Standing In The Breach (2014)

• The Birds Of St. Marks
• Yeah Yeah
• The Long Way Around
• Leaving Winslow
• If I Could Be Anywhere
• You Know The Night
• Walls And Doors
• Which Side
• Standing In The Breach
• Here 

The Birds Of St. Marks lyrics - Jackson Browne

Oh how sad they sound the songs the queen must sing of dying

The prisoner upon her throne of melancholy sighing

If she could see her mirror now

She would be free of those who bow

And scrape the ground beneath her feet

Silently she walks among her dying midnight roses

And watches as each moment goes that never really know us

And so it seems she doesn't care

If she has dreams of no one there

Within the shadows of her room

But all my frozen words agree, and say it's time

To call back, all the birds I sent to

Fly behind her castle walls

And I'm weary of the nights I've seen

Inside these empty halls

Wooden lady turn and turn among my weary secrets

And wave within the hours past and other empty pockets

Maybe we've found what we have lost

When we've unwound so many crossed

Entangling misunderstandings

But all my frozen words agree and say it's time

To call back all the birds I sent to

Fly behind her castle walls

And I'm weary of the nights I've seen

Inside these empty halls

Yeah Yeah lyrics - Jackson Browne

You know I don't lead you and you know I don't feed you no lies

And it's not up to me to tell you what you see through your eyes

You know girl sometimes I just don't know

Where it is you still think you can go

Without taking my world with you maybe you don't realize

Yeah yeah

That time that I met you there's something that set you apart

The smile on your face, or your lips, or the taste of your heart

You followed me away from your home

And we're out here in this world on our own

And it's too late to go back and it's too late to leave me alone

Yeah yeah

'Cause you paid for the love that we've got, you paid

And you made for the heart when we fought and you stayed

Was it strength or your pride that sent you back inside

For the love that you paid for

Or was it for the love that we've made

Yeah yeah

You know I don't lead you and you know I don't feed you no lies

Maybe I didn't come with instructions like some other guys

You see me standing at the window with our world at my back

And my eyes down the road

Staring at the wreckage of a lifetime strewn along the track

And the seeds I sowed

You think I'm wishing I was some other place but in fact

I'm right here

With my shoulder to the wheel

And my heart in the deal

Yeah yeah

And you can see it's not always easy

And maybe that makes you crazy

But can you see that I've bet all I had

That you'd go on making me glad

That I found your love in this world

After times were so bad

Yeah yeah

And you paid for the love that we've got, you paid

And you made for the heart when we fought and you stayed

Is it faith or your will

That keeps you hanging on still

For the love that you paid for

Or is it for the love that we've made

Yeah yeah

The Long Way Around lyrics - Jackson Browne

I don't know what to say about these days

I'm seeing people changing in the strangest ways

Even in the richer neighborhoods

People don't know when they've got it good

They've got the envy, and they've got it bad

When I was a kid everything I did was trying to be free

Running up and down Tinsel Town with the fire inside of me

My planets all in retrograde, the best of all my plans got laid

I made my breaks, and some mistakes

Just not the ones people think I made

Now I'm a long way gone

Down this wild road I'm on

It's going to take me where I'm bound

But it's the long way around

It's a little hard keeping track of what's gone wrong

The covenant unravels, and the news just rolls along

I could feel my memory letting go some two or three disasters ago

It's hard to say which did more ill

Citizens United or the Gulf oil spill

And I'm a long way gone

Down this wild road I'm on

It's going to take me take me where I'm bound

But it's the long way around

It's never been that hard to buy a gun

Now they'll sell a Glock 19 to just about anyone

The seeds of tragedy are there

In what we feel we have the right to bear

To watch our children come to harm

There in the safety of our arms

With all we disagree about

The passions burn, the heart goes out

And we're a long way gone

Down this wild road we're on

It's going to take us where we're bound

It's just the long way around

Leaving Winslow lyrics - Jackson Browne

I'm walkin' all around lookin' up and down this railroad

I'm walkin' all around lookin' up and down this train

All I gotta see is a place for me to grab a hold of

And I'll be on this train and I won't be back again

I'm over qualified for any other ride I can think of

I got a PhD in Sun and Wind and Rain

I had a reservation 'bout every occupation

I was ever on the brink of

'Til the day my heart got given to the rhythm of the train

Station to station, coast to coast

Not that much of anything in mind

No expectations, way less than most

But I wanted to see Winslow one more time

I'm walkin' all around, lookin' up and down this railroad

I'm walkin' all around, lookin' up and down this town

I'll bid adeau to the precious few I knew here

