For Everyman

Discography

Released: 1973

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

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