but the ending differs from yours. I see this being a song of tragedy because Anna's feelings changed.
He was running his regular routine of stringing girls along and then moving on, when he thought maybe he should marry this one, pin her down in a photograph album, but wondered if he was worried more about being alone than losing a love. He rationalized with himself by saying he'd done this sort of thing before and that he wasn't ready for marriage.
While he hedged, she tired of pleading and she began to fade away and finally disappeared and he wasn't ready for that sort of thing.
"how far will you'll go to deny that something's really happening because it's too complicated, too terrifying, or too difficult?"
thats whats adam says the songs about
Anonymous: Adams comment regarding that song is very general and either definition of what that song means could fit with that description.
I think that's exactly what the artist is after. They are writing songs to appeal to the masses and if he says anything to contradict your connection with that song or his music in general then he risks losing you as a customer.
It is a business after all and if we choose to think the artist is simply speaking from the heart without consideration of that mass appeal then we're just fooling ourselves.
The Counting Crows may be different but I doubt it. I think they're just good enough at what they do that they're not obvious like some of the others.
this is what it is about:
when he was traveling, being a backpacker traveling about, adam was in italy one summer and he met a girl anna.
they spend the entire summer together and it's really meant to be a summer fling and nothing more. but they both know there is more going on, that they really could be falling in love, and they wrestle with the complications of that "'if it's love' she said, 'we're going to have to think about the consequences'".
"if you don't want to talk about it, then it isn't love" it truly does fit with anonymous's comments from adam. he went to great lengths to convince himself that it wasn't happening. "you try to tell yourself the things you try to tell yourself to make yourself forget" that if it wasn't clear then it wasn't love. but "i'm sure there's something in a shade of grey something in between". and he's having a hard time telling himself since it feels so real "every time she sneezes i believe it's love". and she's confused by it all too "anna begins to change her mind 'these seconds when i'm shaking leave me shuddering for days and i'm not ready for this sort of thing'".
damn what great lyrics it sure seems like love doesn't it?
at the end of the summer adam leaves and that's when he realized it was love, and in the end what he wasn't ready for was her being gone:
"she disappears and oh lord i'm not ready for this sort of thing".
This song is great. It is the struggle of love. Seriously love has those moments when you don't want to be in love because of the loss of control, if helplesness. Then you realize that even if you aren't ready for it you shouldn't deny it. I do believe he's used to being a player at the begining, but eventually he's noticing he's changing as his friends are noticing. She starts to waver, then get strong, they he does as well and vice versa. they are in-love but never willing to admit it at the same time. Fighting for those shades of in-between, because that's much easier than the black and white of love.
Well said Tomas
Wow, sane or insane, I was just searching this song b/c it has played over and over in my head of years. Google brough me here and would just like to say that well...Shoot just gona listen to the song and try to understand it all. :)
my favorite counting crows song, probably my favorite song of all time. i've never looked up a song's meaning before but was obsessed with this song and decided to give it a shot..the 'official' meaning on annabegins.com really strangely paralleled why i personally connected with the song, and why, i think many people can. its beautiful and haunting and i think the meaning just enhances it.
"It's about denial -- how far you'll go to deny that somethings really happening because it's too complicated, too terrifying, too difficult. It's about me and Anna: The relationship was supposed to be light -- we met on vacation -- but we got further into it and it became harder and harder. It's about all the things you go through trying to, sort of squash your feelings. to sort of shut it down, and how much you can hurt other people and yourself by doing that. The people in the song are just continuously telling themselves they don't feel what they do feel, until the end when it's too late, and then they realize what they were really, really not ready for was, you know, never being able to see each other again.
(From Storytellers) - There was this period where I got really really sick of playing music and I saved up some money from landscaping and I bought a backback and some boots and me and a friend got tickets and went over to Europe. Just to backpack around Europe. It was like the summer of 1989 and I ended up on this greek Island and I met this girl named Anna and I completly fell in love with her and I think vice versa.. which was a dumb thing to do in the middle of the summer on a greek island cause the girls from Australia and your from California..and the last thing, you should have is a fling, you know that the last thing you need to do is fall in love with a girl from Australia cause you don't have years you have weeks. You know and everyone goes home, and we were kids and plane tickets were to expensive. You can't change these things you know. And it was just really difficult you know because no one really wants to cop to how important they feel about it because it's a it's a hole your gonna fall into. So the song is really about denial, the characters in the song keep saying to each other "No, you know I'm not ready for this sort of thing" 'till the very end when it's too late. When they realize they weren't ready for the loss. "... And it's a terrible thing to find out because it's too late, which is what it ended up being at that point and... it's funny she's married now and she's got a kid and she still lives in Sydney. I still talk to her every once in a while, not too much but, and whenever I talk to her she says that she still loves this song, and I do too... and this is Anna Begins..."
from anna-beings.com or something similar
the song is about anorexia. how girls get wrapped up in it, and its consequences and having a friend to share it with.
