Oh, change. Counting Crows’ “Murder of One” tackles the eternal human struggle that is change, with gusto and intensity you need to make a break-through.
The danger of a situation like the situation referred to in the song is that if you stay long enough in a bad situation, that bad situation becomes your “normal” and your mind gets stuck to it. It becomes harder and harder to remember, imagine or visualize a different reality, and with that declines goes the will to change. It’s one thing to accept the current situation for what it is, yes, but it’s quite another to resign yourself to be stuck there.
That’s why I really appreciate how primal and intense Adam Duritz gets toward the end of the song. Speaking from personal experience, a person stuck in such a situation could use a wake-up call. Somebody grabbing your shoulders and shaking you and yelling into your face “change! Change! Chaaaaaaange!”
And this, too, is from my personal experience — you can change. You have the power to, even if you’ve forgotten.