Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Songwriting Spank Material - "These Days"

I could have put some heavy hitters up there to represent Jackson Browne - "The Pretender," "Barricades of Heaven." "Fountain of Sorrow," "For A Dancer," and "Doctor My Eyes" - but I chose this song instead. Jackson Browne claims he wrote this song when he was sixteen, but if he did then he was probably the wisest sixteen year old in teenage history. This seemingly simple song is about someone who has gotten older and is looking back at missed chances and failed opportunities, and it hits me very deep every time. I think we can all relate to this song. I think we all look back on our experiences and wish we had done some things differently. Apart from relating to the song, there are some choice lyrics woven into the simple chord progression:

"And I had a lover
But 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"(<---that would be the line that gets me) "These days I'll set on corner stones and count the time in quarter tones to ten. Don't confront me with my failures... I had not forgotten them."(<----This gets me too) I don't want to go on and on. Just listen to it yourself.

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