Lights And Virtues Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

"Lives In The Balance" (1986)

For America Lyrics – Jackson Browne

As if I really didn't understand
That I was just another part of their plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the Motherland
And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed
And the safety of my own head
I went on speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled
The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
It's in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn's early light
By all I know is right
We're going to reap what we have sown

As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say it all the time-
"My country wrong or right"
I want to know what that's got to do
With what it takes to find out what's true
With everyone from the President on down
Trying to keep it from you

The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms
Who send their sons to the Vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets red glare
A generation's blank stare
We better wake her up this time

The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for America
I was made for America
I can't let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
And until her conscience has been found

Soldier Of Plenty Lyrics – Jackson Browne

God is great, God is good
He guards your neighborhood
Though it's generally understood
Not quite the way you would
You try to take the slack
Stay awake and watch his back
But something happens every now and then
And someone breaks into the promised land
Ah boy boy
This world is not your toy
This world is long on hunger
This world is short on joy

A-E-I-O
You speak as if you know
What's good for everyone
What's good in what you've done?
What's good about a world in which
War rages at a fever pitch
And people die for the little things
A little corn, a little beans

Ah boy boy
This world is not your toy
This world is, this world is
Long on hunger
Short on joy
How much longer
You gonna keep the world hungry boy?

You measure peace with guns
Progress in mega-tons
Who's left when the war is won?
Soldier of misfortune--
Soldier of an angry call
Soldier on foreign soil
I'm not here to fight your war
I know what you're fighting for

Ah boy boy
This world is not your toy
This world is, this world is
Long on hunger
Short on joy
How much longer
You gonna keep the world hungry boy?

In The Shape Of A Heart Lyrics – Jackson Browne

It was a ruby that she wore
On a chain around her neck
In the shape of a heart
In the shape of a heart
It was a time I won't forget
For the sorrow and regret
And the shape of a heart
And the shape of a heart
I guess I never knew
What she was talking about
I guess I never knew
What she was living without

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of belief and belonging
Try to fit some name to their longing
People speak of love

There was a hole left in the wall
From some ancient fight
About the size of a fist
Or something thrown that had missed
And there were other holes as well
In the house where our nights fell
Far too many to repair
In the time that we were there

People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Reach out to each other though the push and shove
Speak in terms of a life and the learning
Try to think of a word for the burning

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
What breaches and faults are concealed
In the shape of a heart

It was the ruby that she wore
On a stand beside the bed
In the hour before dawn
When I knew she was gone
And I held it in my hand
For a little while
And dropped it into the wall
Let it go, heard it fall

I guess I never knew
What she was talking about
I guess I never knew
What she was living without
People speak of love don't know what they're thinking of
Wait around for the one who fits just like a glove
Speak in terms of a life and the living
Try to find the word for forgiving

You keep it up
You try so hard
To keep a life from coming apart
And never know
The shallows and the unseen reefs
That are there from the start
In the shape of a heart

Candy Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Daughter of a woman who comes and goes
Candy
Daughter of a man she barely knows
Candy
All grown up about the things
People know to do
How to take a love and tear it in two
No no no that isn't how it's gonna be
For Candy

She wants to be in love
But she doesn't know why
Candy
You think she's a child
Look at her now
My my Candy

Step by step this is her debut
Looking for love that's made to stay true
Step by step she' looking for more than I see
Candy

Candy
You know what your love is worth
It's a good thing baby
Candy
If you're looking for a real love
It's a ghost town
Candy

Step by step this is her debut
Looking for love that's made to stay true
Step by step she' looking for more than I see
Candy

Lawless Avenues Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Papa hit him, Mama kissed him
Made him go to Catechism
With the sisters in their black and white
And all the time those city streets
Were teaching him another kind of wisdom
When to run and when to fight
Up at the playground after school
Listening to tales of the prison system
And those lawless avenues

Dawn on a half darkened street
A child's footsteps repeat
And something there turns them
Down those lawless avenues

Silent Joe went down so bad
He was the strongest fighter the avenues had
Stabbed in the chest he went down swinging
Someone from some other part of town
No one even seen it coming down
And you don't hear no church bells ringing
And in the violent night the police light
Sweeps across the lots and the yards
Following those lawless avenues

Down on a half darkened street
Armies advance and retreat
And struggle to take control
From those lawless avenues

Manuelito's sister Rosa
Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa
Manuelito, cuida a Rosa,
Hay mira como estan las cosas!
(Manuelito take care of Rosa
...Look at how things are)

But who could blame her after she saw
Every boy die who could have gotten close to her
Rosa es joven u solo quiere
ver la belleza del mundo
(Rosa is young and only wants
To see the beauty of the world)

Manuel said:
"You gotta fight for what you want in this life"
Just before they shipped him overseas to 'Nam
Otra guerra sin razon
Otra guerra sin fin, sin honor
(Another war without reason,
Another war without end, without honor)

And she was fighting to understand
When they shipped Manuelito's body home
All she heard was one more shot
Echoing down lawless avenues

Hoy amigo, tal igual como ayer,
La lucha en el barrio no cambia
Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer
Por ley de la calle, viviendo entre abrazos
Y chingazos
(Today my friend, just like yesterday,
The struggle in the barrio doesn't change.
Our children are the ones to grow up
By the law of the street
Living between hugs and blows)

Down on a half darkened street
Fathers' and sons' lives repeat
And something there turns them
Down those lawless avenues

En el calor de la calle
(In the heat of the street)
Buscan valor en la calle
(Looking for valor in the street)
Hasta final de la calle
(Till the end of the street)

