The Regular Friday Post
Rando Lyric: What is real by now
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Only to be confused” is from the song "Before The Deluge”, written and performed by Jackson Browne. It is Track 4 on Side 2 of the album “Late For The Sky”, released in September of 1974 on the Asylum Records label. Produced by Jackson Browne and Al Schmitt.
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
Ed. I’ve featured Jackson Browne songs from this album before - maybe even this one, I don’t remember. If so, I think it was before I went through several format changes and finally settled on this one.
From Wikipedia:
“Late for the Sky is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Jackson Browne, released by Asylum Records on September 13, 1974. It peaked at number 14 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.
In 2020, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.[1]
Numerous friends of Browne's, including Dan Fogelberg, Don Henley, and JD Souther contributed harmony vocals. There were only eight songs on the album, five of them longer than five minutes.”
Ed. - interesting story behind the cover art for the album at the Wikipedia link here: Late For The Sky
And this regarding the song “Before The Deluge” specifically:
Ed. From the “Songmeanings.com” website, an insightful post (maybe…) from a commenter named “Bortin”: “When he says, "Some of them were dreamers, some of them were fools...," "Some of them knew pleasure, some of them knew pain...," and "Some of them were angry at the way the earth was abused..." he is talking about the generation who came of age in the '60s. We thought we could make big changes by embracing the natural world and protecting the earth from the corporate abusers who learned "..to forge her beauty into power."
Maybe…
Link: Songmeanings.com
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Some Stuff:
Ed. The last picture in the series is of Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne and is entitled “Offender Meets The Pretender”.
A Song To Play:
4/4 common time, Key of GMajor, kinda quick 107 BPM. A great song to play, simple in structure but kinda relentless, and it’s length will challenge you! It would be a good song to play on the street or with friends who can also improv over it. It’s going to require more complexity from your voice than your guitar, but that’s not a bad thing - some songs need the instrument in the background and the emphasis more on the lyrics. One advantage to cowboy chord songs that aren’t cluttered with a lot of too quick chord changes is it gives you a chance to do “dawdles” - a quick finger placement that allows you to make an interesting change to a chord. Momentarily add, then lift your index finger on the first fret B string while playing GMajor, or lift your index finger on the first fret B string for a beat, then replace it while playing the CMajor or FMaj. It takes a bit of practice to perfect the timing and I especially like it while picking/fingerpicking - but the sound is cool either way.
Just make sure to ….
…have fun!!
Chordify Link: Before The Deluge
Lyrics Genius Link: Before The Deluge
[Verse 1]
Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge
[Verse 2]
Some of them knew pleasure
Some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers once so fine grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow for the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge
[Chorus]
Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
[Verse 3]
Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
[Chorus]
Now let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
The “ME!” Section…..
What I’m Listening2: - “Some Kind Of Troublesome”- 25 songs, some more playable than others… (Note - you may have to go to Ultimate Guitar or Chordify - subscriptions required, but worth it - to find chord charts for them)!
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify
If you’re enjoying our content, please let your friends and musician acquaintances know about us!!! Thanks for supporting this free newsletter!
Disclaimer Section
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention (except when you click on one of the links above for my song - then I might make 0.003 cents - yes 3/1000ths of a cent… just sayin…). Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI for any of the text that’s found here, things I embed or link to (such as some images) might…
-Michael Acoustic
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This Week’s Conversation With Mika, The Cat:
Mika: ”Dude!! Not the freakin’ brush again!!!”
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”