Jackson Browne ( 1948- )

Jackson Browne(1948- )

ENGL 2030—Summer 2013 | Lavery

For a Dancer

Keep a fire burning in your eye Pay attention to the open sky You never know what will be coming down I don't remember losing track of you You were always dancing in and out of view I must have thought you'd always be around Always keeping things real by playing the clown Now you're nowhere to be found


For a Dancer [2]

I don't know what happens when people die Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear That I can't sing I can't help listening And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round Crying as they ease you down 'cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing Dancing our sorrow away (right on dancing) No matter what fate chooses to play (there's nothing you can do about it anyway)


For a Dancer [3]

Just do the steps that you've been shown By everyone you've ever known Until the dance becomes your very own No matter how close to yours Another's steps have grown In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

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 And just as easily it could all disappear Along with whatever meaning you might have found Don't let the uncertainty turn you around (the world keeps turning around and around) Go on and make a joyful sound


For a Dancer [4]

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 But you'll never know


Late for the Sky

The words had all been spoken And somehow the feeling still wasn't right And still we continued on through the night Tracing our steps from the beginning Until they vanished into the air Trying to understand how our lives had led us there Looking hard into your eyes There was nobody I'd ever known Such an empty surprise to feel so alone


Late for the Sky [2]

Now for me some words come easy But I know that they don't mean that much Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch 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 Awake again, I can't pretend, and I know I'm alone And close to the end of the feeling we've known


Late for the Sky [3]

How long have I been sleeping How long have I been drifting alone through the night How long have I been dreaming I could make it right If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might To be the one you need Awake again, I can't pretend, and I know I'm alone And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have I been sleeping How long have I been drifting alone through the night How long have I been running for that morning flight Through the whispered promises and the changing light Of the bed where we both lie Late for the sky


Farther On

In my early years I hid my tears And passed my days alone Adrift on an ocean of loneliness My dreams like nets were thrown To catch the love that I'd heard of In books and films and songs Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy In the place where the real world belongs

Still I look for the beauty in songs To fill my head and lead me on Though my dreams have come up torn and empty As many times as love has come and gone


Farther On [2]

To those gentle ones my memory runs To the laughter we shared at the meals I filled their kitchens and living rooms With my schemes and my broken wheels It was never clear how far or near The gates to my citadel lay They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own But they listened to mine anyway

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say It could be I've lost my way Though I keep a watch over the distance Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday


Farther On [3]

And the angels are older They know not to wait up for the sun They look over my shoulder At the maps and the drawings of the journey I've begun

Now the distance leads me farther on Though the reasons I once had are gone I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for In the sand beneath the dawn


Farther On [4]But the angels are older They can see that the sun's setting fast They look over my shoulder At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past And they lay down behind me To sleep beside the road till the morning has come Where they know they will find me With my maps and my faith in the distance Moving farther on


Before the Deluge

Some of them were dreamers And some of them were fools Who were making plans and thinking of the future With the energy of the innocent They were gathering the tools They would need to make their journey back to nature While the sand slipped through the opening And their hands reached for the golden ring With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge In the troubled years that came before the deluge


Before the Deluge [2]

Some of them knew pleasure And some of them knew pain And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered And on the brave and crazy wings of youth They went flying around in the rain 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 And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow For the glitter and the rouge And in the moment they were swept before the deluge


Before the Deluge [3]

Now let the music keep our spirits high And let the buildings keep our children dry Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by By and by-- When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry At the way the earth was abused By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power And they struggled to protect her from them Only to be confused By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour And when the sand was gone and the time arrived In the naked dawn only a few survived And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge


The Pretender

I'm going to rent myself a house In the shade of the freeway I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning And go to work each day And when the evening rolls around I'll go on home and lay my body down And when the morning light comes streaming in I'll get up and do it again Amen Say it again Amen


The Pretender [2]

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 And when the morning light comes streaming in You'll get up and do it again Amen


The Pretender [3]

Caught between the longing for love And the struggle for the legal tender Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring And the junk man pounds his fender Where the veterans dream of the fight Fast asleep at the traffic light And the children solemnly wait For the ice cream vendor Out into the cool of the evening Strolls the pretender He knows that all his hopes and dreams Begin and end there


The Pretender [4]

Ah the laughter of the lovers As they run through the night Leaving nothing for the others But to choose off and fight And tear at the world with all their might While the ships bearing their dreams Sail out of sight


The Pretender [5]

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 And then we'll put out dark glasses on And we'll make love until our strength is gone And when the morning light comes streaming in We'll get up and do it again Get it up again


The Pretender [6]

I'm going to 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 Thought true love could have been a contender Are you there? Say a prayer for the pretender Who started out so young and strong Only to surrender


Jackson Browne ( 1948- )

Documents

Transcript of Jackson Browne ( 1948- )