“I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song playing right in my ear
That I can't sing
I can't help listening
I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down
'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There's nothing you can do about it anyway)
Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone.”
- From For A Dancer by Jackson Browne
I love Jackson Browne, particularly 70’s Jackson Browne. Here is a catalogue of songs trying to deal with the fall out of the sixties and the dreams that didn’t come true, the alienation at the heart of humanity and the searching for some bigger meaning. For A Dancer is Browne at his very best. A stunningly beautiful song (check out the Gregson and Collister cover) it is sad and confused and hopeful in the most fragile of ways...
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily, it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound
Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive but you'll never know.
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