Jackson Browne - C or D?

Three songs are all I need for my Browne fix: "Lawyers in Love" on the political end, "In the Shape of a Heart" for L-O-V-E, and "Running on Empty" for '70s angst.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, January 24, 2006 12:27 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean you are completely right that these are the best songs ever

it's possible i mentioned in some other jb thread that i saw him live in orlando last year and "in the shape of a heart" was particularly incredible

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of

xxp they are good songs, but I'd take the first 4 albums over them

gotta do what you can to keep your love alive

I know "These Days" has been mentioned a number of times but I really love his original

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJDI7a_1lk

The '67 demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtZ04BxrYf0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzCD8YzDFD4

beautiful '67 demo

can't believe he came up with (most of?) it at age 16

i think browne was a better melodist than a lyricist, actually

most of his lyrics from his 'confessional' period -- the ones that sing well -- don't really add up to much IMO. they are often either needlessly vague or just break down into banalities. he did hit a few out of the park, though.

this song's pretty flawless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6pT_BDpnog

I love the electric strummin'.

never heard the demo! nice

Somebody's Baby is anything I could want in a song, so good

it's from Fast Times at Ridgemont High OST iirc, always liked it, after getting to know Jackson from the Pretender I was happy to find out this was his song

highlight of the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeM6pX2kCtc

um, so 'The Pretender' the song - I always thought of it as a personal song of, I dunno, existential ambivalence... but according to this 'article' "Browne is writing about a guy who could easily be described as a yuppie"

https://americansongwriter.com/2012/05/the-pretender-by-jackson-browne/

can we all agree this is bullshit or should I change my view on this song?

well, I'm glad Jackson himself is well aware of the complexity of the songs protagonist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNKT_tfWx6w

It's a beautiful and complex song.

love these two dudes in the audience as Browne starts the piano riff:

https://media.giphy.com/media/pl9Y1c82F2wWQ/giphy.gif

also, thx MFB :)

in the intro to this one he 'dedicates' it to a session player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76uSiz6fQh0

(not a v good video apart from that, sry 4 embed)

can we all agree this is bullshit or should I change my view on this song?

it's a very complex song and you should probably change your view

with every listen

yuppies are very complex people!

He's poet laureate of yuppies, don't forget.

http://www.asburyrecords.com/public/cover/3137_1.jpg

Prescient!

Last night I watched the news from Washington, the capital
The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them, like Russians will
Now we've got all this room
We've even got the moon
And I hear the USSR will be open soon
As vacation land for lawyers in love

I was about to say!

this morning's Times:

"When Professor Jackson-Brown began teaching in the 1990s, most students respected her authority. But in recent years, that deference has waned (she blames the informality of social media). “I go out of my way now to not give them access to my first name,” she said. “On every syllabus, it states clearly: ‘Please address me as Professor Jackson-Brown.’ ”"

Late For Class

I'll never love him, but I came up with a decent list, I think.

Running on empty is still getting AirPlay somehow and it’s the sound of 70s exhaustion. I’m sitting in a bar in ‘76 and yeah, I’m just gonna give up ok

Lindley’s amazing on it tho

Something Fine is a gorgeous wistful tune from his first disc.

Working with musicians from Haiti for his new album, according to Afropop Worldwide!

I do my best.

p sure “I’m Alive” was a single, no?

Tested positive :(

mild symptoms! he did a really wonderful interview with rolling stone

Agreed. Rather charming and chipper.

FWIW:

https://t.co/evhB3Tm5aS pic.twitter.com/goLjDSvgpJ

— Jackson Browne (@SongsofJBrowne) March 25, 2020

Thankfully the symptoms are very mild. If it's been this long, he's probably close to a full recovery, but he makes an excellent point about how easily it has and will spread in group settings in close quarters, even when individuals are exercising a lot of caution like swabbing mics and avoiding physical contact like handshakes.

Re: his music, first three albums have his best songwriting. The following two albums have better singing and arguably a better sound/production. After that, the albums get really spotty, but the singles are still generally good, all the way up to "The Shape of a Heart" and Little Steven's "I Am a Patriot" (which lyrically is corny, but Browne sings it with great conviction). Still wrote the occasional gem after that, like "Sky Blue and Black."

Beginning with 'Running on Empty' (where much of the material was co-written or written by someone else), his strengths as a performer (and by extension an interpreter) really began to show while his songwriting became more inconsistent and weaker.

booming and largely accurate post. I think the super-political stuff of the 80s has sometimes aged well -- and his gift for delivering JUST the right vocal take on even a middling song ("I'm the Cat") ascended into some ascended-master level stuff

The Fuse is a killer opener on pretender. v. Springsteen.

that album as a whole is maybe a little messy, but Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate is also up there with his very best...(and saddest by far)

Before The Deluge is really something

I heard it for the first time last year on Springsteen's radio show, back when his playlists were specifically pandemic-themed, and because I first encountered it in that context, it's now permanently associated in my mind with pandemic literature. I'd love to hear it played over the credits of a film adaptation of Station Eleven.

Those opening lines - "Some of them were dreamers, and some of them were fools/ making plans and thinking of the future" - remind me of this passage from the beginning of The Plague: "Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything was still possible for them, which presupposed that pestilences were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views? They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free as long as there are pestilences."

omg

love that passage of the plague and now it will be permanently associated with one of my favorite jackson browne songs

I like the idea of Before the Deluge, but JB's melody, singing and arrangement are so colourless that the song vanishes.

Did I only imagine that there was a "Running on Empty" vs. "Against the Wind" TS?

I can't find the discussion despite trying various Search stratagems.

Feels like there was some unpacking of a specific thematic strain of Boomer nostalgia and vague regret, where did things go wrong, etc.

Compare: "I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through" vs. "Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends."

Or maybe was it vs. "Night Moves"?

Or perhaps I am imagining a thread that could have existed but didn't.