Lives In The Balance Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Till I Go Down Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
I'm not gonna shut my eyes
Till I go down

I'm not gonna shut my eyes
I've already seen the lies
On the faces of the men of war
Leading people to the killing floor
Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
I'm not gonna shut my eyes
No no

Till I go down
Till the world stops spinning around
Till I'm six feet under the ground
Till there's no sound
Till there's no pain
I'm gonna swing this chain
Till I go down

I'm not gonna shut my mouth
I'm for the truth to come out
About the leader with the iron will
And his allegiance to the dollar bill

Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
I'm not gonna shut my eyes
Till I go down

Black And White Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Long before you ever saw your chances
You were going to burn this city down
Tired of the fashions and the dances
Tired of the people standing around
Ticking like a bomb in the night
And you knew you were right
Black and white

Blame it on the time it took to leave here
Blame it on the ones who slowed you down
Blame it on the kind of friends you knew here
Blame it on the sickness going 'round
Going round and round in the night
With your heart out of sight
With your world burning bright
Like a moth 'round a light
Black and white
The pictures of a life in flames
Black and white
The picture of a life remains
And the search you half remember
Setting out on at the start
Is burning like an ember in your heart

Time running out time running out
For the fool still asking what his life is about
Time running out time running out
Time running out time running out
Yeah, beyond a shadow of a doubt
Time running out time running out

Tell them that you've gone to find a person
Someone you lost track of long ago
Tell them that it's someone you need worse than
Anybody else you'll ever know
Ticking like a bomb in the night
You were strong, you were light
You were fast, you were bright
Then you were gone in the light
Black and white
The pictures of a life in flames
Black and white
The picture of a life remains
And the high ideals and the promise
You once dressed the future in
Are dancing in the embers with the wind

Time running out time running out
For the fool still asking what his life is about
Time running out time running out
Time running out time running out
Yeah, beyond a shadow of a doubt
Time running out time running out

"Lawyers In Love" (1983)

Lawyers In Love Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I can't keep up with what's been going on
I think my heart must just be slowing down
Among the human beings in their designer jeans
Am I the only one who hears the screams
And the strangled cries of lawyers in love

God sends his spaceships to America, the beautiful
They land at six o'clock and there we are, the dutiful
Eating from TV trays, tuned into to Happy Days
Waiting for World War III while Jesus slaves
To the mating calls of lawyers in love

Last night I watched the news from Washington, the capitol
The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them, like Russians will
Now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon
And I hear the U.S.S.R. will be open soon
As vacation land for lawyers in love

On The Day Lyrics – Jackson Browne

You really need someone on your side
But you run away and hide
Whenever somebody's going to get through
You've got this wall in front of you

You put your arm around me and smile
But you're thinking all the while
Yeah, your friends only go so far
However close friends think they are

On the day
On the day you fall in love
Gonna pray
You're gonna pray that your love is enough

You've had the world in the palm of your hand
Since you turned from child to man
No one can tell you a thing you don't know
You see your life as a one man show

But you're not whole
There are things you don't control
You're going to know what I'm talking about
On the day love finds you out

On the day
On the day you fall in love
Gonna pray
You better pray!

It's your life, you try to know
Which way the answers lie, which way to go
'Cause you survive, don't mean you grow
Open your eyes, look out below
Look out!

On the day
On the day you fall in love
Gonna pray
You better pray

On the day
On the day you fall in love
Gonna pray
You better pray

Cut It Away Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Cut it away
Somebody cut away this desperate heart
Cut it away
And help me find my way back to the start
Yeah, before I knew what I was looking for
Yeah, when we were lovers and nothing more

I wanted you
And I did everything that I could do
To capture you
I let you see
The part of me
You'd want to see
A fantasy
I'm finding now
I don't know how
To make it good
I wish I could

Cut it away
This crazy longing for something more
Cut it away
The question I don't have an answer for
Why I hunger
For something I can't see
Cut it away
The dream I wanted life to be

I know
I've got to let you go
I know
You should have left a long time ago

Protected by the night
Two cities lay
Two hearts, two lives
Connected by our sight
Worlds away
Two hearts, two lives
Inspected by the light
Two hearts, two cities in decay
Two lives
Repair them as we might
Two hearts
Just go on crumbling
Now come on

Cut it away
I want to cut away this thing inside
Cut it away
This thing that hid from you and schemed and lied

I know
I've got to let you go
I know
You should have left a long time ago

Cut it away
Somebody cut away this desperate heart
Cut it away
Before it tears my whole life apart
I love you
I love you still
I do
I always will

Downtown Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Downtown people gotta work a little harder working downtown
Downtown they got to think a little quicker 'cause they're downtown
Downtown the breaks are harder
Downtown the thieves are smarter

I've got this place I'm renting
It cost me next to nothing downtown
Nobody comes around telling me I gotta turn the sound down
Broadway - down on the corner
The bible screamer, the plasma donor
Buses, carhorns, ghetto blasters
The shouts and cries of the human disasters

It's all music
It's all music
Downtown
It's all music
It's all music

I feel alright when I'm downtown
My feet are light when I'm downtown
I cast my hopes on the human tide
I place my bet and let it ride
I'm open wide when I'm downtown

Downtown there's every kind of people walkin' round downtown
Downtown there's every language, every human sound downtown
Downtown the nights are longer
Downtown the sights are stronger
Downtown wandering all around downtown
It's all music

Eight blocks south of city hall
The rats run free and the winos crawl
Darkness falls on the vast machine
Where the future stalks the American dream

