i was listening to the counting crows. this bit: I was born on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay But Maryland and Virginia have faded away And I keep thinking tomorrow is coming today So I am endlessly waiting but what i heard was "Marilyn and Virginia had faded away", and i thought wow, he's making some sort of nostalgic link between Marilyn Munroe and Virginia Woolf. maybe between those two lie all the dead women of the western world? maybe he felt that he was born after the smartest and sexiest women had already died? maybe America and England were in decline since before he even got started? it was a good moment, until i googled the lyrics and found out he meant something much more mundane.