Jackson Browne - C or D?

ok wait i think the lines were "you've heard that hollow sound/of your own steps in flight." what a precious-precious line.

my mom has a lot of jackson browne records.. guessing by this thread, i should steal "running on empty." which others are worthwhile?

i am not drunk, unless one can get drunk on turkey and peach cobbler.

Ah, the gang: I knew it well. I'd had an encounter with one of its thugs, see, and in the process got tossed by said mag for telling what was it?, oh yes, the truth. This was '72. After several false starts, Jackson Browne finally had an album out, which seemed a good occasion to bring to light some interesting hokum from his past--I'd known the mutha since '67. So I did the first feature on him for Rolling Stone or anywhere else--a rave, for crying out loud, and he freaking hated it, thought it made him look "too punk." And what might be so wrong with that? Before twelve people knew who the fuck he was, he was like some weird-isn't-the-word cross between the Young Marble Giants, say--or from a later universe: Cat Power--and Byron or Shelley. On his first visit to New York, he backed up (and horizontal-danced with) the fabulous NICO, had a connection to Lou Reed and the Warhol crowd, blah blah blooey. So I talked all this stuff up--what the hey--it was what I thought would make him MOST APPEALING. And he's so upset he gets Asylum Records prez David Geffen to call the Stone and have me booted, good riddance, don't come back.

Four years later, I was eating at South Town Soul Food in L.A. when Jackson walked in with gang-sister number one Linda Ronstadt. Not wanting her exposed to my cooties, he motions for her to stay put, struts over, sits down, and in less than a minute explains to me how it is. "We singer-songwriters"--he always relished being part of something (but imagine calling yourself such hogwipe)--"feel we get a better shake from this Cameron kid...he never challenges us...accepts our side of the story...we don't have to worry what he'll say...no offense, but..." I.e., writers exist to write-about-musicians, bub...so go wash dishes or something.

poor thing.

Lots of comments here on the Jackson songs recorded by Nico on Chelsea Girls, plus Meltzer's comments on Jackson's early songs. There was a double LP acetate album produced in '67 as a songwriting demo album. Jackson has never released the stuff, but it has been bootlegged as the Nina Demos. I think Meltzer's comments are a little over the top--there's a saccharine element to some of these songs--but I swear there are like fifteen or more songs on the thing that are as good as those three songs on Chelsea Girls.

Steve Noonan's Elektra album is worth hearing. Meltzer has some things about it in Aesthetics of Rock.

i must say: alex, you've outdone yourself

i dunno, his sense of humor seems really academic and leaden to me. i say this as a pretty big fan of his first 2 1/2 records.

I also love his "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood," done brilliantly by the Byrds...and I just heard a good version of it by Johnny Darrell, on this Raven Byrds-associated song comp called "Byrd Parts 2."

I mean, I think that's his best song ever.

Overall, though, not someone I go back to. I kinda think "Running on Empty" album is all right. He was on the road and all. I share Alex's wish to consign the Eagles to some eternal hell, though--even though I admit to liking "Take It to the Limit" and sort of halfway respecting some of what they did otherwise, like "Life in the Fast Lane," which is, uh, really well performed and recorded...

The other day I had a sudden, intense need to hear "Tender Is the Night" and "The Pretender" and maybe also "Rock Me on the Water" and even "Lawyers in Love." Just for grins I thought maybe I also needed "Running on Empty" as well.

Holy moley. The dude is catching some very specific range of Boomer middle-aged melancholy that I'm going to find irresistible for a week and then put back on the shelf for another couple decades, but don't harsh my mellow just yet.

I never want to hear "Doctor My Eyes" again but there are a few lyrics of his that I absolutely need to have exist. God sends his spaceships to America. I want to know what became of the changes we waited for love to bring. Looking into their eyes I see them running too. Tender are the hunters. Just make sure you've got it all set to go before you come for my piano.

The production values show some of the worst late-70s excess and bigness/slickness, but then he mostly stick to recognizable, basically timeless rock instrumentation--few synth drums, few sax solos--and it has some agreeable white-t-shirt purity to it. His voice can be too earnest and a bit laconic, but at the same time, the way he sings "the benediction of the neon light" and "now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon" charm me.

just yesterday a friend tried to convince me that Jackson Browne is better than Tom Petty. i wasn't having it, but i need to hear more browne

But yeah, "Tender Is The Night" is prolly my POO...

still not sure who started the fire tho

After all, it was you and me.

lol

I am reliably informed that you can't start a fire without a spark

he's very likeable in the eagles doc

taught glenn frey how to write songs (indirectly, frey was living in the apartment above browne, would wake up to the sound of browne's piano through the floor, listening to browne playing the same verse over and over, 20 times, until he had it down)

will i ever be able to hear "fountain of sorrow" without bursting into tears

you've had to hide sometimes, but now you're all right

thats a great song. lady of the well is the jb track that currently gets me.

you've had to hide sometimes, but now you're all right

gets me absolutely every time

It's a good song.