I feel alright when I'm downtown
My head feels light when I'm downtown
It's all in sight when I'm downtown
I feel alright when I'm downtown

Tender Is The Night Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Between the darkness on the street
And the houses filling up with light
Between the stillness in my heart
And the roar of the approaching night
Somebody's calling after somebody
Somebody turns the corner out of sight
Looking for somebody
Somewhere in the night

Tender is the night
When you hold your baby tight
Tender are the motions, tender is the night

Between a life that we expected
And the way it's always been
I can't walk back in again
After the way we fight
When just outside there are people laughing
Living lives we used to lead
Chasing down the love they need
Somewhere in the night

Tender is the night
And the benediction of the neon light
Tender are the hunters, tender is the night

You're gonna want me tonight
When you're ready to surrender
Forget about who's right
When you're ready to remember
It's another world at night
When you're ready to be tender

Tender, tender tender...

And in the hard light of an angry sun
No one remembers what was said or done
Tender are the words they choose
You win, I win, we lose

Tender
Tender is the night
Tender
The benediction of the neon light
Tender
Tender are the hunters
Tender is the night
When they hold each other tight
Tender
Tender are the undercover
Tender
The stranger and the secret lover
Tender
Tender are the motions
Tender is the night
When you hold your baby tight

Tender, tender tender...

Knock On Any Door Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Knock on any door
Look through any window
Baby knock on any door
Knock on any door
Is there any place you want to go
Baby who you lookin' for

Yeah, yeah, baby now you know
It's a cold world like they told you so

Knock on any door
Save your tears for some occasion
Keep your heartache to yourself
Knock on any door
It's a simple operation
Just trade your memory for your health

Knock on any door
Look through any window
Walk on
Knock on any door
Look through any window
Walk on

It's insane girl, you can't run away
It's the same world it was yesterday

Knock on any door
Look through any window
Walk on
Knock on any door
Look through any window
Walk on

Now, now, now how do you survive
With a pain so real, in a world so jive

Knock on any door
Look through any window
Peek through any shade
Knock on any door
Look through any window
Walk on

Say It Isn't True Lyrics – Jackson Browne

In the still of the night
Lying in the darkness
I listen to my heart
Say it isn't true
In the dark and the quiet
The movements of my love
And the breathing of our children
Say it isn't true
In the streets and the buildings
The people in their lives
And the jobs they do for a living
Say it isn't true
And when you think of all the people
In the cities of the world
Who could vanish in a moment
Say it isn't true
Say it isn't true
That there always has been and always will be war
Say it isn't true
And apart from all the fine things that men have struggled for
Say it isn't true
There always has been and always will be war
Say it isn't true

I'm alive in a city
In a country of the world
And I want to go on living
I want to see my life unfold
You know it's hard to go on looking
At the stories of our day
And the dangers we're all facing
Growing worse in every way
And you would think with all of the genius
And the brilliance of these times
We might find a higher purpose
And a better use of mind

Say it isn't true
That there always has been and always will be war
Say it isn't true
And apart from all the fine things that man has struggled for
Say it isn't true
There always has been and always will be war
Say it isn't true

Say it...
Say it isn't...

For A Rocker Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Open the door, baby turn on the light
We're gonna have a party tonight
For a rocker
For a rocker

I know it's late and you're already down
You ain't ready for people around
I'm gonna tell you something I found out
Whatever you think your life is about
Whatever life may hold in store
Things will happen that you won't be ready for

I've got a shirt so unbelievably bright
I'm gonna dig it out and wear it tonight
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker

Don't have to change, don't have to be sweet
Gonna be too many people to possibly meet
Don't have to feed 'em, they don't eat
They've got their power supplies in the soles of their feet
They exist for one thing, and one thing only
To escape living the lives of the lonely

For a friend of mine, from the neighborhood
Moving down the line, after tonight he'll be gone for good

Here comes Ricky, Danny, and Doerge
They got Petie's number and they're looking at me
Russell and Bobby setting up the drums
Gonna pound on 'till the landlord comes
Don't want to argue, I don't want to fight
But there will definitely be a party tonight
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker

'Till the morning comes, 'till the car arrives
'Till we kill the drums, 'till we lose our lives

Hey Jenny, tell Peggy Sue
We're gonna do the only thing you can do
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker
For a rocker
There's a party tonight!
There's a party tonight!
There's a party tonight!
There's a party tonight!

"Hold Out" (1980)

Disco Apocalypse Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Down the side streets and the avenue
There be sisters walkin' two by two
Their dresses and their shoes are new
But their hearts are weary thru and thru
And it's a long way into the light of the day
While the juke box and the radio play

Where the days turn into the nights
People move into the sounds and sights
Like the moth is drawn into the lights
Like the tight-rope walker into the heights
It's in their hearts, it's in their hips,
It's in their feet, it's on their lips

Tonight's the night I'm gonna make you mine
Gonna dance right out onto the edge of time
When the sound starts pumpin'
And the lights are flashin'
And my hearts-a-thumpin'
And I feel the passion
And the world is right there waiting
At my finger tips
Disco... apocalypse

In the dawn the city seems to sigh
And the hungry hear their children cry
People watch the time go by
They do their jobs and live and die
And in their dreams they rise above
By strength, or hate, or luck, or love

Tonight's the night I'm gonna make you mine
Gonna dance right out onto the edge of time
When the world starts turnin'
And the dreams are burnin'
And the skies awaken
Through the wind and the fire
They will be dancing still

