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Jackson Browne

American singer-songwriter

Clyde Jackson Browne (born 9 October 1948) is an American musician and singer-songwriter.

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy.
~ "Take It Easy"

Quotes

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Song Lyrics

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All tracks composed by Browne except where noted.

  • Now if I seem to be afraid
    To live the life that I have made in song
    Well it's just that I've been losing so long.
  • These days I sit on cornerstones
    And count the time in quarter-tones to ten, my friend
    Don't confront me with my failures
    I had not forgotten them.
  • The daughter of a captain on the rolling seas,
    She would stare across the water from the trees.
    Last time he was home he held her on his knees
    And said the next time they would sail away just where they pleased.
  • Well I'm running down the road
    Tryin' to loosen my load,
    I've got seven women on my mind,
    Four that wanna own me,
    Two that wanna stone me,
    One says she's a friend of mine.
  • Take it easy, take it easy
    Don't let the sound of your own wheels
    Drive you crazy.
  • Well, I'm a standing on a corner
    In Winslow, Arizona
    And such a fine sight to see,
    It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
    Slowin' down to have a look at me.
  • I try to shut my eyes
    But I can't get her outta my sight.
    I know I'm gonna know her,
    But I gotta get over my fright.
    Well, I'm just gonna walk up to her,
    I'm gonna talk to her tonight.

    Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's only light,
    Gonna shine tonight.
    Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's baby tonight.

    • "Somebody's Baby"

Jackson Browne (1972)

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  • Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him well.
    He was alone into his distance, he was deep into his well.
    I could guess what he was laughing at, but I couldn't really tell.
    Now the stories told that Adam jumped, but I'm thinking that he fell.
  • Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
    And the slow parade of fears without crying.
    Now I want to understand;
    I have done all that I could
    To see the evil and the good without hiding.
    You must help me if you can.

    Doctor, my eyes
    Tell me what is wrong.
    Was I unwise to leave them open for so long?

  • 'Cause I have wandered through this world
    And as each moment has unfurled,
    I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams.
    People go just where they will,
    I never noticed them until I got this feeling
    That it's later than it seems.
    • "Doctor, My Eyes"
  • Oh people, look around you, the signs are everywhere
    You've left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care
    You're lost inside your houses,theres no time to find you now

For Everyman (1973)

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  • It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
    As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free
    I thought I was a child, until you turned and smiled
    • "I Thought I was Child"
  • I thought I knew where I was going, until I heard your laughter flowing
    And came upon the wisdom in your eyes
    • "I Thought I was Child"
  • Honey you shake and I'll rattle and we'll roll on down the line
    And see if we can't get in touch with a very close friend of mine.
    But let me clue you in, it ain't like him
    To argue or pretend--
    Honey let me introduce you to my redneck friend.
  • Someone's gonna have to explain it to me,
    I'm not sure what it means.
    My baby's feelin' funny in the morning;
    She's having trouble getting into her jeans
    • "Ready or Not"
  • I told her I had always lived alone and I probably always would.
    And all I wanted was my freedom.
    And she told me that she understood.
    But I let her do some of my laundry,
    And she slipped a few meals in between.
    And the next thing I remember, she was all moved in.
    And I was buying her a washing machine.
    • "Ready or Not"
  • Make it on your own if you think you can.
    If you see somewhere to go, I understand.
  • Everybody's just waiting to hear from the one
    Who can give them the answers
    And lead them back to that place in the warmth of the sun
    Where sweet childhood still dances
    Who'll come along
    And hold out that strong But gentle fathers hand?
    • "For Everyman"

Late for the Sky (1974)

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  • You never knew what I loved in you,
    I don't know what you loved in me.
    Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be.
    • "Late for the Sky"
  • Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer,
    I was taken by a photograph of you.
    There were one or two I know
    That you would have liked a little more,
    But they didn't show your spirit quite as true.
    You were turning round to see who was behind you
    And I took your childish laughter by surprise,
    And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
    There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes.
  • What I was seeing wasn't what was happening at all.
    • "Fountain of Sorrow"
  • When you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger.
    And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool.
    So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger,
    While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
    Like a fountain from a pool.
    • "Fountain of Sorrow"
  • Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
    'Cos that's easier than letting on how little they could care.
  • Keep a fire for the human race;
    Let your prayers go drifting into space.
    You never know what will be coming down,
    Perhaps a better world is drawing near.
    Just as easily it could all disappear
    • "For a Dancer"
  • Into a dancer you have grown
    From a seed somebody else has thrown.
    Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own.
    And somewhere between the time you arrive
    And the time you go,
    May lie a reason you were alive
    That you'll never know.
    • "For a Dancer"
  • I got a thing or two to say
    Before I walk on by.
    I'm feeling good today.
    But if die a little farther along,
    I'm trusting everyone to carry on.
  • And their feathers once so fine grew torn and tattered
    And in the end they traded their tired wings
    For the resignation that living brings.
    • "Before the Deluge"
  • Let the music keep our spirits high
    And let the buildings keep our children dry
    Let creation reveal its secrets by and by.
    • "Before the Deluge"

