Discography

Foreveryman Cover 413x413

For Everyman

Released: 1973

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For Everyman

Remastered: 2024

For inwardly panoramic songwriting of an apocalyptic bent, Jackson Browne's second album is rivaled only by his first (the second one wins), and Jackson himself is rivaled by nobody. Brilliantly conceived, imcoparably immediate, For Everyman truly earns its title. (RS 148)

Janet Maslin, Rolling Stone, November 22, 1973

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The title track of Jackson Browne's second album, For Everyman, was a response to the escapist vision of Crosby, Stills and Nash's Wooden Ships. As violence, fear and paranoia overtook Sixties utopianism, Wooden Ships imagined a kind of hipster exodus by sea from a straight world teetering on the edge of apocalypse.
Browne wasn't giving up so easily. Browne sings in his characteristic long, fluid lines: "Everybody I talk to is ready to leave with the light of the morning/They've seen the end coming down long enough to believe that they've heard their last warming.../But all my fine dreams, well-thought-out schemes to gain the motherland/Have all eventually come down to waiting for everyman." Deliverance must come for everyone, Browne insisted, not just hippie troubadours.
Browne is still searching for his true voice on For Everyman. He was testing his various talents with obvious joy, because, like his audience, he was just discovering them. (RS 818)

Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 2000

  • 1. TAKE IT EASY
    Well I’m runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load
    I got seven women on my mind
    Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
    One says she’s a friend of mine

    Take it easy, take it easy
    Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
    Lighten up while you still can
    Don’t even try to understand
    Just find a place to make your stand
    And take it easy

    Now I’m standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona
    With such a fine sight to see
    It's a girl my Lord in a flatbed Ford
    Slowin’ down to take a look at me

    Come on baby, don’t say maybe
    I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
    We may lose and we may win
    But we will never be here again
    Open up, I’m climbin’ in
    To take it easy

    Well I’m runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load
    Got a world of trouble on my mind
    I’m lookin’ for a lover who won’t blow my cover
    She’s just a little hard to find

    Take it easy, take it easy
    Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
    Come on baby, don’t say maybe
    I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
  • 2. OUR LADY OF THE WELL
    It is a dance we do in silence
    Far below this morning sun
    You in your life, me in mine,
    We have begun
    Here we stand and without speaking
    Draw the water from the well
    And stare beyond the plains
    To where the mountains lie so still

    But it's a long way that I have come
    Across the sand to find this peace among your people in the sun
    Where the families work the land as they have always done
    Oh it's so far the other way my country's gone

    Across my home has grown the shadow
    Of a cruel and senseless hand
    Though in some strong hearts
    The love and truth remain
    And it has taken me this distance
    And a woman's smile to learn
    That my heart remains among them
    And to them I must return

    But it's a long way that I have come
    Across the sand to find you here among these people in the sun
    Where your children will be born
    You'll watch them as they run
    Oh it's so far the other way my life has gone

    If you look for me, Maria
    You will find me in the shade
    Wide awake or in a dream
    It's hard to tell
    If you come to me, Maria
    I will show you what I've made
    It's a picture for our lady of the well
  • 3. COLORS OF THE SUN
    Colors of the sun
    Flashing on the water top
    Echo on the land

    Digging for a coin
    Many other tiny worlds
    Slipping past my hand
    Awake to understand you are not dreaming
    It is not seeming just to be this way

    Dying men draw numbers in the air
    Dream to conquer little bits of time
    Scuffle with the crowd to get their share
    And fall behind their little bits of time

    Voices in the air
    Sympathetic harmony
    Coming from the trees

    Hanging at my door
    Many shiny surfaces
    Ringing in the breeze
    Oh, leave me where I am, I am not losing
    If I am choosing not to plan my life

    Disillusioned savior search the sky
    Wanting just to show someone the way
    Asking all the people passing by
    Doesn't anybody want the way

    Ah, say goodbye to Joseph and Maria
    They think they see another sky
    From my fallen window I still see them
    I'll never free them from the sky
  • 4. I THOUGHT I WAS A CHILD
    It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
    As if somehow your years just bow and let that young girl go free
    I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
    I thought I knew where I was going until I heard your laughter flowing
    And came upon the wisdom in your eyes
    Surprise--

    I spent my whole life running 'round
    Chasing songs from town to town
    Thinking I'd be free so long as I never let love slow me down
    So lonely and so wild until you turned and smiled
    By now I should have long been gone
    But here I am still looking on
    As if I didn't know which way to run

    It's such a clever innocence with which you show myself to me
    As if you know how it feels to never be who you wanted to be
    I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
    I thought that I was free but I'm just one more prisoner of time
    Alone within the boundaries of my mind
    I thought I was a child
  • 5. THESE DAYS
    Well I’ve been out walking
    I don’t do that much talking these days
    These days
    These days I seem to think a lot
    About the things that I forgot to do
    For you
    And all the times I had the chance to

    And I had a lover
    It's so hard to risk another these days
    These days
    Now if I seem to be afraid
    To live the life that I have made in song
    It's just that I’ve been losing so long

    Well I’ll keep on moving
    Things are bound to be improving these days
    One of these days
    These days I’ll sit on cornerstones
    And count the time in quarter tones to ten
    My friend
    Don’t confront me with my failures
    I had not forgotten them
  • 6. REDNECK FRIEND
    Pretty little one, how has it all begun?
    They’re teaching you how to walk
    But you’re already on the run
    Little one - what you gonna do?
    Little one - honey, it’s all up to you

