World In Motion

Discography

Released: 1988

World In Motion

Browne's call to action on World in Motion is also the toughest kind to deny. Even more explicitly issue driven than its politically charged predecessor Lives In The Balance, World in Motion is an album of universal truths bound together by a highly personal focus. Browne's stance is also free of gratuitous pop-star rage, rooted instead in calm, unassailable reason. The beauty of a song like "Anything Can Happen" - which contends that if love can thrive in a climate of violence and dread, so can the promise of change - is that its calm adamancy is actually heightened by its tender elegance. There are a million ways for music to say that people deserve better - better government, better life, better love. On World in Motion, Browne gets your attention by getting under your skin. (RS 556-557)

David Fricke, Rolling Stone, 1989

1. WORLD IN MOTION
Sun going down in the USA
Down on Main there's a family sleeping
in a doorway
Around the corner you can hear the sound
People dancing around the golden calf
Those who have not, those who have

On the billboards and the T.V. screens
They got food and cars and toys and trucks
and jeans
Like a homeless child's fitful dreams
Smiling faces free from wanting
Life's abundances beyond counting

World in motion - speed your changes
Close your distances, find your angels
Lose your fears and meet your dangers
World in motion

Once we were running through smoke and fire
Running into the sun
In the rush of youth, for love and truth
Our deeds were done
Now we awake with a world at stake
And a race we run
We run

Sun going down on the USA
Sun coming up a hundred years away
On another world and another time
Things like hunger, greed and hatred
One way or another, gonna be eradicated

World in motion - speed your changes
Close your distances, drive your angels
Lose your fears and meet your dangers
World in motion

'Till the world I look out at this world and see
Is the world
I know this world can be
You have a volunteer in me
Now come on

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP, Fair Star Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
2. ENOUGH OF THE NIGHT
You used to stand on the tables
You used to shoot out the lights
You used to stop trucks on I-19
In your blue leopard tights
You got the vote of your high school
Most likely to exceed
But not likely to ever get enough
Enough of what you need

Enough of the night
Enough of the night

And now the carnival lights come down
The sounds of laughter recede
You sit and drink in this cardboard town
The fast lane gone to seed
You used to laugh about the damage done
But there was no way to know
How little distance you had actually come
And how far you'd have to go

It's tough to do baby
It's tough to make it
When the heart is naked
It's tough for you baby
It's tough for me too
Without all this pain to see through

Now
I want to see you smile
You know how
It's just been a while
Don't allow
Another night to close on your empty cup
You've had enough of those

Enough of the night
Enough of the night

You used to count on the miracles
The old shot in the dark
You used to wait for the setting sun
To help you hit your mark
You used to stand on the tables
You used to shoot out the lights
You dressed right out of the fables
Like the Arabian Nights

But you were never the princess
More like the queen of the thieves
And my heart was never more than one of the many
A queen receives

It's tough to do baby
It's tough to make it
When the heart is naked
It's tough for you baby it's tough for me too
Without this disdain to see through

Now
I want to see you smile
You know how
It's just been a while
Don't allow
Another heart to pass beyond your reach
Say "Baby not so fast"

You've had enough of the night
To fill the street with tears
You've had enough of those empty hours
To last a thousand years

Enough of the night
Enough of the tears

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
3. CHASING YOU INTO THE LIGHT
Lying next to you in the dark
Listening to your pounding heart
The sheets are tangled around your waist
I watch the dream moving on your face
Feel you shake, hear your cries
Running in the dark trying to open your eyes
Come on baby, wake up

I've followed you across the days and years
Been there for the thrills and the tears
Chasing you from state to state
Waking, dreaming, I try to relate
Why should I be somebody you fear
When you're asleep and I'm so near?
Don't even know why I'm in your dreams
I got control over none of these things

Morning comes, hard and bright
And I'm exhausted from running after you all night
Chasing you into the light

Yeah I've been reaching for you baby
As if I could reach you when you dream at night
But I never can quite

I ain't lying here awake by myself
You better wake up
There's something I want to talk to you about
You better wake up
I love you girl, tell the world I do
There's nothing I wouldn't do for you
I want to rescue you like you rescued me
From a life of doubt and uncertainty
That's why I'm chasing you
Chasing you into the light

Go for a walk on the pier with me baby
Now as the dawn comes over the night
Watching the stars in the sky disappear maybe
You'll find a way to let go of your fright
The sea is deep, the world is wide
Ships are leaving for the other side
This whole city will be waking soon
And in the east
Clouds are strung out behind the moon
Chasing her into the light
Wake up

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
4. HOW LONG
When you look into a child's face
And you're seeing the human race
And the endless possibilities there
Where so much can come true
And you think of the beautiful things
A child can do
How long would the child survive
How long if it was up to you
When you think about the money spent
On defense by a government
And the weapons of destruction we've built
We're so sure that we need
And you think of the millions and millions
That money could feed
How long can you hear someone crying
How long can you hear someone dying
Before you ask yourself why?
And how long will we hear people speaking
About missiles for peace
And just let it go by
How long will they tell us these weapons
Are keeping us free
That's a lie
If you saw it from a satellite
With its green and its blue and white
The beauty of the curve of the earth
And its oceans below
You might think it was paradise
If you didn't know
You might think that it's turning
But it's turning so slow
How long can you hear someone crying
How long can you hear someone dying
Before you ask yourself why?
And how long will it be 'till we've turned
To the tasks and the skills
That we'll have to have learned
If we going to find our place in the future
And have something to offer
Where this planet's concerned
How long?