It's in their hearts, it's in their hips,
it's in their feet, it's on their lips
A single sound that never ends
They die each night and live again

I'm gonna make you mine
Tonight's the night
Out on the edge of time
With the dreams of flesh and love dancing in my mind
Dancing through the fire on the edge of time

Hold Out Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Baby I guess you know my story
Baby I guess you know my side
It seems I've traded love for glory
But I'm still not satisfied

Given all the years
All the cries and cheers
Don't amount to much more than pride
Take my love for you
Take tomorrow too
There's not much left inside

How we laughed when we first knew love
Singing dum-de-lum-de-lie
I taught you how to see life through love
Then I taught you how to cry
And though I must have known
How easily love is thrown
I took some chances, I don't know why
There's not much you can do
You wish that I'd been true
Darlin' so do I

Now you better hold out
Go on and hold out
Go ahead and hold out
For what you know love can be
Move on and hold out
Don't let your love be sold out
If there's anyone who knows about it
Baby that's me

Ahh you're right
You can't forget the way I lied
Time has seen you grow,
To lead your life alone
Though you tried and tried
Cried and cried

Baby I guess you know my story
Maybe there's not much left to say
You know the more we take the more we
Turn each other's hearts away
Now I'll be leaving in the morning
Leaving half of me behind
To find the pieces life's been torn in
And take whatever love I find

But you better hold out
Go on and hold out
Just walk away and hold out
For what you know love can be
Move on and hold out
Don't let your love be sold out
It's starting to be cold out
For people who live like me
Move on and hold out
And somewhere later no doubt
You'll find another hold out
Someone just like you baby, wait and see..

That Girl Could Sing Lyrics – Jackson Browne

She was a friend to me when I needed one
Wasn't for her I don't know what I'd done
She gave me back something that was missing in me
She could of turned out to be almost anyone
Almost anyone...
With the possible exception
Of who I wanted her to be

Running into the midnight
With her clothes whipping in the wind
Reaching into the heart of the darkness
For the tenderness within
Stumblin' into the lights of the city
And then back in the shadows again
Hanging onto the laughter
That each of us hid our unhappiness in

Talk about celestial bodies
And your angels on the wing
She wasn't much good at stickin' around...but
She could sing...

In the dead of night
She could shine a light
On some places that you've never been
In that kind of light
You could lose your sight
And believe there was something to win
You could hold her tight
With all your might
But she'd slip through your arms like the wind
And be back in flight
Back into the night
Where you might never see her again

The longer I thought I could find her
The shorter my vision became
Running in circles behind her
And thinking in terms of the blame
But she couldn't have been any kinder
If she'd come back and tried to explain
She wasn't much good a saying goodbye...but
That girl was sane

Boulevard Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Down on the boulevard they take it hard
They look at life with such disregard
They say it can't be won
The way the game is run
But if you choose to stay
You end up playing anyway
It's okay...

The kid's in shock up and down the block
The folks are home playing beat the clock
Down at the golden cup
They set the young ones up
Under the neon light
Selling day for night
It's alright...

Nobody rides for free
Nobody gets it like they want it to be
Nobody hands you any guarantee
Nobody

The hearts are hard and the times are tough
Down on the boulevard the night's enough
And time passes slow
Between the store front shadows and the street lights glow

Everybody walks right by like they're safe or something
They don't know...

Nobody knows you
Nobody owes you nothin
Nobody shows you what they're thinking
Nobody baby

Hey, hey, baby
You got to watch the street, keep your feet
And be on guard
Make it pay baby
It's only time on the boulevard

Of Missing Persons Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Your father was a rounder
He played that rock and roll
A leaper and a bounder
Down to his gypsy soul
The music was his angel
And sorrow was his star
And those of us who follow
Might hope to reach as far

They're walking slow in Houston
Speechless in D.C.
There's no way I could tell you
What he meant to me

Your mother's a survivor
She'll do what must be done
Her children will revive her
And help her see the sun
She almost knew that unison
But the singing stopped too soon
Now she shares the silence
With a man up in the moon

To speak of missing persons
Tonight there's only one
And we all carry with us what the man's begun

And you can sing this song
On July the Fourth
In the sunny south and the frozen north
It's a day of loss, it's your day of birth
Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth?

Your brothers are all older
And they'll take it in their stride
The world's a little colder
But manhood's on their side
Now you're the little girl-child
And you look so much like him
And he's right there inside you
Each time you want to sing

Sing of missing persons
Tonight there's only one
But he's where you can find him when it's said and done

And we will sing this song
On July the Fourth
From the sunny south and the frozen north
This will always be your day of birth
May you always see what your life is worth

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

Hold On Hold Out Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Hold on hold out, keep a hold on strong
The money's in and the bets are down
You won't hold out long
They say you'll fall in no time at all
But you know they're wrong
Known it all along

Hold on hold out, keep a hold on still
If you don't see what your love is worth
No one ever will
You've done your time on the bottom line
And it ain't no thrill
There's got to be something more
Keep a hold on still
You know what it is you're waiting for
Now you just hold on
Hold on hold out, hold on

Give up your heart and you lose your way
Trusting another to feel that way
Give up your heart and you find yourself
Living for something in somebody else
Sometimes you wonder what happens to love
Sometimes the touch of a friend is enough

Hold a place for the human race
Keep it open wide
Give it time to fall or climb
But let the time decide
Sometimes you wonder what's in this for you
But you wait, and you see
'Cause it's all you can do
Just to hold on
Hold on hold out, hold on

For the countless souls beaten by their goals
Keep a hold on now
And the ones betrayed by the deals they made
Keep a hold on
If you hold your ground it'll turn around
Keep a hold somehow

Hold on hold out, keep a hold on tight
Tonights the night
Wake up and turn on the light
You fight, and you're right...
It's gonna take all your might...