    Now your daddy’s in the den
    Shootin’ up the evening news
    Mama’s with a friend
    Lately she’s been so confused
    Little one - come on and take my hand
    Well I may not have the answer but I believe I got a plan

    Honey, you shake and I’ll rattle
    And we'll roll on down the line
    And see if we can’t get in touch
    With a very close friend of mine
    But let me clue you in, it ain’t like him to argue or pretend
    Honey, let me introduce you to my redneck friend

    Well, they got a little list of all those things
    Of which they don’t approve
    They got to keep their eyes on you
    Or you might make your move
    Little one - I really wish you would
    Little one - I think the damage would do you good

    Honey, you shake and I’ll rattle
    And we’ll roll on down the line
    Gonna forget all about the battle,
    It’s gonna feel so fine
    ‘Cause he’s the missing link, the kitchen sink,
    Eleven on a scale of ten
    Honey, let me introduce you to my redneck friend

    Honey, you shake and I’ll rattle
    And we’ll roll on down the line
    Gonna try to swing you up into my saddle
    And then we’ll run but you’ll think we’re flyin’
    Honey, don’t just stand there lookin’ like
    This dream will never end
    Honey, let me introduce you to my redneck friend
  • 7. THE TIMES YOU'VE COME
    In the time we've known that we each are a part of one another
    We've lost as much as we have won
    And as our lives have grown, we have found that it only brings us pain
    To hang onto the things that we have done
    Still I love the times you've come

    When you went away taking all that I’d built my false road on
    I dropped my life and couldn't find the pieces
    Now you come and go, and it's hard, but I feel my strength returning
    We'll see how far this new road reaches
    We see a little more each time we come

    Everybody's gonna tell you it's not worth it
    Everybody's gotta show you their own pain
    You may try to find your way up around it
    But the need for love will still remain

    Now we're lying here so safe in the ruins of our pleasure
    Laughter marks the place where we have fallen
    And our lives are near, so it wouldn't occur to us to wonder
    If it’s the past or the future that is calling
    You know I love these times you've come
  • 8. READY OR NOT
    Someone's going to have to explain it to me
    I'm not sure what it means
    My baby's feeling funny in the morning
    She's having trouble getting into her jeans
    Her waist-line seems to be expanding
    Although she never feels like eating a thing
    I guess we'll reach some understanding
    When we see what the future will bring

    I met her in a crowded barroom
    One of those typical Hollywood scenes
    I was doing my very best Bogart
    But I was having trouble getting into her jeans
    I punched an unemployed actor
    Defending her dignity
    He stood up and knocked me through that barroom door
    And that girl came home with me

    Now baby's feeling funny in the morning
    She says she's got a lot on her mind
    Nature didn't give her any warning
    Now she's going to have to leave her wild ways behind
    She says she doesn't care if she never spends
    Another night running loose on the town
    She's gonna be a mother
    Take a look in my eyes and tell me brother
    If I look like I'm ready

    I told her I had always lived alone
    And I probably always would
    And all I wanted was my freedom
    And she told me that she understood
    But I let her do some of my laundry
    And she slipped a few meals in between
    The next thing I remember, she was all moved in
    And I was buying her a washing machine

    Now baby's feeling funny in the morning
    She says she's got a lot on her mind
    Nature didn't give her any warning
    But she's feeling better about it all the time
    She says she's ready for some meaning
    After all of her running around
    Well bless my soul, she's got a rock and roll bandman
    Thinking 'bout settling down
  • 9. SING MY SONGS TO ME
    Sing my songs to me
    Sing them to me softly
    Sing me sunlight and shadows
    Orange groves and meadows
    Let your voice ring back my memories
    Sing my songs to me

    Bring my dreams to me
    Bring them from the darkness
    Let the minutes and hours
    Show my mind strange new flowers
    But I'd like to know where they go
    When the morning comes
    Bring my dreams to me

    Because it seems to me that there may never be
    A better chance to see who I am
    Come timelessly dancing
    Through my dreams to me
  • 10. FOR EVERYMAN
    Everybody I talk to is ready to leave
    With the light of the morning
    They’ve seen the end coming down long enough to believe
    That they’ve heard their last warning
    Standing alone
    Each has his own ticket in his hand
    And as the evening descends I sit thinking ‘bout Everyman

    Seems like I’ve always been looking for some other place
    To get it together
    Where with a few of my friends I could give up the race
    And maybe find something better
    But all my fine dreams
    Well thought out schemes to gain the Motherland
    Have all eventually come down to waiting for Everyman

    Waiting here for Everyman
    Make it on your own if you think you can
    If you see somewhere to go, I understand
    Waiting here for Everyman
    Don’t ask me if he’ll show
    Baby, I don’t know

    Make it on your own if you think you can
    Somewhere later on you’ll have to take a stand
    Then you’re going to need a hand

    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
    But who’ll come along
    And hold out that strong but gentle father’s hand?
    Long ago I heard someone say something about Everyman

    Waiting here for Everyman
    Make it on your own if you think you can
    If you see somewhere to go, I understand
    I’m not trying to tell you that I’ve seen the plan
    Turn and walk away if you think I am
    But don’t think too badly of one who’s left holding sand
    He's just another dreamer, dreaming about Everyman