Anna Begins....enjoy! (From Bali With Love)

I have always loved this song, for more than my name being in it (hehehehe), but have YOU ever really listened to the words to this song and understood what it is saying?

Anna Begins is about letting something go, denying that there is something there happening in your life or to you....Have you ever thought a situation in your life to be complicated or scary?

These two people met on a holiday trip and were just planing on enjoying each other, but things got more complicated, they liked each other more and more and then everything became harder for them. So the guy trys to push thoughts out of his head and heart, but in doing so they hurt each other because they are telling each other they do not have the feelings of love that they REALLY do have for one another but then the time comes when all is too late.....and what they really didn't want to happen was for it all to come to an end and never see each other again....

I found this online from an interview that Adam from Counting Crows did:
"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..." "

I also really like this part of the song when he says "Her Kindness Bangs a Gong", Adam says this means, "the way she made me feel struck my heart and made it ring like a bell (or a gong)".

Here's the lyrics, enjoy:

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