These Days

The following are the lyrics from the Jackson Browne song, "These Days." Recently hearing it again (it's been covered by many singers, famous and not so) done by Nico of the Velvet Underground, I was impressed to hear that she was the first to record it. Nico. I considered her a goddess when I was a kid, with all that blonde hair and Germaness...in later years, when I saw her perform at the Mudd Club, almost all the mystique had flown away.
At any rate, this song expresses a lot for me lately and how I feel about some of my life. I've come to some point of reflection that has me looking into a darker mirror. I think that it's a brilliant if somewhat sad song. Jackson Browne is quite the writer and singer. A few years back, I bought a Christmas album in which he sang his song, "The Rebel Jesus." Besides the fact that Burgess Meredith read poetry and Elvis Costello sang one of his songs, Browne absolutely knocks you out with his contribution to the collection.

These Days

Well I’ve been out walking
I don’t do that much talking these days
These days--
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to

And I had a lover
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
I’ll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days--
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don’t confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them