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Song of the Day #4,686: ‘That Girl Could Sing’ – Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne started the new decade with 1980’s Hold Out, an album considered his first dud by most critics. Nevertheless, it was also his first (and only) album to reach #1 on the Billboard chart, powered by his newfound popularity post-Running On Empty and a couple of minor hit singles.

I remember seeing this album in cut out bins back when I used to spend much of my free time CD shopping. Between that fact, the critical consensus, and the cheap-looking cover art, I did not have high hopes for this record.

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Song of the Day #4,685: ‘Lebanon, Tennessee’ – Ron Sexsmith

Today’s random iTunes selection is a cut from Ron Sexsmith’s 1995 major-label debut, a self-titled collection of sweetly melodic soft rock songs.

The Canadian Sexsmith had never been to Lebanon, Tennessee, when he wrote this track. He was working as a delivery man and overheard a co-worker saying a package had come “all the way from Lebanon, Tennessee.” Liking the juxtaposition of the city and state name, he turned it into a song.

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Song of the Day #4,684: ‘Last Night When We Were Young’ – Frank Sinatra

September of My Years is a 1966 concept album by Frank Sinatra, exploring the existential angst of middle age. Sinatra won one of his three Album of the Year Grammys for this record.

When I was a kid, hearing September of My Years along with so many other Sinatra classics, I always thought of this as an old man’s album. As in, the final thoughts of a man on his death bed, looking back on a long and eventful life.

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Song of the Day #4,683: ‘Running On Empty’ – Jackson Browne

The Jackson Browne album people know best, and the one that has sold more than any other by far, is the one least representative of his overall output.

1977’s Running on Empty, Browne’s fifth release, is a concept record about life on the road, with all of its tracks recorded during live shows or in hotel rooms, buses or backstage. Browne has solo writing credits on only two songs (the two best, as it turns out) and four are covers. The mood and style of this album is a long way from the cerebral folk rock of his earlier releases.

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Song of the Day #4,682: ‘The Pretender’ – Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne’s 1976 album The Pretender was his first to reach the Top Ten on the albums chart (it made it to #5) and it scored his highest-charting hit since ‘Doctor My Eyes’ in ‘Here Come Those Tears Again.’

Browne’s wife, Phyllis Major, took her own life during the recording of this album, but that loss isn’t really reflected in the music. One track, ‘Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate,’ addresses the suicide, but the album is otherwise much more upbeat than its predecessor.

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