June 2, 2023 —– Chart #198
Hello Music Friends,
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. For the fourth time now I am turning to one of my most favorite songwriters and recording artists, Mr. Jackson Browne. I just find Jackson’s work to be timeless and eminently tasteful. Today we go with the title track from 1973’s album For Everyman. The entire album is amazing in my humble opinion. Honestly, just look who accompanies Browne on this album: Billy Payne, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Mike Utley, David Lindley (of course), Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby and several others. WOW! What a cast!
Well if you are not a Jackson Browne fan, I ask you to take another listen. For Pete’s sake, he co-wrote Take It Easy with Glen Frey and put it on this album. AND, that’s not even the title track!
For Everyman is the second album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1973. The album peaked at number 43 on the Billboard 200 chart and the single “Redneck Friend” reached number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2012, the album was ranked number 450 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
For Everyman marked the debut of multi-instrumentalist David Lindley’s long association with Browne. Guest artists included David Crosby (harmony on the title track), Glenn Frey (harmony on “Redneck Friend”), Elton John (credited as Rockaday Johnnie, piano on “Redneck Friend”), Don Henley (harmony on “Colors of the Sun”), Joni Mitchell, and Bonnie Raitt.
The title track was written by Browne in response to the apocalyptic “Wooden Ships”, a song written by Crosby, Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner. His own version of “These Days” appears here after having been previously recorded by Nico, Tom Rush, who also covered “Colors of the Sun”, and Gregg Allman. Nico was the first to record the song in 1967. Browne later commented “When [Allman] did [These Days] I thought that he really unlocked a power in that song that I sort of then emulated in my version. I started playing the piano. I wasn’t trying to sing it like Gregg; I couldn’t possibly. I took the cue, playin’ this slow walk. But it was written very sort of, kind of a little more flatpicking.” “Take It Easy” was written by Browne and Frey and became the Eagles’ first single, released on May 1, 1972.
The album cover photograph is a depiction of Browne’s childhood home in Highland Park, California, “The Abbey San Encino” which was hand-built by his grandfather Clyde Browne and owned to this day by his brother Edward. The cover of the original release was a cutout with the inner sleeve showing Browne sitting in a rocking chair. When removed the picture on the inside had the same background but Browne and the rocking chair were omitted.
Live and solo: https://youtu.be/AOoeoiO-3C0
This song is fun to listen to and fun to play. Try it. For you guitarists, try the chart with Double Drop D tuning. (Jackson also drops the whole tuning down another step) Very cool.
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw