Late for the Sky

A blogger friend of mine usually takes a month out of the year to post a poem almost every day.  I've thought that was a good idea and toyed around with it.  I thought I would try something similar by posting a song every day.  I will probably post some of mine, but it'll be mostly songs that have meant a lot to me throughout my adult life.  Some may be more well know, but frankly, most of my favs are more obscure.   I mean you have probably heard of Jackson Browne, but unless you are of a certain age (over 50 more than likely) there won't be many of his tunes that sound terribly familiar.  

I'd like to start with the title song to one of my all time favorite albums - Late for the Sky.  It is a broken heart song, a song of longing and passion, a song about trying to forgive yourself for a relationship that could have worked out - should have worked out, but didn't.  

Part of the reason songs become our favorites is the people and times and places associated with them.  My old buddy Bobby Joe Taylor turned me on to this song and Jackson Browne.  I can remember sitting in his dorm room, on the edge of his water bed, listening to this on his Phillips turntable.  Bob turned me on to lots of music.  In a way, he taught me how to listen to music.  Deeply.  Seriously (sometimes).  He taught me to feel it.  This is a song to really feel.

Old Bob didn't make it out alive.  And when I hear it I think of that silly lopsided grin and the girl who broke both of our hearts.



Late for the Sky


The words had all been spoken 
And somehow the feeling still wasn't right 
And still we continued on through the night 
Tracing our steps from the beginning 
Until they vanished into the air 
Trying to understand how our lives had led us there 

Looking hard into your eyes 
The was nobody I'd ever known 
Such an empty surprise to feel so alone 

Now for me some words come easy 
But I know that they don't mean that much 
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch 
You never knew what I loved in you 
I don't know what you loved in me 
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be 

Awake again, I can't pretend, and I know I'm alone 
And close to the end of the feeling we've known 
How long have I been sleeping 
How long have I been drifting alone through the night 
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right 
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might 
To be the one you need 

Awake again, I can't pretend, and I know I'm alone 
And close to the end of the feeling we've known 
How long have I been sleeping 
How long have I been driftin alone through the night 
How long have I been running for that morning flight 
Through the whispered promises and the changing light 
Of the bed where we both lie 
Late for the sky