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Running on Empty fu pubblicato nel 1977. Jackson Browne si avvalse di validi musicisti per dare vita all'album, tra cui David Lindley, Russell Kunkel. Leland Sklar, Craig Doerge, Danny Kortchmar, Doug Haywood e Rosemary Butler.
Il disco ha un significato molto speciale. Questo è un album solare, pieno zeppo di joie de vivre, ma senza per questo rinunciare a testi riflessivi oppure a immagini poetiche. Venne registrato durante un tour estivo ma non è un vero 'live album'. Alcuni brani vennero raccolti durante le serate o i soundcheck dei concerti, alcuni persino registrati nelle camere d'albergo. Sono tutti brani inediti, cosa anomala per un live, e tutti hanno come tema centrale la vita 'on the road'. Nel disco ci sono un paio di pezzi co-firmati dallo stesso Browne con uno dei suoi più cari amici, il road manager 'Buddha' Miller, l'indimenticabile Lowell Gorge. Sono presenti anche alcune cover bellissime. Album suonato in maniera superba da una band stratosferica, un dream team del suono californiano.
Lo stesso Browne affermò che Running on Empty ha rappresentato per lui un periodo di tranquillità e di presa di coscienza della sua vita in modo positivo. Infatti da poco aveva smesso di fare uso di droghe. Aveva perso tanti amici e capito che quel modo di essere non aveva un futuro. In questo lavoro la musica è presa in modo più istintivo.
La title-track, ''Running on Empty'', semplicemente sensazionale è dedicata dall'autore al pittore francese Paul Gauguin che si trasferì in Polinesia alla ricerca di nuove fonti di ispirazione e uno stile di vita diverso da quello delle città europee. Come Gaugin anche Browne vuole trasferirsi a Tahiti. Nel pezzo è da notare il folgorante assolo di David Lindley che lascia senza fiato. Di grande suggestione è ''The Road'', un duetto di chitarra e violino, una calda ballata. Molto romantica è ''Rosie'', pezzo semi-acustico che racconta dell'infatuazione di un tecnico di una rock band per una ragazza, Rosie appunto che però scappa con il batterista del gruppo. La canzone è dolcissima e la struttura musicale scarna formata da piano e voce la rende ancora più intensa ed emozionante. ''You Love The Thunder'' è un pezzo tipico dello stile di Jackson Browne. Classica ballata dentro la quale ci sono domande introspettive sul rapporto tra uomo e donna, nonché i soliti tentativi di vedere un futuro migliore senza rimpiangere il passato.
Straordinaria è ''Cocaine'', cover del blues di Gary Davis. Brano suonato con due chitarre acustiche e un violino. La strofa finale ha un testo originale scritto da Jackson insieme a Glenn Frey. ''Shaky Town'' fu registrata in una stanza d'albergo ed firmata da Danny Kortchmar. Lo stesso Danny fa la seconda voce nel pezzo, che è una suadente ballata semiacustica dal sapore country. ''Love Needs A Heart'', firmata da altre due rockstar amiche di Jackson è stata registrata allo Universal Theater di Hollywood. Il brano è una gradevole ballata d'amore dominata dall'accoppiata piano-voce. Molto on the road è ''Nothing But Time'', che fu addirittura registrata sul bus che trasportava la band in un luogo imprecisato nel New Jersey. Durante il pezzo, si sente addirittura il rumore del motore del bus che però sembra quasi far parte integrante del brano. ''The Load-Out'' è un brano da ascoltare con attenzione. Fu composto da Browne nel suo tile caratteristico. Chiude l'album ''Stay'', celeberrima canzone nella quale c'è il classico, esilarante intervento di Lindley col violino.
Il ragazzo californiano è al massimo della sua creatività e del suo successo personale. Appena trentenne è già in cima al mondo, amato come un'autentica leggenda. La sua generosità e la sua sensibilità nei confronti dei più deboli, lo vedranno sempre più in prima linea per difendere diritti sociali, cause umanitarie, politiche, ecologiste. Album meraviglioso con un sound unico!
