Discography
The Pretender
The most striking songs on The Pretender are concerned with death and parenthood, subjects not necessarily unrelated. Often, his apocalyptic imagery is merely a way of getting at his feelings of mortality-the crumbling towers of Babylon in "The Fuse" are as much about the inevitable erosion of time as anything else. And parenthood is seen as a symbol of the middle-class life he has experienced: it's both a joy and a trap. In "Daddy's Tune," he reaches out to his father, long ago alienated, in order to share with him the turmoil of advising his son in "The Only Child." In a way, this is his ultimate dilemma-to be a father, or to be a son. And his ultimate triumph is to realize and reconcile the parent and the child in each of us.
"The Pretender" is a breakthrough. Browne has always had traces of cynicism in his writing, but about romance he has remained firm. Love can make a difference, all of his songs say. But "The Pretender" is a song about why even that won't work, in the long run. In its most shattering moment, the hero imagines what he and his dream-lover will do, if ever they manage to meet.
Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone
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1.
THE FUSE
It's coming from so far away
It's hard to say for sure
Whether what I hear is music or the wind
Through an open door
There's a fire high in the empty sky
Where the sound meets the shore
There's a long distance loneliness
Rolling out over the desert floor
And the years that I spent lost in the mystery
Fall away leaving only the sound of the drum
like a part of me
It speaks to the heart of me
Forget what life used to be
You are what you choose to be
It's whatever it is you see
That life will become
Whatever it is you might think you have
You have nothing to lose
Through every dead and living thing
Time runs like a fuse
And the fuse is burning
And the earth is turning
Though the years give way to uncertainty
And the fear of living for nothing strangles the will
There's a part of me
that speaks to the heart of me
Though sometimes it's hard to see
it's never far from me
Alive in eternity
That nothing can kill
Oh Lord
Are there really people starving still?
Look out beyond the walls of Babylon
How long will their needs go unfilled
I want to say right now I m going to be around
I'm going to be around
When the walls and towers are crumbling
When the towers are tumbling down
And I will tune my spirit to the gentle sound
I want to hear the sound
Of the waters lapping on a higher ground
Of the children laughing
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
2.
YOUR BRIGHT BABY BLUES
Im sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybodys going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
I guess theyve got a lot to do
Before they can rest assured
Their lives are justified
Pray to God for me, baby
He can let me slide
Ive been up and down this highway
Far as my eyes can see
No matter how fast I run
I can never seem to get away from me
No matter where I am
I cant help feeling Im just a day away from where I want to be
Now Im running home, baby
Like a river to the sea
Baby if you can see me
Out across this wilderness
Theres just one thing
I was hoping you might guess
Baby you can free me
All in the power of your sweet tenderness
I can see it in your eyes
Youve got those bright baby blues
You dont see what youve got to gain
But you dont like to lose
You watch yourself from the sidelines
Like your life is a game you dont mind playing to keep yourself amused
I dont mean to be cruel, baby
But youre looking confused
Baby if you can hear me
Turn down your radio
Theres just one thing
I want you to know
When youve been near me
Ive felt the love stirring in my soul
Its so hard to come by
That feeling of peace
This friend of mine said,
"Close your eyes and try a few of these"
I thought I was flying like a bird so far above my sorrow
But when I looked down I was standing on my knees
Now I need someone to help me
Someone to help me, please
Baby if you need me
Like I know I need you
Theres just one thing
Ill ask you to do
Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
3.
LINDA PALOMA
At the moment the music began
And you heard the guitar player starting to sing
You were filled with the beauty that ran
Through what you were imagining
Dreaming of scenes from those songs of love
I was the endless sky
And you were my Mexican dove
Now the music that played in your ears
Grows a little bit fainter each day
And you find yourself looking through tears
At the love you feel slipping away
Thought it's not the kind
Of love you might hope to find
If tears could release the heart
From the shadows preferred by the mind
Like a wind that comes up in the night
Caressing your face while you sleep
Love will fill your eyes with the sight
Of a world you can't hope to keep
Dreaming on after that moment's gone
The light in your lover's eyes
Disappears in the light of the dawn
But the morning brings
Strength to your restless wings
And some other lover sings
To the sun's bright corona
I know all about these things
Linda Paloma
Fly Away
Linda Paloma
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
4.
