Lyrics for Raining In Baltimore as interpreted by dank

Raining In Baltimore Lyrics
This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call

These train conversations are passing me by
And I don't have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way

I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don't get no change
It's raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same

There's things I remember and things I forget
I miss you I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?

I need a phone call Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train If I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I'm lonely for the big towns
I'd like to hear a little guitar
I think it's time to put the top down

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

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txsnowbunny
03-09-2002

Rated 0 
This song is my favorite from August and Everything After. To me, the song's about being in such a bad place and everything around you is falling apart and you see yourself falling with it. You're doing everything possible to keep yourself sane, but you miss someone so much that it eats away at you. All you need is a distraction; a phone call, a plane ride, a sun burn. Maybe then you won't feel so lonely...

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phaty4
05-07-2002

Rated 0 
as my sister pointed out these could be real needs, not distractions. it feels as if adam is walking down the street.. noticing that they're taking down the circus tent in this city "the big top is crubling down". and here comes the needs- he needs a phone call (from a girl?) he needs a plane ride (he needs to go to her?) he needs a sunburn (he wants to be in warm sunny florida with her, getting a sunburn, where it isn't raining?) and finally he needs a raincoat (because when you're walking down the street thinking, and it's raining, you need a raincoat).



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Lilac Wine
05-08-2002

Rated 0 
This is the first CC song I ever heard - I always thought it was about the guy who'd left his girl and moved somewhere remote, but she doesn't seem to care - "Three thousand five hundred miles away But what would you change if you could?". It feels like he regrets getting mad and leaving - "I miss you, I guess that I should."
I don't know if it's physical or metaphorical, but I know it's a great song!

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CountMyCrows
05-14-2002

Rated +1 
i LOVE this song!! it is so amazingly beautiful, i always get a little misty eyed when i hear it i admit...its just so melancholy. favorite line:
"there's things i remember, there's things i forget
i miss you, i guess that i should
3,500 miles away
what would you change if you could?"
i listened to this song a lot after i moved away, so i can really relate to it

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Disarm
05-22-2002

Rated 0 
this songs does me in too. i am at a confused time in my life. as in round here ive contemplated jumping. i also contemplate of leaving and going some odd thousand miles away. I try to find out why or where these ideas come from but the mood in the song reflects mine right now. we all know the grass is always greener on the other side until we get there. then we see that the grass wasnt so bad where we came from. i have 2 choices to make and either way im gonna miss making the one i didnt. but now im rambling so ill close....

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Evil_Elf
07-20-2002

Rated 0 
The song is about being 50 miles from nowhere and wanting to be somewhere else with someone that you miss, but also realising that you set this situation up for yourself.

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emoBABY407
08-29-2002

Rated 0 
what does this song mean to me.. hmm.

i think he's talking about how great the place where he is USED to be, before whoever it is moved away from him. Because if you think about it a place can be so absolutely wonderful when you're with someone you love..but once they leave you there alone ("where you should be no ones around") you finally start seeing all the imperfections of the place that you couldn't see before because when you're with that one person you love everything around you is a blur.

I don't know, thats how I see it though.

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spydermunkie101
09-24-2002

Rated 0 
I feel like this song is about a man, adam, who has trouble commiting so he moves away...to bltimore. but he gets incredibly lovesick there because he was in love. it was his love that drove him away, but also his love that makes him need to go back so badly.
its about how mixed being in love can be and how you dont know what your missing untill its gone

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ridergroov
10-06-2002

Rated 0 
well, i just saw "I Am Sam". It really got to me, how powerful love can be. It brought me back to the breakup of the girl i loved. This was the last song i listened to before i pulled up to her dormroom, started crying, and had "the talk". I remember specifically hearing "there's things i'll remember, and things i'll forget". that's when i really lost it. It was just the other day so i feel the same way for some reason. Well, that was 3 years ago, but it still feels like the day after a lot......

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acoustic1
03-25-2003

Rated 0 
this song is simply amazing. it relates to me so much right now, the line where he says 'and i wish this was a small world, cause i'm lonely for the big towns' just got me. great song.

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re8ecca
04-03-2003

Rated 0 
I agree with pretty much everyone.

My take: He has moved from LA (where its sunny) across the country (3,500 miles) to a smalltown outside of Baltimore (50 miles east--where its rainy). His ex is still in LA and he misses her. People pass him on the trains, involved in their own lives, and he is outside of them - alone. I like the idea someone said that she doesnt want him back; they've broken up. He wants to call her, but he can't call her because she doesnt want him anymore. He thinks about buying a car just for something to do, to fill him up temporarily and make him feel better. Or to drive back to her? I'm with phaty4 that these are real needs. I can see him walking down the street. Passing a phone booth and thinking of calling her. Wishing he was in the big city. Wishing he had her back. and finally coming back to the mundane thought that he should get a raincoat.

What do you think the line "I think it's time to put the top down" mean? I assume he's referring to the circus big top? I guess it depends on what you think the circus is, huh? Maybe that its time he move on..

Sigh. Love this song.

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davidecoyote
04-23-2003

Rated 0 
This song alludes to many other songs on the album, a complete memory:

The circus is the setting of "round here" as confirmed in "mrs potter's lullaby". The big top is where he used to live, or more specifically, his way of life in San Francisco living in that warehouse with all the other starving artists.

"These train conversations" is a reference to "ghost train" in which he holds onto the first words she ever said to him. He can't think what to say to her, but he can't stop thinking about it. If she'd just call, it'd be alright.

