"Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts on God)" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Dishwalla Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band from Santa Barbara, California. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing satellite TV to a neighborhood (" dish" + walla). In a '' Vox'' interview, lead guitarist Rodney Brown ...

from their 1995

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

album '' Pet Your Friends''. It is their only hit song, peaking at number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and topping the same magazine's

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. It received two ASCAP awards (1997 and 1998) as the most played song of the year on radio in the United States.

Writing and inspiration

Dishwalla lead singer

J. R. Richards John Robert Richards later Reid-Richards (born April 30, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and television and film composer. Richards was the original lead singer and principal songwriter for the alternative ro ...

wrote 'Counting Blue Cars' "rather quickly", telling the "story of a young boy's spiritual journey". He said the lyrics are about a conversation with the child within himself, but was inspired by an actual chat with his 10-year-old neighbor. Richards said: As quoted, Richards received death threats after the single's release from listeners who were upset about God's depiction as a female in the song.

Chart performance

"Counting Blue Cars" was highly popular on the radio, peaking at number four on pop airplay and number five on

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...

airplay in 1996. It became a number-one Modern Rock Track for one week in June 1996 and a number two Mainstream Rock Track. It peaked at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and showed longevity by remaining on the chart for nearly a year at 48 weeks. In March 2022, the song received a gold

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

from the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for digital sales and streams of over 500,000 units.

Track listings and formats

* US CD and cassette # "Counting Blue Cars" (LP Version) – 4:51 # "The Other Side of the World" – 3:46 * European CD and UK 7-inch vinyl # "Counting Blue Cars" (Edit) – 4:20 # "Counting Blue Cars" (Acoustic Live Edit) – 4:32 * US and European maxi # "Counting Blue Cars" (Edit) – 4:20 # "Until I Wake Up" – 4:42 # "Counting Blue Cars" (Acoustic Live Edit) – 4:32 # "Date with Sarah" (Instrumental) – 3:51 * US CD 1 and German maxi # "Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me All Your Thoughts on God)" (Edit) – 4:20 # "Until I Wake Up" – 4:42 # "Sarah Without Sarah" (Acoustic) – 3:51 # "Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me All Your Thoughts on God)" (LP Version) – 4:51 * US CD 2 # "Counting Blue Cars" (LP Version) – 4:51 # "The Other Side of the World" – 3:46 # "Counting Blue Cars" (Acoustic) – 5:39 # "Until I Wake Up" – 4:42 * Japanese EP # "Counting Blue Cars" – 4:20 # "Until I Wake Up" – 4:42 # "It's Going to Take Some Time" – 4:42 # "Date with Sarah" – 3:51 # "Charlie Brown's Parents" – 4:51 # "The Other Side of the World" – 3:51 # "The Feeder" – 4:51 # "Counting Blue Cars" (Acoustic) – 4:20

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1995 songs 1996 singles Dishwalla songs A&M Records singles