For over 40 years now, American rock singer-songwriter and musician Jackson Browne has kept fans around the world captivated with incredible music.
Here’s a list of my favorite songs from Browne, along with a couple of notable lyrics from each track.
10. Boulevard
Fast and upbeat, this song offers smart lyrics in an exciting and unforgiving approach. “Down on the boulevard they take it hard/They look at life with such disregard.”
“Nobody rides for free/Nobody gets it like they want it to be/Nobody hands you any guarantee/Nobody.”
9. Sky Blue and Black
According to Browne, this song is a funeral. It’s an expression of love and forgiveness for a person who is still trying to keep a past experience. He is reminded of it in the places he sees and carries that world with him. “You’re the color of the sky/Reflected in each store-front window pane/You’re the whispering and sighing/Of my tires in the rain/You’re the hidden cost and the thing’s that lost/In everything I do.”
“Yeah and I’ll never stop looking for you/In the sunlight and the shadows/And the faces on the avenue.”
8. The Night Inside Me
This song is full of imagination and thought. The lyrics are smart, with someone longing for the exploration of night, which sets him free. “Night in my eyes, the night inside me/There where the shadows and the night could hide me/Night in my eyes/Sky full of stars turning over me.”
“Here where the shadows and light divide me/Night in my eyes/Night full of promise and uncertainty.”
7. For America
This is a patriotic song about Browne’s impression of America and its ideals. The lyrics are thought-provoking and aggressive, but the track is also full of hope for the country’s future. “The kid I was when I first left home/Was looking for freedom and a life of his own/But the freedom that he found wasn’t quite as sweet/When the truth was known.”
“The thing I wonder about the dads and moms/Who send their sons to the Vietnams/Will they really think their way of life has been protected as the next war comes?”
6. I Am A Patriot
This song was written by Steven Van Zandt (Little Steven) and demonstrates the idea that patriotism is more than just blind nationalism. “And I ain’t no communist/And I ain’t no capitalist/And I ain’t no socialist/And I ain’t no imperialist/And I ain’t no democrat/And I ain’t no republican/I only know one party/And it is freedom.”
“I said what I believe in my soul/Ain’t what I see with my eyes/And we can’t turn our backs this time.”
5. These Days
This song is simply a classic. Browne wrote in when he was only 16 years old, and its lyrics are open to interpretation, like regret, heartbreak, or life in general. 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/For so long.
“Don’t confront me with my failures/I have not forgotten them.”
4. The Pretender
This is a song about a person who has lost sight of his dreams and given up to embrace a materialistic lifestyle. He’s the Pretender. “Caught between the longing for love/And the struggle for the legal tender.”
“Are you there?/Say a prayer for the Pretender/Who started out so young and strong/Only to surrender.”
3. Running On Empty
This song is a metaphor for life’s journey. While it seems to speak for Browne himself, anyone can relate to the meaning of its lyrics. “Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels/Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.”
“You know I don’t even know what I’m hoping to find/Running into the sun but I’m running behind.”
2. For Everyman
The meaning to this tracks’s lyrics are not clear, but like any song, it is open to interpretation. “Standing alone/Each has his own ticket in his hand/And as the evening descends/I sit thinking ’bout Everyman.”
“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 and gentle father’s hand?”
1. The Barricades of Heaven
In this song, Browne looks back at the beginning of his music career as the pages of the calendar keep turning. Coupled with great guitar work and nostalgic lyrics, this song is a masterpiece. Browne warns his listeners that they had “Better bring your own redemption when you come/To the barricades of heaven where I’m from.”
“Pages turning/Pages we were years from learning/Straight into the night our hearts were flung.”
According to Browne, it was hard to figure out which story to tell in this song. He left out the following verse about a friend who was killed robbing a liquor store because it didn’t “lead me where I wanted to go.
“Michael robbed the liquor in some godforsaken mall/Must have crossed some kind of line in his head/He stopped to shoot a goddamn bottle off the wall/And in that moment he turned he was dead.”
Notable Mentions
Some of my other Jackson Browne favorites that didn’t make the list include:
About My Imagination, Off of Wonderland, Time the Conqueror, Giving That Heaven Away, Alive in the World, Before the Deluge, Doctor My Eyes, For A Dancer, Fountain of Sorrow, Late For the Sky, Lawyers In Love, Rosie, Some Bridges, Somebody’s Baby, and Take It Easy.