And I'll be on my way and I won't be back around

My mother married an oxygenarian ladies man

He'd take her dancing with a tank of oxygen

The ladies kept him goin'

He'd recite for them his favorite koan

He specialized in Western Swing and Zen

Station to station, coast to coast

Not that much of anything in mind

No expectations, way less than most

As long as I got oxygen and wine

I keep on hearing 'bout the disappearing ozone layer

I keep on hearing 'bout the disappearing Greenland Shelf

I keep hearing all about the disappearing middle class

I figure I'll be doing some disappearing myself

If I Could Be Anywhere lyrics - Jackson Browne

Sliding on the shimmering surface between two worlds

Standing at the center of time as it uncurls

Cutting through the veil of illusion

Moving beyond past conclusions

Rendering all doubt and confusion clear

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere right now

I would want to be here

Searching for the future among the things we're throwing away

Swimming through the ocean of junk we produce every day

You have to admit it's clever

Maybe the pinnacle of human endeavor

When things are made to throw away but never made to disappear

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere in time

I would want to be here

The Romans, the Spanish, the British, the Dutch

American exceptionalism - so out of touch

Successions of empire repeating its course

Extracting the wealth and ruling by force

On and on through time

But the world can't take it very much longer

And we won't make it 'less we're smarter and stronger

The world's going to shake itself free of our greed somehow

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere in time

If I could be anywhere and change things

It would have to be now

They say nothing lasts forever

But all the plastic ever made is still here

And no amount of closing our eyes will make it disappear

And the world can't take it very much longer

And we won't make it 'less we're smarter and stronger

The world's going to shake itself free of our greed somehow

And the world can't take it, that you can see

If the oceans don't make it neither will we

The world's going to shake itself all the way free somehow

If I could be anywhere

If I could be anywhere in time

If I could be anywhere and change the outcome

It would have to be now

You Know The Night lyrics - Jackson Browne

You know the night I met you

My eyes had been looking for you

All over everywhere

Over low roads, down highways, and bald deserts

You know the night

You know the night

Your eyes had this same shine about 'em, I noticed

And when I first looked through the wild, wayward mist

I felt such a warm friendly, cool sunny smile

That I wanted to look in your eyes for all time

And I felt like you feel

When you feel like the angels are curling your hair

And you feel like the devil is scratching your heel

I just felt like you feel

When you feel like the angels are curling your hair

And you feel like the devil is scratching your heel

Did you feel this way too when I met you?

You know the night I first met you

Did you look at me and think

Here's this guy who hopes like I hope

And sees the same kind of dreams I see

'Cause you wondered, I know

If your hopes could find shape

In the words that we used there to work back the fog

Your hopes and your plans for the good of the people

Could all of your hundred and one

Dreams just as bright as the sun

And all your wants and your hottest desires

Find shape in the flow of my talk?

You know the night

You know the night

And if my jellied brain turns to ashes and sand

There will still be such night smiles across all the land

There will still be such faces meeting here in the dark

And there around the corner, or maybe in the park

It's when we meet this way and we look at each other

We get a hold of our scattered aims and we bring em'

And beat them and wrestle and fight them and heat them

And beat them and weld them together

Like iron from the valley and fire from the sky

Like iron from the valley and fire from the sky

Like iron from the valley and fire from the sky

This blast furnace heat burns in our people's eyes

You know the night I met you

My eyes had been looking for you

All over everywhere

Over low roads, down highways, and bald deserts

And I felt like you feel

When you feel like the angels are curling your hair

And you feel like the devil is scratching your heel

I just felt like you feel

When you feel like the angels are curling your hair

And you feel like the devil is scratching your heel

Walls And Doors lyrics - Jackson Browne

Ever since the world's existed

There's one thing that is certain

There are those who build walls

And those who open doors

Ah but this my love I'm thinking you already knew

For some it's always winter

While others have the spring

Some people find good fortune

While others never find a thing

Ah but this my love is something you already knew

That's how it's always been

And I know you know it

There can be freedom only when nobody owns it

I'm going to say that again

Because I know you know it

There can be freedom only when nobody owns it

Of what use is the moon if you don't have the night?