You're a hold out
Well I'm a hold out too
But it took me all this time to figure out
Something you already knew
Will love be true? Can it pull you through?
How long? How strong?
Somethings depend on you
See... I always figured I was going to meet somebody here
and I don't know why
Why should love come down and suddenly just sweep me away
I want to fly
But there are so many things in my way

Anyway...
I guess you wouldn't know unless I told you
But...
I love you
Well just look at yourself...
What else would I do?

Hold on...

"Running On Empty" (1977)

Running On Empty Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
Running into the sun but I'm running behind

The Road Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Highways and dancehalls
A good song takes you far
Your write about the moon
And you dream about the stars
Blues in old motel rooms
Girls in daddy's car
You sing about the nights
And you laugh about the scars
Coffee in the morning cocaine afternoons
You talk about the weather
And you grin about the rooms
Phone calls long distance
To tell how you've been
Forget about the losses, you exaggerate the wins
And when you stop to let 'em know
You've got it down
It's just another town along the road

The ladies come to see you
If your name still rings a bell
They give you damn near nothin'
And they'll say they knew you well
So you tell 'em you'll remember
But they know it's just a game
And along the way their faces
All begin to look the same
And when you stop to let 'em know
You got it down
It's just another town along the road

Well it isn't for the money
And it's only for a while
You stalk about the rooms
And you roll away the miles
Gamblers in the neon, clinging to guitars
You're right about the moon
But you're wrong about the stars
And when you stop to let 'em know
You got it down
It's just another town along the way

Rosie Lyrics – Jackson Browne

She was standing at the load-in
When the trucks rolled up
She was sniffing all around
Like a half grown female pup
She wasn't hard to talk to
Looked like she had nowhere to go
So I gave her my pass
So she could get in and see the show

Well I sat her down right next to me
And I got her a beer
While I mixed that sound on stage
So the band could hear
The more I watched her watch them play
The less I could think of to say
And when they walked off stage
The drummer swept that girl away

But Rosie you're all right - you wear my ring
When you hold me tight - Rosie that's my thing
When you turn out the light - I've got to hand it to me
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie

Well I guess I might have known from the start
She'd come for a star
Might have told my imagination not to run too far
Of all the times that I've been burned
By now you'd think I'd have learned
That it's who you look like
Not who you are

But Rosie you're all right - you wear my ring
When you hold me tight - Rosie that's my thing
When you turn out the light - I've got to hand it to me
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie

You Love The Thunder Lyrics – Jackson Browne

When you look over your shoulder
And you see the life that you've left behind
When you think it over do you ever wonder?
What it is that holds your life so close to mine

You love the thunder and you love the rain
What you see revealed within the anger is worth the pain
And before the lightning fades and you surrender
You've got a second to look at the dark side of the man

You love the thunder and you love the rain
You know your hunger like you know your name
And I know you wonder how you ever came
To be a woman in love with a man in search of the flame

Draw the shade and light the fire
For the night that holds you and calls your name
And just like your lover, knows your desire
And the crazy longing that time will never tame

You love the thunder and you love the rain
You know your hunger like you know your name
I got your number if it's still the same
You can dream
But you can never go back the way you came

Cocaine Lyrics – Jackson Browne

You take Sally and I'll take Sue
Their ain't no difference between the two
Cocaine, running all 'round my brain

Headin' down Scott, turnin' up Main
Looking for that girl that sells cocaine
Cocaine, runnin' all 'round my brain

Late last night about a quarter past four
Ladanyi come knockin' down my hotel room door
Where's the cocaine...
It's runnin' all 'round my brain

I was talking to my doctor down at the hospital
He said, "Son, it says here you're twenty-seven,
But that's impossible
Cocaine... you look like you could be forty-five"

Now I'm losing touch with reality and I'm almost out of blow
It's such a fine line... I hate to see it go
Cocaine, runnin' all 'round my brain

Shaky Town Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I've witnessed those one night stands
Must have played in a thousand bands
But I'm just here tonight, tomorrow I'll be gone
Seen folks show their blacker sides
Seen them die just for foolish pride
And those drivers always ask to hear that same old song

That's a big ten-four
From your back door
Just put that hammer down
This young man feels
Those eighteen wheels
That keep turning 'round to take me down to Shaky Town

I've heard all those hard luck tales
From all of you U.S. males
I've heard you tell those lies about the love you've know
And I've followed those highway signs
And I've run down those thin white lines
Like those drivers this old road is all I call my own

That's a big ten-four
From your back door
Just put that hammer down
This young man feels
Those eighteen wheels
That keep turning 'round to take me down to Shaky Town

Love Needs A Heart Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Maybe the hardest thing I've ever done
Was to walk away from you
Leaving behind the life that we'd begun
I split myself in two

Proud and alone, cold as a stone
Rolling down that hill into the night
I could see the surprise and the hurt in your eyes
From behind each flashing city light

Love needs a heart and I need to find
If loves needs a heart like mine

Love won't come near me, she don't even hear me
She walks past my vacancy sign
Love needs a heart, trusting and blind
I wish that heart was mine

Proud and alone, cold as a stone
I'm afraid to believe the things I feel
I can cry with the best I can laugh with the rest
But I'm never sure when it's real
And it may be the hardest thing I've ever done
But apart from all that I hope to find
Where's the heart that's been looking for mine?
I hope it finds me in time

