anna begins
"I don't get no sleep....man I never sleep"

The final song on a brilliant acoustic album; when I purchased August back in '95, this was immediately my choice song. I listened to it endlessly. I can remember driving up and down the Seward Highway in the summertime, going between Anchorage and Seward [hence the name Seward Highway], sliding the cd into my stereo and listening to Anna disappear over and over. [My sister has since picked up on this habit - I'm such an influence!]

The original Anna is close to this one on almost all counts. Not a lot has changed lyrically, or even musically. But the difference this time lies not in the words or music - but in the feeling that Adam, the vocalist, is confiding all of this in you. This is the beauty of Adam's lyrics and the Crows' music: the intimacy that makes you feel as if you are there, as if you've known them for your entire life.

Anna is a figment of Adam's imagination; this was stated in so many words by Charley Gillingham in an AOL chat some time ago. But the feelings documented in the song, I'm sure, are not. We've all been there before; trapped in a relationship that is doing more harm than good, knowing that you've gotta get out - but how? Every time you run for the door, the other person says or does something that convinces you to linger for just a moment longer and then all of a sudden you realized you're trapped again. It's a tragic, vicious circle.

Adam writes about it well; writing songs about women - girlfriends, for the most part - comes easily to him. Though Anna and Margery were fictional; Elizabeth and Maria and, now, Chelsea are not. The pain composed in the songs is something he's been through before; something he's sadly becoming familiar with.

Well, this sort of drifted off of the review topic; so to close this, I'll simply say this and dare anyone to challenge it: Anna Begins is a great song, one of the Crows best - and anyone that says otherwise has to face my sister. Good luck.