Jackson Browne - For Everyman

This album has "Take it Easy," which is arguably Jackson Browne's biggest hit. It's the first track on side one, and it segues nicely into the next song "Our Lady of the Well."

The main reason I bought this album is because it has "These Days" on it. For me the song "These Days" came into my life when watching The Royal Tenenbaums:

The version from Tenenbaums is actually sung by Nico, with Jackson Browne on electric guitar fingerpicking accompaniment. Jackson wrote this song when he was 16 years old. This puts it in company of "Lush Life" as a song written by a teenager, but with incredibly profound lyrics well beyond the age of the songwriter. Here are the lyrics, which I seem to relate to on a daily basis:

These Days

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 

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 have not forgotten them

The arrangement on For Everyman was inspired by Gregg Allman. It is much slower and laid back with a country rockish tinge to it. I don't love it as much as the Nico version, but a good song is a good song.