Love needs a heart and I need to find
If love needs a heart like mine

Nothing But Time Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Rolling down 295 out of Portland, Maine
Still high from the people up there and feeling no pain
Gonna make it to New Jersey, gonna set it up and do it again

I got a bottle of wine (pass it over)
I got a broken white line (I'm still sober)
There ain't nothin but time between this Silver Eagle
And that New Jersey line

Well it's a rock and roll band or a movie you can take your pick
And it ain't bad work if you can get it
But you gotta make it stick
But getting any kind of sleep on this rolling motel-that's the trick

It's just a bottle of wine (pass it over)
It's just a broken white line (I'm still sober)
It's just a whole lot of time in the twilight zone
Between me and these friends of mine

The Load-Out Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They're the first to come and last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They'll set it up in another town
Tonight the people were so fine
They waited there in line
And when they got up on their feet they made the show
And that was sweet...
But I can hear the sound
Of slamming doors and folding chairs
And that's a sound they'll never know

Now roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get'em up them ramps
'Cause when it comes to moving me
You guys are the champs
But when that last guitar's been packed away
You know that I still want to play
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano

But the band's on the bus
And they're waiting to go
We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago
or Detroit, I don't know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms
And wander 'round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came

Now we got country and western on the bus
R and B, we got disco in eight tracks and cassettes in stereo
We've got rural scenes & magazines
We've got truckers on the CB
We've got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
But the only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play

People you've got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait
Or you can pull us through
Come along, sing the song
You know you can't go wrong
'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You're going to wake up in your town
But we'll be scheduled to appear
A thousand miles away from here

Stay Lyrics – Jackson Browne

People stay just a little bit longer
We want to play - just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don't mind
And the union don't mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song...

"The Pretender" (1976)

The Fuse Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

Your Bright Baby Blues Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I'm sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
I guess they've 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

'Cause I've 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 can't help feeling I'm just a day away
From where I want to be
Now I'm running home baby
Like a river to the sea

Baby if you can see me
Out across this wilderness
There's 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
You've got those bright baby blues
You don't see what you've got to gain
But you don't like to lose
You watch yourself from the sidelines
Like your life is a game you don't mind playing
To keep yourself amused
I don't mean to be cruel baby
But you're looking confused

Baby if you can hear me
Turn down your radio
There's just one thing
I want you to know
When you've been near me
I've felt the love stirring in my soul

It's 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 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
There's just one thing
I'll ask you to do
Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through

Linda Paloma Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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
Though 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 with 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

Here Come Those Tears Again Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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 we've 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 don't 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 you're standing here telling me
How you have grown

Here come those tears again
Now you'll tell me how to hold them in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again

Some other time baby
When I'm strong and feeling fine maybe
When I can look at you without crying
You might look like a friend of mine
But I don't know if I can
Open up enough to let you in
Here come those tears
Here come those tears again
Just walk away
I'm going back inside and turning out those light
And I'll be in the dark but you'll be out of sight

The Only Child Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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 feel 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 life 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

Daddy's Tune Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

The Pretender Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again
Amen
Say 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
I've been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it's the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
You'll 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 junk man 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

I'm going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put out dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I'm 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

"Late For The Sky" (1974)

Late For The Sky Lyrics – Jackson Browne

The words had all been spoken
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night
Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives has led us there

Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody I'd ever known
Such an empty surprise to feel so alone

Now for me some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be

Awake again I can't pretend and I know I'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might
To be the one you need

Awake again I can't pretend and I know I'm alone
And close to the end of the feeling we've known

How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late for the sky

Fountain Of Sorrow Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn't show your spirit quite as true

You were turning 'round to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes

Now the things that I remember seem so distant and so small
Though it hasn't really been that long a time
What I was seeing wasn't what was happening at all
Although for a while, our path did seem to climb
But when you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger
And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool
So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger
While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
Like a fountain from a pool

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to hide sometimes, but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight

Now for you and me it may not be that hard to reach our dreams
But that magic feeling never seems to last
And while the future's there for anyone to change, still you know it's seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past
I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you
In my lessons at love's pain and heartache school
Where if you feel too free and you need something to remind you
There's this loneliness springing up from your life
Like a fountain from a pool

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight

You've had to hide sometimes but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight

Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to struggle, you've had to fight
To keep understanding and compassion in sight
You could be laughing at me, you've got the right
But you go on smiling so clear and so bright

Farther On Lyrics – Jackson Browne

In my early years I hid my tears
And passed my days alone
Adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
To catch the love that I'd heard of
In books and films and songs
Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
In the place where the real world belongs

Still I look for the beauty in songs
To fill my head and lead me on
Though my dreams have come up torn and empty
As many times as love has come and gone

To those gentle ones my memory runs
To the laughter we shared at the meals
I filled their kitchens and living rooms
With my schemes and my broken wheels
It was never clear how far or near
The gates to my citadel lay
They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own
But they listened to mine anyway

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say
It could be I've lost my way
Though I keep a watch over the distance
Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday

And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings of the journey I've begun

Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons I once had are gone
I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn

But the angels are older
They can see that the sun's setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past
And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road till the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance
Moving farther on

The Late Show Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Everyone I've ever known has wished me well
Anyway that's how it seems, it's hard to tell
Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
'Cause that's easier than letting on how little they could care
But when you know that you've got a real friend somewhere
Suddenly all the others are so much easier to bear