HERE COME THOSE TEARS AGAIN
Here come those tears again
Just when I was getting over you
Just when I was going to make it through
Another night without missing you
Thinking I might just be strong enough after all
When I hear your footsteps echoing in the hall
Baby, here we stand again
Like weve been so many times before
Even though you looked so sure
As I was watching you walking out my door
But you always walk back in like you did today
Acting like you never even went away
Well, I dont know if I can
Open up and let you in, baby
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
I can hear you telling me
How you needed to be free
And you had some things to work out alone
Now youre standing here telling me
How you have grown
Here come those tears again
Now youll tell me how to hold them in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
Some other time, baby
When Im strong and feeling fine, maybe
When I can look at you without crying
You might look like a friend of mine
But I dont know if I can
Open up enough to let you in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
Walk away
Im going back inside and turning out the light
And Ill be in the dark
But youll be out of sight
By Jackson Browne and Nancy Farnsworth
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP, WB Music Corp., Open Window Music, Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved -
5.
THE ONLY CHILD
Boy of mine
As your fortune comes to carry you down the line
And you watch as the changes unfold
And you sort among the stories you've been told
If some pieces of the picture are hard to find
And the answers to your questions are hard to hold
Take good care of your mother
When you're making up your mind
Should one thing or another take you from behind
Though the world may make you hard and wild
And determine how your life is styled
When you've come to feet that you're the only child
Take good care of your brother
Let the disappointments pass
Let the laughter fill your glass
Let your illusions last until they shatter
Whatever you might hope to find
Among the thoughts that crowd your mind
There won't be many that ever really matter
But take good care of your mother
And remember to be kind
When the pain of another will serve you to remind
That there are those who feel themselves exiled
On whom the fortune never smiled
And upon whose lives the heartache has been piled
They're just looking for another
Lonely child
And when you've found another soul
Who sees into your own
Take good care of each other
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
6.
DADDY'S TUNE
A dirty wind blows through the sky
And the Autumn leaves cut loose and fly
Leave me watching
And wishing I could follow
Though among the regrets that I can't get by
There are just one or two
Unkind things I said to you
Daddy what was I supposed to do?
I don't know why it was so hard to talk to you
I guess my anger pulled me through
No sooner had I hit the streets
When I met the fools that a young fool meets
All in search of truth and bound for glory
And listening to our own heart beats
We stood around the drum
Though it's fainter now
The older I become
Living your life day after day
Soon all your plans and changes
Either fail or fade away
Leaving so much still left to say
But Daddy I want to let you know somehow
The things you said are so much clearer now
And I would turn the pages back
But time will not allow
The way these days just rip along
Too fast to last, too vast, too strong
Somewhere something went wrong
Or maybe we forgot the song
Make room for my forty-fives
Along beside your seventy-eights
Nothing survives
But the way we live our lives
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
7.
SLEEP'S DARK AND SILENT GATE
Sometimes I lie awake at night and wonder
Where my life will lead me
Waiting to pass under Sleep's dark and silent gate
I found my love too late
Running around day after day
Looking for the time to play
While my old friends slipped away
Never should have had to try so hard
To make a love work out, I guess
I don't know what love has got to do with happiness
But the times when we were happy
Were the times we never tried
Sitting down by the highway
Looking down the road
Waiting for a ride
I don't know where I've been
Wishing I could fly away
Don't know where I'm going
Wishing I could hide
Oh God this is some shape I'm in
When the only thing that makes me cry
Is the kindness in my baby's eye
Sometimes I lie awake at night and wonder
Where the years have gone
They have all passed under
Sleep's dark and silent gate
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved -
8.
THE PRETENDER
Im going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Im going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
Ill go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
Ill get up and do it again
Amen
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
Ive been aware of the time going by
They say in the end its the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
Youll get up and do it again
Amen
Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junkman 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
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
Im going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And well fill in the missing colors
In each others paint by number dreams
And then well put our dark glasses on
And well make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
Well get up and do it again
Get it up again
Im 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
Say a prayer for the pretender
Are you there for the pretender?
Say a prayer for the pretender
Words and music by Jackson Browne
1976 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP and WB Music Corp
All Rights Reserved