In a November 17, 2005 Boulder Dirt article, Clyne explained that this song was about free thinking and expressing yourself, but is up to the listener to interpret. Said Clyne: "What we have is pieces of art. We assign them some degree of message and humble meaning - at least in our own hearts - and we put it out there to the people. And if they respond, then they pay for it with a dollar bill. And if so, we're lucky; we're not only artists, but we also get to make a living."
"Counterclockwise," says singer/songwriter Roger Clyne in a podcast on DailyCamera.com, "was meant to endorse free thinking. I tried to use images, like lightening my load in some way. For example, 'I bought a pancho and sandals, threw away my shoes' - I'm unclad, and trying to stand on the terra firma of the truth. 'Brought a toothbrush and a razor I probably won't use,' those things are something that we use before we gather ourselves, and prim and proper ourselves up for social interaction. 'Hit the track, turned my back on the headline news' - well, that's a liberating thing. Like, go on some grand adventure and turn your back on whatever huge societal expectations may be levied on you. And then 'I'm on my way to meet to the moon on the bay where she's rising big and full and blue'; the moon is a wonderful symbol of awakening in the night, of glowing in the dark, so to speak. So there, there's my first verse of 'Counterclockwise.' And it was meant to be something that would endorse individuals becoming unbound and unwound, such that they can express themselves freely, and hopefully with dignity, tolerance, and passion that won't advocate a predatory lifestyle. That's what that one's meant to do." (Get more in our Roger Clyne interview. His website is azpeacemakers.com .)
Clyne: "I was very conflicted. The time that this record was written was in the shadow of a war and then during a war. I know how I feel about war and how a lot of people feel about war, and it was hard to say if it was either just or unjust. As an artist, I had to report. These are tough times to make a call. If anybody wants to say I'm vacillating, they're welcome to, but these are times when black and white often collide and coalesce and right and wrong are not easy to pick apart. I think you can hear a lot of confusion in the record."
At the insistence of his manager, the band recorded and released the song in March 2003 as the United States prepared for war. "I had the song, but I wasn't planning on putting it out," Clyne says. "Our manager, Peter Lubin, said, "If you have any backbone as an artist, you'll put it out now and take a stand with the way you feel. God bless him for making me do that and we did. We recorded it and put it out the day after as a free download on the Web site. We pressed singles for radio, but the climate in America was so volatile and so polarized about the war that no radio station would touch it. It got shunned all the way around." (From Thomas Bond, Get Out, January 16, 2004. Get more in our Roger Clyne interview. His website is azpeacemakers.com .)