I can still be undone by "Rock Me on the Water," or even "Tender is the Night."

Over on the main Little Feat thread, some dude refers to his coverage, not yet published:

Random fascinating tidbit from Gradney that did not make it into my piece: “I remember management trying to break us up. They wanted to put Lowell in a superstar band with Jackson Browne and [Lovin’ Spoonful frontman] John Sebastian.”

― some dude, Monday, July 15, 2024

Think I saw a cable thing where Browne sings a few with at least C and N: sounding better, needing anyvocal help he could get, interest-wise---but then back to solemn solo boredom.
Nevertheless, there are a few instances like this online (and with Raitt, as already cited)---not great, but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV03illYdTM

i saw Browne solo about 10 years ago and really enjoyed it. he'd play a few songs on piano, then walk over to a big row of guitars and think about which one he wanted to play and tell a story, did a lot of Late For The Sky stuff and three Warren Zevon covers.

Dude aged well

David Lindley and Lowell George playing together could have been interesting.

That said, probably a decent chance they played together at some point.

There is a Uk documentary on Little Feat I saw I think on Prime that was worth a view. Van Dyke Parks, Neon Park and others were in the film. Kind of a talking head thing but there was some good clips and pictures too.

LG co-wrote but doesn't play on a good Runnin' On Empty track that Lindley plays on, closest thing I can think of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BbzBFUUyCs

LG plays guitar on "Your Bright Baby Blues" on The Pretender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjH_AQT6aq0

I've got a Jackson Browne block that ensures none of his stuff sticks, for whatever reason, so pretty much anything I hear from him (yes, even "Late for the Sky") always hits (or misses) like I'm hearing it for the first time. But I heard the song "Ready or Not" today, which is about a guy knocking up his girlfriend and learning he's going to be a dad and ... I was struck by the underwhelming sentimentality of the storytelling, but also distracted by what felt to me a conspicuous lack of a third act, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like, I kept thinking where someone like Randy Newman or Zevon would have taken the story. Newman would have stuck the landing (in half the time), Zevon would have made it fucked up. Springsteen might have (and pretty much has) found something compelling out of similar domestic situations. But Browne ... the song just kind of peters out. I wonder why the song ends when/where it does?

Hmm, not one of his big tunes tbh, but it goes from singer not sure what's going on to realizing she's pregnant, letting her move in and finally thinking about settling down, I think the narrative arc holds, even if it's very small

but then I'm actually not necessarily interested in going from a to b, what jackson does incredibly well is creating small scenes or moments, I think the opening of Fountain of Sorrow is perfection:

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 around 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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0vYnD6GGyU

although I couldn't offhand tell you what then happens

I wonder why the song ends when/where it does?

It seems that his son was born a few weeks after For Everyman was released, so since it's presumably autobiographical or was taken that way by his audience, I guess it's hard to come to any conclusions about life with an as-yet unborn baby.

Interesting, I guess I didn't think it could potentially be autobiographical.

"H-A-T-R-E-D" by Tonio K

I know i'm acting immature
i'm acting like a child
i should display some self-control
instead of going wild like this
and i do wish i could accept all this
as simply "life" which includes pain
and act upon the actual fact
that nobody's to blame ...
oh, yes i wish i was as mellow
as for instance jackson browne
but "fountain of sorrow" my ass
motherfucker
i hope you wind up in the ground

I kept thinking where someone like Randy Newman or Zevon would have taken the story

Newman describes sitting stoically in an empty baby's room without describing what happened to mother or child. Zevon goes on a bender, reconciles to the idea he's going to become a father, and comes back to find the woman has terminated the pregnancy in his absence.

From his official social media:

It is with deep sorrow that we share that on the morning of November 25, 2025, Ethan Browne, the son of Jackson Browne and Phyllis Major, was found unresponsive in his home and has passed away. We ask for privacy and respect for the family during this difficult time. No further details are available at this moment.

Oh no, that's horrible

Ugh

Handsome man too.