Jackson

A bit of a side blog here today, for no other reason than there is no one more deserving in my eyes, and I've got the time.

Not so long ago I wrote a rather manic post about getting over the fear of sharing treasured books with other people. A troublesome uncorking event, as anyone who received Christmas presents from me will attest to.  With your bookshelves now busting, let us move to your music collections.

For the same reasons - fear of something you adore being cast aside - I always get a bit nervous sharing my truly favourite artists.  Even more so than books, in my life when it has come to musical taste I've come up against quite a bit of, “Who?” or “Can we put something else on?” or my personal favourite, “You'd get on with my Grandma, she loves Jackson Browne too.”  

Anyway, its any easy question right? What's your favourite band? What kinda music do you like?

Deep breath.

Well, I would get on with your grandma, because to me, Jackson Browne is the duck's guts. He's got a classic-folky-rock-acoustic-with-some-occasional-killer-piano sorta thing going on. And that's just the music side of things. I could just as easily say he's my favourite poet, writer, philosopher.  His music is undoubtedly pleasing to my auditory nervous system.  Like many of my favourite things though, it simultaneously stimulates the mind, making it unforgettable. 

My first concert? Jackson Browne (in a baby carrier). Snuck out of school and drove to Paris for a concert? Jackson Browne. High school yearbook quote? Jackson Browne.  Breakup? Late for the Sky. Ready to get over it? I'm Alive. You and your partner need to find 'your song'? Rosie.*

Jackson Browne is so awesome, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by The Boss himself.

If you're ever inclined, just listen to some JB. And I mean really listen. The music ain't bad, but the lyrics, they'll move you.

Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer, 

I was taken by a photograph of you.

Fountain of Sorrow

Just...let that one sit with you for awhile. 

Given this chance, I can't even come up with a favourite song. There are so many which I return to at different times and fall in love with all over again.  Recently though, I came across an Early Days of Jackson Browne album, a live recording from 1971. Its pretty great, quite a few shaky versions of later hits that were then just in their infancy. There were a few I'd never heard before, and I've since found out it was because they never got recorded on a studio album, a shame I reckon.  

I'll share one of those with you instead, Shadow Dream Song.   I heard it for the first time the other day, and it's been haunting me (in a good way) ever since, feeling some sort of connection with it.  He was 23 in that recording, the same age I am now.

And y'know, if you don't like the music, that's your deal. I'll never be more honest in saying, I'm sorry for you. At the very least, enjoy some comedy.  From his live solo acoustic album, the intro to The Night Inside Me contains what is perhaps my favourite story ever told (starts ~1:30 in).

Take it easy, folks.

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

* Gotcha.  "He met a really beautiful girl, and that's where the sad part comes in."  If there was one particular moment of losing my innocence, it was realizing what this song was about.