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
5. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
Time will come when we know what happened here
Change will come in time and make it clear
We learn one thing if we learn at all
In the secret wars we call our lives
Anything can happen
We watch the days, we make our plans
We change in ways a life demands
But what ever pleasure this life may allow
I'll give you the love I have for you now
Because anything can happen
In a world so full of fear
Dreams are whispered in the dead of night
And people disappear
But you hear my heart and you know I'm still here
Although you know and I know you know
While I swear I'll never let you go
Anything can happen
Yeah, if this love can happen here
Anything can
We watch the days we make our plans
We change in ways a life demands
I'll always remember this time, this place
The hope in your voice, the light on your face

Because anything can happen
In a world so full of pain
People give their lives to making war
And we call those people sane
But I love you where your dreams remain
Though you never say it anymore
One day there'll be an end to this war
And who knows
We may see what we're here for
Anything can happen
Yeah, if this love has found us here
Anything can
Can happen

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
6. WHEN THE STONE BEGINS TO TURN
I come here for Dr. King
Who gave the people a precious thing
He found a light in the darkest hour
And the strength for speaking truth to power

And in the years since they shot him down
You see changes that once were a dream
Begin to come around

When the walls have begun to crumble
When the laws have begun to burn
When the wind is singing freedom
When the stone begins to turn

And I come here to praise Mandela
And to send this message to his jailer
Your walls may hold the man inside
But they'll never ever hold back the tide

'Cause in the years you've shut him away
A generation has grown where he stood
They're gonna see the day

When the walls have begun to crumble
When the laws have begun to burn
When the wind is singing freedom
When the stone begins to turn

We come here to sing for freedom
And to send our voices to the ones who need them
Freedom for South Africa
And justice for Nelson Mandela

'Cause in the years they've shut him away
A generation has grown where he stood
We're gonna see the day

When the walls have begun to crumble
When the laws have begun to burn
When the wind is singing freedom
When the stone begins to turn

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
7. THE WORD JUSTICE
A man stands up before his God and country
Raises his right hand and takes an oath
Swears he has acted in the line of duty
And he more than anyone wants to tell the truth

But there is a need to keep some things a secret
Some weapons shipments - some private wars
In the future democracy will be defended
Behind closed doors

Now the men of Congress who convene to determine
If covert war is a business or a crime
Are the same men who routinely give
their permission
For the shedding of blood in security's name

And there is a need to keep some things a secret
The names of some countries - the terms of
some deals
And above all the sound of the screams
of the innocent
Beneath our wheels

Does the word justice mean anything to you?
Are the features of a lie beginning to come through?

In the streets of America the children are buried
Caught in an avalanche of weapons and drugs
They live and they die in the bowels of a business

That's disguised as a war between The Crips and
The Bloods
And there is a need to keep some things a secret
The C.I.A. deals protecting the source

And the government policies directly connecting
The drugs and our wars

Does the word justice mean anything to you?

As the battlefield comes home and democracy
falls through

I am waiting for the time to come
When the word will be real for everyone
And not just a word but a thing that can be done
But justice must be won

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
8. MY PERSONAL REVENGE
My personal revenge will be the right
Of our children in the schools and in the gardens
My personal revenge will be to give you
This song which has flourished without panic
My personal revenge will be to show you
The kindness in the eyes of my people
Who have always fought relentlessly in battle
And been generous and firm in victory

My personal revenge will be to tell you
good morning
On a street without beggars or homeless
When instead of jailing you I suggest
You shake away the sadness there that blinds you

And when you who have applied your hands
in torture
Are unable to look up at what surrounds you
My personal revenge will be to give you
These hands that once you so mistreated
But have failed to take away their tenderness

It was the people who hated you the most
When rage became the language of their song
And underneath the skin of this town today
Its heart has been scarred forevermore

And underneath the skin of this town today
Red and black, its heart's been scarred
Forevermore

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Hereford Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
9. I AM A PATRIOT
And the river opens for the righteous
Someday

I was walking with my brother
And he wondered whats on my mind
I said what I believe in my soul
Aint what I see with my eyes
And we cant turn our backs this time

I am a patriot
And I love my county
Because my country is all I know
I want to be with my family
The people who understand me
Ive got nowhere else to go

And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
Someday

And I was talking with my sister
She looked so fine
I said, "Baby, whats on your mind?"
She said, "I want to run like the lion
Released from the cages
Released from the rages
Burning in my heart tonight."

And I aint no communist
And I aint no capitalist
And I aint no socialist
And I aint no imperialist
And I aint no democrat
And I aint no republican
I only know one party
And it is freedom

I am, I am, I am
I am a patriot
And I love my country
Because my county is all I know

And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
Someday

And the river opens for the righteous . . .

By Steven Van Zandt
1984 Blue Midnight Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved
10. LIGHTS AND VIRTUES
Here's to lights and virtues
Here's to truths yet to be known
Knowledge to light the darkness
The search for things of your own

Here's to lights and virtues
Here's to reaching higher ground
A life of hope and purpose
Here's to strength yet to be found
Honor - though it goes unrecognized
And truth - though liars abound

The pleasure of love and friendship
The courage to be alone

Words and music by Jackson Browne
1989 Swallow Turn Music ASCAP
All Rights Reserved