Lyric discussion by TheTANK 

Cover art for A Murder Of One lyrics by Counting Crows

I agree that the narrator is trying to get someone out of a relationship, though I don't think it's necissarily an abusive one. The lyrics seem deliberately ambiguous as to WHY she's unhappy with the person she's with right now, and it could be that she simply doesn't love him.

Some parts of this song seem clear: "We can talk a while...." etc. is the singer trying to entice the girl out of her relationship. In the chorus, he tries to convince her that where she is now is somehow wrong and fake, and his appeals become more desparate as the song moves on. The chorus gets longer ("Flames, flames flames...") and then he begins to almost rant: "You don't wanna waste your life! Change! Change! Change!" He becomes very passionate. The song doesn't really explain whether she is swayed by his appeal.

The other portion of the song that really fascinates me is the abstract imagery, especially in verse three and the bridge/coda section. I'm not really sure what the crows represent, though people here have had some good suggestions. It's interesting how she (in this dream) seems to be mapping all aspects of life to the individual birds, and the singer insists that there's one she's missed -- inside her. Perhaps he is suggesting that she is a fundamental part of everything around her, and reminding her of her ability to change it. During the bridge, he looks ahead, mentioning how he "will walk" "in the summer". Something about it seems to suggest optimism, but he talks as though he's walking alone -- 'I' instead of 'We'. It's possible that he is saying that while he'd like the girl, he'll go on either with or without her.

Or maybe I'm totally off-base in analyzing the hell out of it. And yeah, CC rocks.