Synopsis
The video opens with buildings collapsing as Adam Duritz walks and sings alone beside railroad tracks. Its fragmented imagery shifts between Los Angeles locations and the Mojave Desert, following a mysterious woman carrying a suitcase, a man surrounded by clocks and watches, and a woman carrying a warning sign that reads "Nobody Move and Nobody Gets Hurt." Rather than presenting a conventional storyline, the video creates a surreal portrait of isolation, displacement, and lives unfolding in parallel.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was made in 1994 to accompany the second single from Counting Crows' debut album, August and Everything After.
- Several sequences were filmed at El Mirage Dry Lake in California's Mojave Desert, whose stark landscape provides the setting for the clock-filled scenes.
- The woman carrying the suitcase represents Maria from the song, but her face is never shown and the actress was not publicly identified.
- Bonnie Aarons appears as the woman carrying the "Nobody Move and Nobody Gets Hurt" sign. The video marked one of her earliest screen appearances; she later became widely known for playing Valak in The Conjuring 2 and The Nun.
- The video's surreal editing and disconnected images mirror the song's emotionally unsettled perspective instead of illustrating its lyrics literally.
- The official video was later uploaded to Counting Crows' YouTube channel in 2009, helping preserve the original 1990s presentation for a new audience.