Near Crows Landing, California

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Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Cross the water home through the town
Past the shadows that fall down wherever we meet
Pretty soon now I won’t come around

-Counting Crows, Sullivan Street

Top to bottom, August and Everything After, paints a picture of my home town when I was a girl wearing 2nd hand roller skates for the 1st time; flying down our sloped driveway at top speed wondering out loud how to stop. No helmet, no pads, 1980’s style. My dad shouted, “grab a tree!”

The album is one of my favorite collections of music. I heard it for the first time when I was out of state for school. The imagery made me homesick. It has nothing to do with the region of California where I grew up but it sounds like it to me. Isn’t that how we make music our own? Relating to it in some way, personalizing the message. Does music do this to you too? Do you have a favorite album?

22 replies to “Near Crows Landing, California”

  1. Music really is the stuff of life – it sticks in the heart and brain and accompanies us on our journeys –
    I can’t pick any one particular album as I adore so very many – but from a sentimental perspective I’ll go with Bobbie Gentry’s: Ode to Billy Joe. When I was a kid, I carefully wrapped the vinyl LP in tissue so I could hang Bobbie’s album cover on my bedroom wall. I wanted to be sitting on that fence barefoot, in blue jeans and a tee shirt and strumming a guitar…oh, the beautiful simplicity (though Billy Joe’s lyrics were deep and soulful).
    AnnMarie 🙂

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    1. Looked up the album cover. Beautiful! You could totally pull off your own take on that. Tease, hairspray, repeat. That would be a great tribute to a favorite album. Thanks for the imagery and I appreciate your feedback!

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      1. Hey that’s an inspired idea 😉 Perhaps, I shall grab a guitar and find a fence!
        I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to Bobbie G. – she has one of those gravel and satin voices – if you haven’t and would like to, I’d recommend her “Ode to Billy Joe.”
        AnnMarie 🙂
        Enjoy Sunday!

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  2. Such a great album. It’s amazing how many memories get attached to music and that we don’t always realize it until a song triggers the thoughts.

    I have to think on the album question…*ponders*

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    1. I agree Jeanette. Sometimes I like the reminder of a different time, other times I need to change the station. I hope you’re getting some rest this weekend!

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  4. You have this album right, sis Sandra. Adam Duritz and mates paint a musical picture that can take you to Baltimore, Maryland or Upstate New York or dusty California via New Mexico via, didn’t they?

    You have music figured out as the traveling machine it is. Listen in your dorm room with head phones and it’s a private trip. Listen at a concert with thousands, and you all take a common journey to private and individual destinations. Far out!

    I’ll cop out and say I have a lot of favorite albums. I really do.

    Today I will offer you “Rat City in Blue” by the Good Rats, Long Island’s best rock band ever, to me. Peppi Marchello took me back to Long Island from Maryland and from Syracuse.

    RIP Peppi Marchello, whose Good Rats music touched my generation of Long Island rock fans

    I had to write about him on my blog when he died last year. Thanks, Sandra.

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    1. I agree bro (potato french fries) I don’t think I can choose just one favorite. And I love that! Will definitely check out the link next. Thanks for sharing! Always a treat.

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      1. Supposed to be 104 today in Vegas, already at 91 at 9:45 this morning. Not sure where you are, but it’s obviously hot!

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  7. Sandra, all the Crows music, and I have every album live and studio, has so much meaning. Being originally from the east coast (now in IL) St. Robinson and His Cadillac Dream lyrics “I was born on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland and Virginia have faded away” takes me back every time I hear it. And I listen to it several times a week anymore. Adams music takes me to so many places, some happy, some not so. Regardless, I continue to listen. Thank you for the reminder of home

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    1. The pleasure is mine. Do you have Across A Wire the live NY two disc collection? If you had to choose only one to listen to ever again…red or blue? I choose blue. The quiet acoustic renditions pull at my heartstrings and make me tear up at times. I know what you mean when you say that the words can take you to places you want to visit again and others you’d rather not remember. Thank you so much for your comment! I love connecting with other audiophiles.

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  8. August and Everything After is one of my all-time favorite albums. The whole thing is fantastic, and I can listen to it beginning to end without skipping a track. One of my favorite songs, “Anna Begins” has one of my favorite quotes:

    “And every time she sneezes, I believe it’s love..”

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    1. No no no, that’s MY favorite line! “Every time she sneezes I believe it’s love” because he adores every bit of her, even the involuntary aspects of her. The little things. My music twin. Glad you get it! xoxo

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