Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
"Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts on God)" is a song by American alternative rock band Dishwalla from their 1995 A&M Records album Pet Your Friends. It is their only hit song, peaking at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topping the same magazine's Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1996. 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 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.[3] Richards said:
From that younger perspective, I think we take things in a much more honest way because we are not being biased by how we're supposed to all think the same. So this idea of God, being an omnipotent being, could be a male or female. We always refer to God as a male, so why not make it a female? I started creating imagery to describe this journey, trying to think about what it was like to be a kid and the things that you would do. It quickly came together—I didn't think too much about it. But it did end up being one of the songs that really affected people both positively and negatively. I never thought I'd ever have a song I'd get death threats for writing.[4]
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.
"Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts on God)" is a song by American alternative rock band Dishwalla from their 1995 A&M Records album Pet Your Friends. It is their only hit song, peaking at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topping the same magazine's Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1996. 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 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.[3] Richards said:
From that younger perspective, I think we take things in a much more honest way because we are not being biased by how we're supposed to all think the same. So this idea of God, being an omnipotent being, could be a male or female. We always refer to God as a male, so why not make it a female? I started creating imagery to describe this journey, trying to think about what it was like to be a kid and the things that you would do. It quickly came together—I didn't think too much about it. But it did end up being one of the songs that really affected people both positively and negatively. I never thought I'd ever have a song I'd get death threats for writing.[4]
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.
