'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to...be late again....
Back in the day, when I discovered an artist it wasn't enough to just enjoy the record at hand, I had to go out and get their entire catalog (it came to a quick end after marriage and two kids--neither the time nor the funds for that kind of amusement). This led to a number of great discoveries, and as you might expect, a few not so great albums in my collection. One of those great discoveries was this week's album, which led me to this week's tune--which is arguably one of the best first songs on a debut album in rock and roll history....
I wrote about Jackson Browne in Jukebox, Vol. CV back in 2016. Since that time, Browne has released one album, two singles, and toured with James Taylor. He was also in two episodes of emaycee fave Roadies. As it was a few years before I began leaving a link to each artist's body of work, I'll leave Browne's here--it's important to me to recognize the entire body of work if only because it's a reminder of the talent it takes to have a long career in music.
"Jamaica Say You Will" was the first song on Browne's debut album, the ever so cleverly entitled Jackson Browne. The song was not released as a single, while the album reached #53 on the Billboard 200.
Fun Fact: Though I could be wrong, I believe this week's tune is the first time I've written about a second song from one studio album (obviously not including my yearly album review). Well done, Mr. Browne (as if he cares)!
As I was doing my half-assed research for this week's tune, I was struck by the amount of people who wrote about the song even though a) it wasn't released as a single, and b) didn't really get a lot of radio play (a la, say, "Stairway to Heaven")--it's an album track that struck a chord (so to speak). Browne has called the song a fable based on reality (there was a "Jamaica" in his life, but most of the events in the song are from his imagination), and the story of a woman sailing the seas with her father while the man who loves her is happy to follow makes for a compelling single. The music is sparse--Browne's piano echoes throughout, his vocals convey an easy earnestness, and as I played it in preparation for this week's post I was taken with the smoothness of the rhythm of the drums (once again--amazing how often I discover the drums when I'm writing about a song). In the end, Browne (I read this somewhere so it's not an emaycee original) excels at writing catchy melodies, and when you add in a romantic story and heartfelt vocals it's sailing the rock and roll seas--which is a lovely place to be.
Lyric Sheet: "Jamaica say you will/Help me find a way to fill these empty hours/Say you will come again tomorrow..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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