Of what use is a windmill with no Quixote left who'll fight?

Ah but this my love is something you already knew

At some point on the horizon

Sky can be confused with earth

Some people dream of God

While others dream of wealth

But of course my love this is what you see out on the street

It's how it's always been

And I know you know it

There can be freedom only when nobody owns it

Let me say that again

Because I know that we both know it

There can be freedom only when nobody owns it

When nobody owns it

When nobody owns it

Ever since the world's existed

There's one thing that is certain

Some people build walls

Others open doors

Which Side lyrics - Jackson Browne

You might be a young man with the mountain in his step

In search of El Dorado, but you haven't found it yet

Or you might be an old man with his whole life at his back

And you can hear eternity whispering down the track

Or maybe you're a woman, or just about to be

And you can feel the generations swimming in your sea

But you know that it's coming, as surely as the dawn

The battle for the future, baby, which side are you on?

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Come on come on come on

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side are you on?

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Battle lines are drawn

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side - which side are you on?

Which side?

The corporations attacking

The natural world - drilling and fracking

All done with the backing of the craven and corrupt

Or the ones who fight

For the Earth with all their might

And in the name of all that's right

Confront and disrupt

There's a restlessness out in the street there's a question in the air

How long if this theft goes on will our country still be here?

People know the game is rigged even as they play

They see their expectations slowly slip away

They've got subsidies for billionaires, there's a bailout for the banks

A monopoly on medicine, and a sale on armored tanks

The whole damned country's being sold - out that revolving door

Between Washington and Wall Street like it's one big Dollar Store

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Come on come on come on

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side are you on?

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Battle lines are drawn

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side - which side are you on?

Which side?

The bankers and their special friends

Who rob you time and again

Who like to pretend they're the only game in town

Or the people who

Hope with everything they do

They can build something new

And turn this world around

Who owns the elections? Who profits either way?

Who ends up with all that money politicians pay?

To be the fearless leader, to put themselves across

To be the one entrusted with the profit and the loss

You try hard to believe that when you cast your vote it counts

But elections are won with money in ever larger amounts

Take the money out of politics and maybe we might see

This country turn back into something more like democracy

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Come on come on come on

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side are you on?

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Battle lines are drawn

Come on come on come on if you're coming

Which side - which side are you on?

