Jackson Browne: For A Dancer

Continuing my list of the Top 20 albums of 1974, coming in at #5 is Late For The Sky by Jackson Browne. The albums on my Top 20 of 1974 list have changed over the years as I discover new music and my tastes change. For example, a few albums that have slipped off of the list over the years include El Dorado by ELO, Good Ole Boys by Randy Newman, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, Bad Company’s debut, Crime of the Century by Supertramp, Autobahn by Kraftwerk, and Apostrophe by Frank Zappa. One thing that is obvious with a passing glance at this list is it is a bunch of rock music by white dudes. Albums by funk, jazz, reggae, soul, rap, and female artists have been knocking white dudes off of my Top 20 lists for about 20 years. Ask me in a month, and I may say that Kraftwerk, ELO, and Genesis are on my Top 20 list instead of Tom Waits, King Crimson, and Steely Dan, but I no longer enjoy having lists filled with a bunch of white rock/pop artists. However, there are some albums that will always be near the top of my 1974 list, starting with Late For The Sky by Jackson Browne. This is Browne’s masterpiece. It doesn’t have the hits that most people associate with him, such as “Running On Empty,” “Doctor My Eyes,” and “Take It Easy,” but every song on this record is a gem. The title track is the best album opener of any Browne release and “Fountain of Sorrow” has always been one of my favorite Brown compositions. However, “For A Dancer” is the song that pushes this record into best of all-time status. Composed as a response to the death of an old friend who died in a house fire, it is one of the most poignant songs about death, loss, and the search for life’s meaning that has ever been written. If anyone ever doubts that pop music can be incredibly important poetry, these lyrics prove them wrong.

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
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
‘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
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

As I have changed my Top 20 of 1974 list over the years, Late For The Sky has moved up further each time. I didn’t know the record 25 years ago, but it is now like an old friend that can be turned to whenever the need arises.

To learn more about Jackson Browne, check out his website.

To check out all of the old Faux Show Best of the Year Shows, visit The Year In Review Series page.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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