The Pretender (1976)

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  • I want to know what became of the changes
    We waited for love to bring.
    Were they only the fitful dreams
    Of some greater awakening?
    I've been aware of the time going by;
    They say in the end it's the wink of an eye.
  • Out into the cool of the evening,
    Strolls the Pretender.
    He knows that all his hopes and dreams
    Begin and end there
    • "The Pretender"
  • I'm going to find myself a girl
    Who can show me what laughter means.
    And we'll fill in the missing colors
    In each other's paint-by-number dreams.
    • "The Pretender"
  • I'm gonna be a happy idiot
    And struggle for the legal tender.
    Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
    To the heart and the soul of the spender.
    And believe in whatever may lie
    In those things that money can buy,
    Though true love could have been a contender.
    • "The Pretender"
  • Are you there?
    Say a prayer for the Pretender.
    Who started out so young and strong
    Only to surrender.
    • "The Pretender"

Running on Empty (1977)

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  • Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels.
    Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.
    '65, I was 17 and running up 101.
    I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on.
  • Running on, running on empty
    Running on, running blind.
    Running on, running into the sun
    But I'm running behind.
    • "Running on Empty"
  • I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through.
    Looking into their eyes I see them running too.
    • "Running on Empty"
  • You love the thunder and you love the rain.
    You know your hunger like you know your name.
    I know you wonder how you ever came
    To be a woman in love with a man in search of the flame.
  • Now the seats are all empty,
    Let the roadies take the stage.
    Pack it up and tear it down.
    They're the first to come and the last to leave,
    Working for that minimum wage.
    They'll set it up in another town.
    • "The Load-Out", written by Jackson Browne and Bryan Garofalo
  • Now roll them cases out and lift them amps,
    Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps.
    Cause when it comes to moving me,
    You know you guys are the champs.
    But when that last guitar's been packed away,
    You know that I still want to play.
    So just make sure you got it all set to go
    Before you come for my piano.
    • "The Load-Out"

Hold Out (1979)

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  • She was a friend to me when I needed one.
    Wasn't for her I don't know what I'd done.
    She gave me back something that was missing in me.
    She could of turned out to be almost anyone,
    Almost anyone--
    With the possible exception
    Of who I wanted her to be.
  • Talk about celestial bodies,
    And your angels on the wing.
    She wasn't much good at stickin' around--but
    That girl could sing.
    She could sing...

    In the dead of night,
    She could shine a light
    On some places that you've never been.
    In that kind of light,
    You could lose your sight
    And believe there was something to win.

    • "That Girl Could Sing"
  • You could hold her tight
    With all your might,
    But she'd slip through your arms like the wind.
    And be back in flight,
    Back into the night,
    Where you might never see her again.
    • "That Girl Could Sing"
  • Down on the boulevard they take it hard.
    They look at life with such disregard.
    They say it can't be won
    The way the game is run.
    But if you choose to stay,
    You end up playing anyway.
    It's okay.
  • In the morning when I closed my eyes,
    You were sleeping in paradise.
    And while the room was growing light,
    I was holding still with all my might.
  • Hold a place for the human race.
    Keep it open wide.
    Give it time to fall or climb.
    But let the time decide.
    Sometimes you wonder what's in this for you.
    But you wait and you see.
    'Cause its all you can do.
    Just to hold on.
    Hold on hold out, hold on.

Lawyers in Love (1983)

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  • I can't keep up with what's been going down,
    I think my heart must just be slowing down.
    Among the human beings
    In their designer jeans,
    Am I the only one who hears the screams
    And the strangled cries of lawyers in love?
  • Between the darkness on the street
    And the houses filling up with light.
    Between the stillness in my heart
    And the roar of the approaching night.
    Somebody's calling after somebody,
    Somebody turns the corner out of sight,
    Looking for somebody
    Somewhere in the night.

    Tender is the night.
    When you hold your baby tight,
    Tender are the motions, tender is the night.

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