See now that's what I like. It can be about anything for anyone.
Anonymous said...
the song is about anorexia. how girls get wrapped up in it, and its consequences and having a friend to share it with.
This was one of my favorite songs when I was in my twenties. I named my daughter Anna because I loved this song and i thought Anna sounded so loved and so strong at the same time. She asked me what the song meant so i started searching to see if I ever had the right meaning. I have discovered that I still love this song and I made the right choice in naming her.
i always thought it was about his 1st time
listen to Craig owens' version, its amazing.
www.myspace.com/craigchiodos
to me..in a way it means something different all together..i am drawing from my own experiences and what happened.. i had this girlfriend for like 4 years..and then the first couple of years she had problems with anorexia and nightmares..so she would be beside me next on the bed shiverring and trembling..and every world she said was non sense, but you understood it all..and you wish you werent in love with her..but you are..and her kindness keeps you laying next to her on the bed..and you know you are falling down..yet you try to tell assure yourself you are strong.. then what happened with me and the girl, she suddenly had to move 3000 km apart.. so what happened next was me missing her.. (not being able to sleep, in a quite room, where she wasnt laughing or crying) and the thing is you have lost everything..you keep holding on to her..and she is still crying and screaming yet now she is not even laying next to you in bed, so the only thing thats left is that painful toxic thing, you then cant remember her face the way you want to..he kindness starts fading..she starts fading away...and away..BUT YOU KEEP HOLDING ON, WHY..EVEN YOU DONT KNOW ANYMORE
I think it talks about someone in love but does not wants to recognize it because the other person is not in love.
This is one of my favorite songs of all time... lyrically it is just phenommenal!
I love how Adam explains the slow development of love, which is bourne of seemingly insignificant occurrances - 'everytime she sneezes - i know it's love.' How despite one's best efforts to the contrary, when love hits you - it's beyond your control, despite your actual desires.
I can see where some people might view it as a tragic or depressing song - since they eventually part ways. But for me, to capture that moment in time when you grapple with, and ultimately succumb to, the realization that you are in love... is just awe inspiring.
Well before I found out the lyrics properly I always thought it was about him losing his virginity... but from reading these comments I realise now what it was about, it's a beautiful song. One of my favourites. Counting Crows are my favourite band. Phenomenal.
This is my favourite song
In the interest of me putting my own interpretation of the song into the mix-
I always felt it was about being in a relationship and not being in love with the person. Looking for and trying to find love in a relationship- but there not being quite enough there for it to be love and as this realisation dawns, that the relationship ultimately has no future, the fear of being alone kick in and he starts looking for small occurences which one can attribute to it actually being love. blah..
On VH1 Storytellers, Adam Duritz said the song was about him and a girl named Anna that he met in Greece on vacation. Being that he was from the USA and she was from Australia, they denied their feelings for each other as nothing more than a vacation fling, saying 'I'm not ready for this kind of thing.' Then as the vacation was coming to an end, they realized that it was the loss they weren't ready for, but it was too late to do anything about it as they both returned to their respective lives.
I've just listened to this song about a few hours ago, and I must say its overwhelming. For me at least. Its really genius, I mean it seems so real. Everyone understands differents stuff because you can't expect someone to relate it to the same things, cause they've lived different lives.
Well, it kinda remembered myself and my ex boyfriend. We broke up about three weeks ago. I came to Spain (study reasons) and he's back in Mexico, and it was son real and so vivid...but we always knew that I was going to leave, and we tried to keep it up but we would just hurt each other so much that we decided to leave it and maybe someday we'll see each other again, if its really how it must be. The song reminds me of him, I always thought he was so scared...but we took a chance and now we're taking the consequences in. It hurts, but I don't regret it. Not a single moment.
This is one of my favorite songs. To me the song is about two people falling in love who shouldn't, maybe even an affair.
If you have ever seen their live performances, you would think otherwise. Adam is often times at the brink of tears
I believe it could mean anything to anyone. Of course Adam said it was about his relationship with a girl named Anna.... but personally, I feel as if it could portray a girls battle with Anorexia and how her friend/boyfriend watches her fight it.
"My friend assures me, its all or nothing." Often times, people with this eating disorder have a "hallucination" (not really the best word :/ sorry) when they can talk to Ana, the impersonationj of Anorexia, so perhaps that's her listening to Ana... so that's what my take on it is. :) I love this song
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I Love this song, and I think Anna is a hooker that he is having a one night stand with.
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