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Running on Empty (05:30)
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In '65 I was seventeen and running up one-oh-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on
(Running on) Running on empty
(Running on) Running blind
(Running on) Running into the sun but I'm running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In '69 I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on
(Running on) Running on empty
(Running on) Running blind
(Running on) Running into the sun but I'm running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes, I see them running too
(Running on) Running on empty
(Running on) Running blind
(Running on) Running into the sun but I'm running behind
Honey, you really tempt me, you know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
(Running on) You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
(Running blind) Running into the sun but I'm running behind
02 The Road (04:46)
Highways and dancehalls
A good song takes you far
Your write about the moon
And you dream about the stars
Blues in old motel rooms
Girls in daddy's car
You sing about the nights
And you laugh about the scars
Coffee in the morning cocaine afternoons
You talk about the weather
And you grin about the rooms
Phone calls long distance
To tell how you've been
Forget about the losses, you exaggerate the wins
And when you stop to let 'em know
You've got it down
It's just another town along the road
The ladies come to see you
If your name still rings a bell
They give you damn near nothin'
And they'll say they knew you well
So you tell 'em you remember
But they know it's just a game
And along the way their faces
All begin to look the same
And when you stop to let 'em know
You got it down
It's just another town along the road
Well it isn't for the money
And it's only for a while
You stalk about the rooms
And you roll away the miles
Gamblers in the neon, clinging to guitars
You're right about the moon
But you're wrong about the stars
And when you stop to let 'em know
You got it down
It's just another town along the road
03 Rosie (03:41)
She was standing at the load-in
When the trucks rolled up
She was sniffing all around
Like a half grown female pup
She wasn't hard to talk to
Looked like she had nowhere to go
So I gave her my pass
So she could get in and see the show
Well I sat her down right next to me
And I got her a beer
While I mixed that sound on stage
So the band could hear
The more I watched her watch them play
The less I could think of to say
And when they walked off stage
The drummer swept that girl away
But Rosie you're all right -- you wear my ring
When you hold me tight -- Rosie that's my thing
When you turn out the light -- I've got to hand it to me
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie
Well I guess I might have known from the start
She'd come for a star
Might have told my imagination not to run too far
Of all the times that I've been burned
By now you'd think I'd have learned
That it's who you look like
Not who you are
But Rosie you're all right -- you wear my ring
When you hold me tight -- Rosie that's my thing
When you turn out the light -- I've got to hand it to me
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie
05 Cocaine (04:54)
You take Sally, and I'll take Sue
There ain't no difference between the two
Cocaine...Runnin all 'round my brain
Headin down Scott, turn up Main
Lookin for that girl that sells cocaine
Cocaine...Runnin all 'round my brain
Mmmm, Momma, come here quick
That old cocaine 'bout to make me sick
Cocaine...Runnin all 'round my brain
Late last night, 'bout quarter past 4,
Donnie came knockin down the hotel room door
"Where's the cocaine?", I said,
"It's runnin all 'round my brain"
I was talkin to my doctor down at the hospital
He said "it says here your 27, but that's impossible"
Cocaine..."You look like you could be 45"
Now I'm loosin touch with reality,
And I'm almost out of blow
Such a fine line, I hate to see it go
Cocaine...Runnin all 'round my brain
(chatter)
09 The Load-Out (05:35)
Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They're the first to come and the last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They'll set it up in another town
Tonight the people were so fine
They waited there in line
And when they got up on their feet they made the show
And that was sweet -
But I can hear the sound
Of slamming doors and folding chairs
And that's a sound they'll never know
Now roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps
'Cause when it comes to moving me
You guys are the champs
But when that last guitar's been packed away
You know that I still want to play
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano
But the band's on the bus
And they're waiting to go
We've got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago
Or Detroit, I don't know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in the hotel rooms
And wander 'round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came
Now we got country and western on the bus
R and B, we got disco in eight track and cassettes in stereo
We got rural scenes and magazines
We got truckers on the C.B.
We got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
As the miles roll away
But the only time that seem too short
Is the time that we get to play
People you got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait
Or you can pull us through
Come along, sing the song
You know you can't go wrong
'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You're going to wake up in your town
But we'll be scheduled to appear
A thousand miles away from here
10 Stay (03:22)
People stay just a little bit longer
We want to play -- just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don't mind
And the union don't mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song
Oh won't you stay just a little bit longer
Please, please, please say you will
Say you will
Oh won't you stay just a little bit longer
Oh please, please stay just a little bit more
Now the promoter don't mind
And the roadies don't mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song
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