Now to see things clear it's hard enough I know
While you're waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled onto someone real, you'd never know
(You'd never know)
You could be with somebody who is lonely too
(Sometimes it doesn't show)
He might be trying to get across to you
(Words can be so slow)
When your own emptiness is all that's getting through
There comes a point when you're not sure why you're still talking
I passed that point long ago
(Long ago)
Now I'm so tired of all this circling
And all these glimpses of the end
(You know it's useless to pretend)
That's all the voices say:
"You'll go right on circling
Until you've found some kind of friend"

I saw you through the laughter and the noise
You were talking with the soldiers and the boys
While they scuffled for your weary smiles
I thought of all the empty miles
And the years that I've spent looking for your eyes
(Looking for your eyes)
And now I'm sitting here wondering what to say
(That you might recognize)
Afraid that all these words might scare you away
(And break through the disguise)
No one ever talks about their feelings anyway
Without dressing them in dreams and laughter
I guess it's just too painful otherwise

Look...
It's like you're standing in the window
Of a house nobody lives in
And I'm sitting in a car across the way
(Let's just say)
It's an early model Chevrolet
(Let's just say)
It's a warm and windy day
You go and pack your sorrow
The trash man comes tomorrow
Leave it at the curb and we'll just roll away

The Road And The Sky Lyrics – Jackson Browne

When we come to place where the road and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
They told me I was going to have to work for a living
But all I want to do is ride
I don't care where we're going from here
Honey, you decide

Well I spend my time at the bottom of a wishing well
And I can hear my dreams singing clear as a bell
I used to know where they ended and the world began
But now it's getting hard to tell
I could be just around the corner from Heaven or a mile from Hell

I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind a wheel of a stolen Chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if I can hot-wire reality

Now can you see those dark clouds gathering up ahead?
They're going to wash this planet clean like the Bible said
Now you can hold on steady and try to be ready
But everybody's gonna get wet
Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet

I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind the wheel of a stolen Chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if I can hot-wire reality

For A Dancer Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you'd always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can't sing
I can't help listening
And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down
'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There's nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know

Walking Slow Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Walking slow down the avenue
Through my old neighborhood
Don't know why I'm happy
I've got no reason to feel this good
Maybe it's because I'm all alone
And I've got no place to go
And everywhere I look I see
Another person I'll never know

I got a thing or two to say
Before I walk on by
I'm feeling good today
But if die a little farther along
I'm trusting everyone to carry on

Pretty little girl...
Running up and down the street with no shoes on
I got a pretty little girl of my own at home
Sometimes we forget we love each other
And we fight for no reason
I don't know what I'll do if she ever leaves me alone

I got a thing or two to say
Before I walk on by
I'm feelin' good today
But if I die a little farther along
I'm trustin' everyone to carry on

I'm puttin' down my left foot
I'm puttin' down my right foot

I got a thing or two to say
Before I walk on by
I'm feelin' good today
But if I die a little father along
I'm trusting everyone to carry on

Before The Deluge Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in the moment they were swept before the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by...
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by...
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

"For Everyman" (1973)

Take It Easy Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Well I'm a-running down the road trying to loosen my load
I've 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

Well I'm a-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've got to 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 a-running down the road trying to loosen my load
Got a world of trouble on my mind
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've got to know if your sweet love is gonna save me

You know we got it easy
We oughta take it easy

Our Lady Of The Well Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

Colors Of The Sun Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Colors of the sun
Flashing on the water top
Echo on the land

Picking for a coin
Many other tiny worlds
Singing 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
Clinging in the breeze

Oh, leave me where I am I am not losing
If I am choosing not to plan my life
Disillusioned saviors search the sky
Wanting to just to show someone the way
Asking all the people passing by
Doesn't anybody want the way

I say goodbye to Joseph and Maria
They think I see another sky
And from my fallen window I still see them
I'll never free them from the sky

I Thought I Was A Child Lyrics – Jackson Browne

It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
As if somehow the 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've 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

These Days Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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 I have made in song
Well it's just that I've been losing so long

I'll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days-
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them

Red Neck Friend Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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
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've got a little list of all those things of which they don't approve
They've 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
We're going to 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
I'm going to try to swing you up into my saddle
And then we'll run but you'll think we're flyin'
Now honey don't just stand there
Lookin' like this dream will never end
Honey let me introduce you to my redneck friend

The Times You've Come Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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
That hangs on to the things that we have done
Still I've loved 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'll see a little more each time we come

Now everybody's gonna tell you it's not worth it
Everybody's gotta show you their own thing
You might 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 pleasures
Laughter marks the place where we have fallen
And our lives are near
So it wouldn't occur to us to wonder
Is this the past or the future that is calling

You know I've loved these times you've come.

Ready Or Not Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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
And the next thing I remember, she was all moved in
And I was buying her a washing machine

My 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

Sing My Songs To Me Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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

For Everyman Lyrics – Jackson Browne

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
Who'll come along
And hold out that strong and gentle father's hand?
Long ago I heard someone say something 'bout 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 'bout Everyman

"Jackson Browne" (1972)

Jamaica Say You Will Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Jamaica was the lovely one, I played her well
As we lay in the tall grass where the shadows fell
Hiding from the children so they would not tell
We would stay there 'till her sister rang the evening bell

Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these empty hours
Say you will come again tomorrow

The daughter of a captain on the rolling seas
She would stare across the water from the trees
Last time he was home he held her on his knees
And said the next time they would sail away just where they pleased

Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these lifeless sails
And stay until my ships can find the sea

Jamaica was a sweet young one, I loved her true
She was a comfort and a mercy through and through
Hiding from this world together, next thing I knew
We had brought her things down to the bay
- what could I do

Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these sails
And we will sail until our waters have run dry

A Child In These Hills Lyrics – Jackson Browne

I am a child in these hills
I am away
I am alone
I am a child in these hills
And looking for water
And looking for life

Who will show me the river and ask my name?
Is there nobody here who'll do that?

