a long december
"I can't remember all the times I've tried to tell myself
to hold on to these moments as they pass"

For some reason, and for the longest time, this song was one of my least favorite tracks on RTS. I couldn’t understand how people, especially critics were praising this song as one of the finest and most beautiful works the Crows had come up with. I wasn’t all that thrilled either when the Crows picked it as their second single following "Angels of the Silences". For me, the song was just "so-so" . As a whole, the song seemed pretty monotonous, especially Adam’s singing in the verses, he sounded bored.

What I did like about it though was the rousing ending. A lot of "na na nas" building up into a collective force kinda lifts you up somehow. After more listening and analyzing(sort of) I came to the conclusion that it’s not really the music itself that makes this song….special. I have to admit, by this time, the song had "grown on me" somewhat and I was beginning to slowly appreciate it. The real worth of this song which everybody saw so clearly and which I missed entirely, is in it’s spirit. It’s all summed up in the last verse of the song;

"And it’s been a long December and there’s reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass"

"A Long December" is a song that shows that the Crows HAVE grown and matured immensely since the first album. Just by acknowledging that there is hope is a major step in the right direction. These lines are proof of this, "holding on to these moments as they pass", is such a powerful line. Life is fleeting, great and special moments in one’s life will come and go, and the rigors of the last album reminded the Crows of this simple fact. They’ve seemed to realize even more that even the little things in life count a lot. It’s no secret that the Crows went through a lot of shit after "August and Everything After" took off. They couldn’t help but stress in their next album all the "bad" that came out of that last year or so of rigorous touring. Let’s face it, the Crows like singing about misery, something everybody experiences and can relate to. But every now and then, we need a little hope in our lives to keep us going. After taking in all the punches, we have to look up and tell ourselves that ultimately there is an end to all this pain. That’s what keeps us going. By hearing Adam say the "maybe this year will be better than the last", it shows that through all this misery, there still is hope, there still is spirit left, and that just makes everyone a little bit stronger in the long run.