"I'd like to hear a little guitar" is a bit of a stretch, but I think it refers to "mr jones" and with it all the crazy nights they spent in the big city.

All these clues lead me to believe this song is about Maria. We know Adam was born on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, where Baltimore is located. I think he's returned home without the girl he left for the other side of the country with. Hence, "fifty miles east where you should be, no one's around".

And... if you really want a stretch, think about the line "you get what you pay for but I just had no intention of living this way" and compare it to the subject of "sullivan street". Don't forget, he's the rainking.

Do I overanalyze or what?

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crazyblueoblivion
04-28-2003

Rated 0 
davidecoyote - that's awesome. i'd noticed that there were recurring phrases in every song on that CD (i have it and have listened to it like five million times, mostly when i'm depressed and deep in thought), but the things that plunge me into deep thought distract me from further thought about the actual songs. i've felt like he does in this song so many times....i've loved once in my life (now) but he doesn't love me back. i'm watching him slowly fall apart and it's eating me up. when i'm not around him i feel like nothing good is going on in the world and if i could just do something different it would make everything better....but it doesn't.

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justlikemercury
04-28-2003

Rated 0 
adam duritz on 'maria' (courtesy of annabegins.com):
"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."

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justlikemercury
04-28-2003

Rated 0 
duritz on this song:
"It's a rare song about being 50 miles from nowhere and wanting to be somewhere else with someone that you miss -- but also realizing that you set this situation up for yourself. This is the saddest, bitterest song on the record for me. As a listener, you're supposed to realize that even though he wishes he is far away, he set it up like that. It's probably easier for him to be miserable and far away."

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ktshow04
06-21-2003

Rated 0 
i have a different take on this song- the narrarator has always lived in Baltimore, and he was in love- but the woman left, she moved away and now he's left alone. and all of a sudden it is raining in baltimore- he misses her:
he needs a phone call from her
he needs a plane ride to go to her
he needs a sunburn to get away from the rain and his life without her,
ultimately i think he was the one that drove her away, and he knows this- the line "what would you change if you could" implies this, he knows that she left with good reasons, and the circus- which represents their relationship, has fallen apart- and he is also falling apart- and the rain is falling down... sigh. this song makes you fall in love with counting crows if you havent yet! *kt

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steve857
06-28-2003

Rated 0 
ok this may sound stupid but i think its about adam duritz being on tour and missing the people he loves, "maybe i should buy a new car" is a way of saying hey i can afford it it might make me feel better, this is just a wild guess though.

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Jag3892
02-05-2005

Rated 0 
I think it's just a song about being away from someone you have sort of a rocky relationship with. He's lost her and he's all those miles away. He knows it's raining there in Baltimore where she is so he wants a raincoat because he wants to be there. Other than that it's really well written longing for someone. He really makes "I miss you" sound really really important.

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klickster
10-13-2006

Rated 0 
I dont think the chick here is in San Fransisco...the distance between Baltimore and San Fransisco is 2453 miles... just an observation...

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Comebakatz
01-10-2007

Rated 0 
My opinion is that the beginning, about the circus is what he considers their relationship. The circus is ending, the big top is coming down. Just like saying that all the fun and good times will soon be gone. Things ended so he leaves, he goes to Baltimore. He takes the train to the city, where its raining. Its not literally raining, its just raining because he's sad. He needs a raincoat, because everyday it rains on him, the world hates him. He needs a phone call and a plane ride because they would bring him closer to her. He needs a sunburn... kinda like saying he just needs the sun, needs to be pulled from his depression. "What would you change if you could?" Well that seems simple to me, he's asking if, and hoping that, she feels the same way. If she would change the distance between them. He could buy a new car and go back to her or he could always take the train back to her. Either way he knows he really can't do that so he just wishes the world was smaller. He needs her call, he needs the hope she brings him.
Great song!

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delial
01-25-2007

Rated 0 
"There's things I remember and things I forget
I miss you
I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?"

these lines drift into my head at certain times in my life. this song's always been an anthem for feeling aimless, confused, betrayed, rejected, disappointed...all wrapped up together. he wants to get out and away from everything, but wonders if getting away from it all is really the answer.

he just wants a phone call, an explanation or a way to talk things out, but I guess some things in life aren't fixed or don't want to be. some things in life are always left abandoned.

such a horrible feeling to know something you care about will always be broken.

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DancenSweetie12
02-18-2007

Rated 0 
This is song is so beautiful, it makes me cry. I think it's just about everything going wrong in youre life, and the one person who could make everything better isn't there, and you just want a phone call from them. and since that special person just left u just need them, they're your raincoat. you just miss them and want them there to make everything okay.

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true1480
03-07-2007

Rated 0 
When a girl left me in a bad way, I'd listen to this song over & over again. I think the circus represents good & fun times that are "crumbling" down. She was supposed to go with him to Baltimore, but she left him. Left him with every need in the world, and he just needs something, anything, to make it a little better.

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---twigs---
03-10-2007

Rated 0 
the lines, "the circus is falling to it's knees, the big top is coming down" really relate to what i'm going through right now. a really great relationship is at the point now where we've done everything we can for each other and we just have to move on. those lines and "i think it's time to put the top down" just say everything i'm going through really well. i had kinda underestimated how good this song is before i came on here but this is some great thinking people!

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just4a6mirror
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
awe. i love this song, living in a town outside of baltimore makes me feel special when i listen to this one

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