Well I have come to these hills
I will come to the river
As I choose to be gone from the house of my father

I am a child in these hills
I am a child

Chased from the gates of the city where no one had touched me
I am away
I am alone
I am a child in these hills
And looking for water
And looking for life

Who will show me the river and ask me my name?
Is there nobody here who'll do that?

Well I have come to these hills
I will come to the river
As I choose to be gone from the house of my father

I am a child in these hills
I am a child
I am a child
I am a child

Song For Adam Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him well
He was alone into his distance
He was deep into his well
I could guess what he was laughing at, but I couldn't really tell
Now the story's told that Adam jumped, but I've been thinking that he fell

Together we went traveling, as we received the call
His destination India, and I had none at all
Well, I still remember laughing with our backs against the wall
So free of fear, we never thought that one of us might fall

I sit before my only candle, but it's so little light to find my way
Now this story unfolds before my candle
Which is shorter every hour as it reaches for the day
But I feel just like a candle in the way
I guess I'll get there, but I wouldn't say for sure

When we parted we were laughing still, as our goodbyes were said
And I never heard from him again as each our lives we led
Except for once in someone else's letter that I read
Until I heard the sudden word that a friend of mine was dead

I sit before my only candle, like a pilgrim sits beside the way
Now this journey appears before my candle
As a song that's growing fainter the harder that I play
But I fear before I end I'll fade away
But I guess I'll get there, though I wouldn't say for sure

Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him long
And when I stood myself beside him, I never though I was as strong
Still it seems he stopped his singing in the middle of his song
Well I'm not the one to say I know, but I'm hoping he was wrong

I'm holding out my only candle, though it's so little light to find my way
Now this story's been laid beneath my candle
And it's shorter every hour as it reaches for the day
Yes, I feel just like a candle in the way
I hope I'll get there, but I never pray

Doctor My Eyes Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand

I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long

'Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where there will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it's later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me

Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry

From Silver Lake Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Did you see our brother
He was here the other day
But he only came to say that he was leaving
Did you see his lady
She was looking where he'd gone
But she wasn't letting on that she was grieving

She's bound to go
Perhaps she'll find him waiting for his boat in some city far away
She's bound to go

Lately I remember afternoons of smoke and wine
There was nothing we could find but peace and pleasure
And with a smile he told me
That he wanted just to be on his way across the sea no man can measure

He won't be back,
And the sun may find him sleeping in the dust of some ruin far away
He won't be back

Early today as I watched while the skyline was shaking
I heard a rumbling
Early today the mechanical city was waking
And I ran out stumbling, mumbling
Out through the laughter of children and dogs

Did you see our brother
He was here the other day
But he only came to say that he can't breathe here
Did you see his lady
She was reaching for his hand
Just as if to tell her man that she can't either

They're bound to go
And the sun may find me running after them, seeing something far away
We won't be back

.....Someone who had been away
.....Suddenly came back today
.....And I allowed him home today into my mind
.....For a moment face to face
.....Evil packed upon the place
.....Long ago he meant to stay out there this time
.....Oh, what do you know
.....The love that I've been feeling
.....The past is healing so slow
.....By tomorrow, gone from sorrow.

Something Fine Lyrics – Jackson Browne

The papers lie there helplessly
In a pile outside the door
I've tried and tried, but I just can't remember what they're for
The world outside is tugging like a beggar at my sleeve
Oh, that's much too old a story to believe

And you know that it's taken its share of me
Even though you take such good care of me
Now you say "Morocco" and that makes me smile
I haven't seen Morocco in a long, long while
The dreams are rolling down across the places in my mind
And I've just had a taste of something fine

The future hides and the past just slides
England lies between
Floating in a silver mist so cold and so clean
California's shaking like an angry child will
Who has asked for love and is unanswered still

And you know that I'm looking back carefully
”Cause I know that there's still something there for me
But you said "Morocco" and you made me smile
And it hasn't been that easy for a long, long while
And looking back into your eyes I saw them really shine
Giving me a taste of something fine
Something fine

Now if you see Morocco I know you'll go in style
I may not see Morocco for a little while
But while you're there I was hoping you might keep it in your mind
To save me just a taste of something fine

Under The Falling Sky Lyrics – Jackson Browne

Warm and lovely mystery, fire smiling through
Before this moment fades away I want to know you
I've got lightening in my pocket, thunder in my shoe
Have no fear I've got something here I want to show you

Low, under the falling sky
Easily we will lie
While I bring it to you

It's a low road, a high wire going from me to you
And in your eyes the distance left is closing
I've got a feeling in my oceans
Blood underneath my skin
That into your bright fields this prison is opening

Low, under the falling sky
Easily we will lie
While I bring it to you

Our shadows wake each day though they don't know why
They hope and try - live and die
So leave them in their frozen world
Come and be my lover
If only for one stolen moment
We will live forever

Warm and lovely mystery, can you hear the choir?
Voices can no longer hold my desire
Abandon your sad history and meet me in the fire
Our angels wait to take us higher and higher
Higher and higher

Low, under the falling sky
Easily we will lie
While I bring it to you