Standing In The Breach lyrics - Jackson Browne

And though the earth may tremble and our foundations crack

We will all assemble and we will build them back

And rush to save the lives remaining still within our reach

And try to put our world together standing in the breach

So many live in poverty while others live as kings

Though some may find peace

In the acceptance of all that living brings

I will never understand however they've prepared

How one life may be struck down and another life be spared

And though the earth may tremble and cast our works aside

And though our efforts resemble the fluctuating tide

We rise and fall with the trust and belief

That love redeems us each

And bend our backs and hearts together standing in the breach

You don't know why it's such a far cry

From the world this world could be

You don't know why but you still try

For the world you wish to see

You don't know how it will happen now

After all that's come undone

But you know the change the world needs now

Is there, in everyone

The unpaid debts of history

The open wounds of time

The laws of human nature always tugging from behind

I want to think that the earth can heal

And that people might still learn

How to meet this world's true challenges

And that the course we're on could turn

And though the earth may tremble and the oceans pitch and rise

We will all assemble and we will lift our eyes

To the tasks that we know lie before us

And the power our prayers beseech

And cast our souls into the heavens, standing in the breach

You don't know why it's such a far cry

From the world this world could be

You don't know why but you still try

For the world you wish to see

You don't know how it's going to happen now

After all that's come undone

And you know the world you're waiting for may not come

No it may not come

But you know the change the world needs now

Is there, in everyone

Here lyrics - Jackson Browne

You wait for the tears to fall but they won't

You think you should know what to say but you don't

Here at the break of day

The world moving on its way

Without her

You're sitting there staring into the distance

Like you're putting up some kind of resistance

But you barely see the dawn

It's like this river that you're on

Here where the sorrows flow

And all you will never know about her

Here

You're here

The city waking up off in the distance

They're all working on some other existence

But you don't quite seem to care

It's like you know they're not going anywhere

Here where the sorrows flow

Here where the questions grow

And all you will never know about her

You wait for the tears to fall but they won't

You think you should know what to say but you don't

Here at the break of dawn

The world moving on

Without her

If You Live lyrics - Jackson Browne

(originally by Mose Allison)

Well if you live

Your time will come

I say if you live

Your time will come

So child don't mess with that cotton sack

It's gonna scratch your knees and bend your back

And if you live

Your time will come

Well if you live

Your day will come

I say if you live

Your day will come

So child don't play with those pots and pans

They will soon enough ruin your pretty hands

And if you live

Your time will come

Well if you live

A day will come

If you live

A day will come

When the sun will shine and the crops will grow

And you think you don't have worry no more

If you live

Your time will come

"Love Is Strange" (2010)

I'm Alive Lyrics – Jackson Browne

It's been a long time since I watched these lights alone
I look around my life tonight and you are gone
I might have done something to keep you if I'd known
How unhappy you had become

While I was dreaming of you
With my heart in your hands
And I was following though
With my beautiful plans

Yeah now I'm rolling down this canyon drive
With your laughter in my head
I'm gonna have to block it out somehow to survive
'cause those dreams are dead
And I'm alive

I want to go where I will never hear your name
I want to lose my sorrow and be free again
And I know I've been insane
When I think of places I could have been

But I was dreaming of you
With my heart in your hands
And I was following through
With my beautiful plans

Standing here by the highway side
Watching these trucks blow by
Inches from my face
Yeah thinking 'bout the time I've wasted
And the pleasure we once tasted
Looking up and down this road
I've been here before
Can't be here no more

Yeah now I'm rolling down California five
With your laughter in my head
I'm gonna have to block it out somehow to survive
'cause those dreams are dead
And I'm alive

Hey look at the way I believed in you
And loved you all these years
Now you can fill a swimming pool with all my salty tears
If you'd have told me what was in your heart
Instead of all your lies
I thought that it would kill me
But I'm alive
Yeah, I'm alive

Call It A Loan Lyrics – Jackson Browne

In the morning when I closed my eyes
You were sleeping in paradise
And while the room was growing light
I was holding still with all my might

Oh...what if it's true
...What my heart says
Oh...what'll I do
What if this feeling becomes hard to part with

You were meant to play your part
In the design of a desperate heart
And while you gave your love to me
I was betting I was getting it free

Oh... If I'd only known
...What your heart cost
Oh... can we call it a loan
And a debt that I owe
On a bet that I lost

In the evening when you see my eyes
Looking back at you, no disguise
I'm not sure who you think you'll see
I'm just hoping you'll still know that it's me

Oh... what if it's true
...Better ask the man inside
Oh, oh... there seem to be two
One steals the love, and the other one hides.

Yeah... can we call it a loan
Till I'm paid in full for the seeds I've sown
Yeah... can we say that I've grown
In someway that we may have yet to be shown

Oh... if I'd only known
...What your heart cost
Oh... can we call it a loan
And a debt that I owe
On a bet that I lost

Looking East Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Standing in the ocean with the sun burning low in the west
Like a fire in the cavernous darkness at the heart of the beast
With my beliefs and possessions, stopped at the frontier in my chest
At the edge of my country, my back to the sea, looking east

Where the search for the truth is conducted with a wink and a nod
And where power and position are equated with the grace of God
These times are famine for the soul while for the senses it's a feast
From the edge of my country, as far as you see, looking east

Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon
Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room
Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page
And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the laughing and the rage
In the absence of light
And the deepening night
Where I wait for the sun
Looking east

How long have I left my mind to the powers that be?
How long will it take to find the higher power moving in me?

