I've been a pretty faithful fan of Counting Crows since they released their first CD 15 years ago, and I've always noticed a lot of recurring people, places and cultural references in the lyrics of their songs. One of the most famous is the periodic appearance of a woman named Maria. Singer/songwriter Adam Duritz provides this explanation for why she shows up so frequently:

Maria is the only one who's not completely real. She's just an idea of someone I came up with when I was writing "Round Here." I mean, she's me. It's through the eyes of a girl, but it's someone very much like me struggling at the edge, not sure if she's going to fall off on one side or the other. It's a theme that's stuck through songs. So she keeps popping up.

A second recurring reference is imagery related to carnivals and the circus. This probably isn't surprising, as the idea of the circus is frequently used as a metaphor for fame and the excesses of life as a touring band. Nevertheless, I've always been struck by just how often Duritz uses such allusions. The most obvious usage was the title of their 1998 live CD Across a Wire: Live in New York, but there are plenty of other references in the band's song lyrics.

Because it's Christmas break and I have some extra time on my hands -- and because I'm a librarian with a compulsive need for organizing media -- I decided to catalogue all the circus and carnival references in the lyrics of Counting Crows' songs.

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August and Everything After (1993)
"Round Here" (Listen at Last.fm)
She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land / just like shes walking on a wire in the circus.

"Raining in Baltimore" (Listen at Last.fm)
The circus is falling down on its knees. / The big top is crumbling down.

Recovering the Satellites (1996)
"Goodnight Elisabeth" (Listen at Last.fm)
We couldn't all be cowboys / So some of us are clowns. / Some of us are dancers on the midway. / We roam from town to town. / I hope that everybody can find a little flame. / Me, I say my prayers, then I just light myself on fire / And I walk out on the wire once again.

"Children in Bloom" (Listen at Last.fm)
Where's the funhouse this year? / The fairground's deserted and the skies don't seem as near.

This Desert Life (1999)
"Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" (Listen at Last.fm)
Well, I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame. / I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame.

"St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream" (Listen at Last.fm)
Well I have dreamed of a black car that shimmers and drives / down the length of the evening to the carnival side / in a house where regret is a carousel ride.

Hard Candy (2002)
NONE!

Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings (2008)
"Insignificant" (Watch at YouTube - warning: loud distorted audio)
Can you see me / through the glare of the lamp post? / I am walking a tightrope / into the moon.

"On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago" (Watch at YouTube)
She's a carnival driver / hung in the sky, / cutting through time like a memory / strung on a wire.

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Eight songs total. That's what I've found so far. Did I miss any?

Interestingly, in researching this post, I've discovered two other recurring references in Duritz's lyrics: angels and trains.

NBC announced this week that following his departure from the Tonight Show in 2009, Jay Leno will remain with the network to host a talk show every weeknight at 10:00 p.m.

This, of course, means that NBC will either cancel or move all of its current 10 p.m. series to make room for Leno. The claim is that Leno's show will be far cheaper to produce than the 5 hours of programming that currently fills those time slots. But will ad revenue be high enough to produce similar profits? After all, Leno's current viewer numbers in late night, while high for his time slot, are hardly what a network wants to see in prime time.

And what about NBC's late night talk shows? If Leno appears nightly with high profile celebrity guests similar to the Tonight Show, won't this inevitably hurt Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon's shows? Not only will Leno be competing with O'Brien and Fallon for guests, but if viewers get their talk show fix at 10 o'clock, will anyone stick around for "Tonight" and "Late Night?"

I do wonder if there's more to this deal than meets the eye. Could NBC execs be counting on Leno's show to fail? After all, the primary goal might simply be to prevent Leno from signing with ABC for a show that would compete directly with O'Brien at 11:30 p.m. By offering him a prime time slot, they managed to lock Leno in at the peacock network for awhile longer. Then, if Leno fails to draw big numbers, NBC can cancel his show whenever it wants. But in the meantime O'Brien can build his own version of the Tonight Show without competing directly with Leno. After a Leno cancellation, NBC can simply go back to a more traditional programming schedule.