Post-sixties klassieker du jour: The Pretender

Jackson Browne wordt vaak geassocieerd met The Eagles, wat in hippe kringen al héél lang niet meer als een compliment geldt. Ik heb altijd een zwak gehad voor deze troubadour uit Los Angeles, al geef ik meteen toe dat zijn oeuvre wat onevenwichtig is. Sommige songs zijn typerend voor de softrock waar Los Angeles in de jaren ’70 – terecht – zo berucht om was, maar als Jackson Browne goed is, is hij ook écht goed. Zoals bijvoorbeeld in deze bijna ‘Springsteeneske’ klaagzang over de teloorgang van de idealen van de sixties en de opkomst van de yuppies: And believe in whatever may lie/In those things that money can buy/Though true love could have been a contender.

I’m going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down

[Chorus]And when the morning light
Comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again

Amen

[Verse 2]I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening?
I’ve been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye

[Chorus]And when the morning light
Comes streaming in
You’ll get up and do it again
Amen

[Verse 3]Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing
And the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor

[Verse 4]Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there

[Verse 5]Ah the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight

[Verse 6]I’m going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we’ll fill in the missing colors
In each other’s paint-by-number dreams
And then we’ll put our dark glasses on
And we’ll make love until our strength is gone

[Chorus]And when the morning light
Comes streaming in
We’ll get up and do it again
Get it up again

[Verse 7]I’m gonna be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender

[Bridge]Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender

[Outro]Say a prayer
For the pretender
Are you there
For the pretender?
Say a prayer
For the pretender
Oh, are you there
For the pretender?
Are you prepared
For the pretender?

Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Klaus Hiltsher – https://www.flickr.com/photos/khiltscher/3468454713/sizes/o/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11226976