Power in the insect
Power in the sea
Power in the snow falling silently
Power in the blossom
Power in the stone
Power in the song being sung alone
Power in the wheatfield
Power in the rain
Power in the sunlight and the hurricane
Power in the silence
Power in the flame
Power in the sound of the lover's name
The power of the sunrise and the power of a prayer released
On the edge of my country, I pray for the ones with the least

Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon
Hunger in the banquet, hunger in the bride and groom
Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page
And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the questions of the age
And an absence of light
In the deepening night
Where I wait for the sun
Looking east

The Crow On The Cradle Lyrics – Jackson Browne (feat. Graham Nash & David Lindley)

The sheep's in the meadow
The cow's in the corn
Now is the time for a child to be born
He'll laugh at the moon
And cry for the sun
And if it's a boy he'll carry a gun
Sang the crow on the cradle

And if it should be that this baby's a girl
Never you mind if her hair doesn't curl
With rings on her fingers
And bells on her toes
And a bomber above her wherever she goes
Sang the crow on the cradle

The crow on the cradle
The black and the white
Somebody's baby is born for a fight
The crow on the cradle
The white and the black
Somebody's baby is not coming back
Sang the crow on the cradle

Your mother and father will sweat and they'll slave
To build you a coffin and dig you a grave
Hush-a-bye little one, never you weep
For we've got a toy that can put you to sleep
Sang the crow on the cradle

Bring me my gun, and I'll shoot that bird dead
That's what your mother and father once said
The crow on the cradle, what can we do
Ah, this is a thing that I'll leave up to you
Sang the crow on the cradle
Sang the crow on the cradle

Mercury Blues Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Well, if I had money tell you what I'd do
I'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
Crazy 'bout a Mercury, Lord I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

Well, the girl I love, I stole her from a friend
He got lucky stole her back again
She heard he had a Mercury, Lord she's crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

Well, hey now mama you look so fine
Ridin' round in your Mercury 49
Crazy 'bout a Mercury, Lord I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

Well, my baby went out she didn't stay long
Bought herself a Mercury, come a cruisin' home
Crazy 'bout a Mercury, yeah she's crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

Well, if I had money tell you what I'd do
I'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
Crazy 'bout a Mercury, Lord I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

El Rayo X Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I am "El Rayo".
Soy el cantar del gallo.
Soy el caiman del bayou,
Cuando lo parte el rayo.

Ven, ven aca.
Vuelve aca.
No no tengas miedo.
No no te voy a dar.

Soy alacran pelu,
Que pican en el desierto.
Cuando se va la luz?
El ha no mas el viento.

Oye me flor del Mayo,
Yo soy el hombre Rayo.
Soy el cantar del gallo,
Cuando lo parte el rayo.

Ven, ven aca.
Vuelve aca.
No no tengas miedo.
No no te voy a dar.

Sit Down Servant Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Sit down!
(oh, please don't make me)
Sit down!
(Cause I just got to heaven.
I'm gonna walk around)
Sit down, servant, and rest a while, sit down.

Oh, I can't sit down,
Oh, I can't sit down,
I can't sit down,
I just got to heaven and I can't sit down.

Now you can talk about me as much as you please,
(Sit down servant)
The more you talk I'm gonna bend my knees,
(Sit down servant)
I'm on my way to heaven to tell my story,
(Sit down servant)
I'm gonna put on my crown and sing in glory.

Oh, I can't sit down,
Oh, I can't sit down,
I can't sit down,
I just got to heaven and I can't sit down.

Now when I get to heaven gonna put on my shoes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(Sit down servant)
I'm gonna walk all over heaven singin', shoutin' the good news, yeah,
(Sit down servant)
I'm gonna march to the throne and lay me right down, yeah, yeah.
(Sit down servant)
I'm gonna give my ever-lovin' Jesus my new crown, yeah

Oh, I can't sit down,
Oh, I can't sit down,
I can't sit down