Thursday, July 28, 2016

Jackson Browne For A Dancer

Uploaded on Jan 15, 2007

BBC Old Grey Whistle Test 1976
With David Lindley

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've 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
I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down
(Alt:crying is the easier 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
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COMMENTS • 739

Steve Eckstein 
YOUTUBE PLZ OUT BACK THIS 1977 BBC "LIVE BBC CONCERT" BROADCAST. IT MAY BE HIS " BEST EVER LIVE SHOW". IT WAS HERE FOR A LONG TIME..I'VE VIEWED IT COUNTLESS TIMES. DAVID'S SOLO PERFORMANCE ON STEEL LAP & VOCALS + ROSEMARIE'S HIGH BACKING R PRICELESS & SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE TO FANS AGAIN...
Reply
B ANTHONY 
They just don't make songwriters the way they used to....
John Townsend 
for Ali -- one of the greatest dancer of our generation
Colerain Fan 
My best friend got killed the year this came out---he was 23 years old.  This song gave us a lot of comfort then, and often, throughout the years.  I have written the words to this on paper for others who have lost loved ones unexpectedly.  It always helps.
Lose Streaker King 
+Colerain Fan really sorry to hear that
John connal 
God bless you
Chris Andrus 
.....simply the best.....
NancyGful 
This is one of the best recordings with Jackson and David Lindley together ever! I can't quit playing it over and over.
Dennis Martin 
Here's another one that Jackson really hit out of the park. As this man sits here weeping as he types I cannot begin to imagine the pain that he must have suffered before writing this beautiful song.
Dennis Martin 
+Richard Federico So very true. My brother gave me an enormous amount of perspective on life that only he could give me. His presence was a gift, but he does live on in my heart and in my memories of our time together. Thank you for your kind words and insight.
Dennis Martin 
+iamintheburg Your story is thoughtful and touching. Love is stronger than death and, by your 20 years example, is without the limits that time places. Love, grieving, and celebrating life are some of the most powerful things that make us human. By honoring those who are gone too soon with our tears and our stories their spirits never die. Such is the case with Jackson Browne's beautiful song, "For A Dancer".
glen Miller 
simply the best.
Daytona's Youth 
beautiful.
Phizeke S 
My younger brother passed away on Nov.2, 2015.  At his memorial service, this song was playing, while photo's of his life wer being shown.  I thought to myself;(How f---ing appropriate. whenever I now hear this song I think of my brother, who had spent the last 10 yrs. of his life in a very dark place.  I''ve seen Jackson several times, and his beautiful poetry always leaves me asking for more.  The man writes such beautiful songs.  Peace
Judy Kinne 
This has got to be on my top 3 list - I just love being born to dance ~ " Let your prayers lift into space ..." I miss my mate of 34+ years - gone 31 days - I am not sure I can grow any more seeds , or even sow ~ I just want to follow the steps ......................in the end there is one dance we do alone .
Pepe LePouch 
This was the actual performance that woke me up to Jackson Browne. I saw this Old Grey Whistle Test in my lounge room in Droitwich, England. I was 18 years old and my Dad had been killed in an accident a few months earlier. This song "spoke to me"; and thereafter, many of Jackson's songs did. For me - he is and always will be - one of THE greatest singer/songwriters of all.
Philip D 
Awesome
Laurylie Norman 
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
Philip settimi 
+Laurylie Norman Thanks for posting the words!!!
Starsky Cartmell 
no matter how much i write songs it will never catch the genius that is Jackson Browne. Tear stained eye songs are the best.
Ric Santos 
A beautiful tribute to that special someone who will live in our hearts forever...
Cj Schuler 
so good
OneInnerDepth 
No tree has branches so foolish
as to fight amongst themselves.
~ Native American Proverb
Mark Richards 
Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt are the two performers that I can't listen to passively while doing other things, such depth to the lyrics and music. I have to sit and experience it. My life partner died in 1999, I listen to this song and I am aware that the grief in some ways is just below the surface, but not just in a sad way after so many years. People who are an important part of out experience never really leave us. There is something healing about great music.
James Pringle 
the whole human race comes in thru one door, spends a brief time in god's house hoping to lay down a path for a better future, and then out thru another door we call death,..a better song to that closing door hasn't been written...and still we see nothing about any of these three places...before here, here, and after here......what do we know...nothing except love is beautiful, losing it is painful, and hope is an empty place to stand...life's best blessings to you all.

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