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27 Aug 06 - 01:18 PM (#1820042) Subject: Lyr Add: LIVES IN THE BALANCE (Jackson Browne) From: Genie I've recently been hearing a portion of this song -- the last verse and chorus -- played on Thom Hartmann's talk radio program, and I thought it was contemporary, since it seems to fit our current (US and Britain) state of affairs so well. But it seems things haven't changed all that much in recent decades, and the song is from a 1986 album with the same title. I think this one's worth resurrecting. Genie LIVES IN THE BALANCE (Jackson Browne, 1986) I've been waiting for something to happen For a week or a month or a year, With the blood in the ink of the headlines And the sound of the crowd in my ear. You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you've seen it before, Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to war. And there's a shadow on the faces Of the men who send the guns To the wars that are fought in places Where their business interest runs. On the radio talk shows and the TV You hear one thing again and again, How the USA stands for freedom And we come to the aid of a friend, But who are the ones that we call our friends-- These governments killing their own Or the people who finally can't take any more And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone? There are lives in the balance, There are people under fire, There are children at the cannons And there is blood on the wire. There's a shadow on the faces Of the men who fan the flames Of the wars that are fought in places Where we can't even say the names. They sell us the President the same way They sell us our clothes and our cars. They sell us everything from youth to religion The same time they sell us our wars. I want to know who the men in the shadows are. I want to hear somebody asking them why They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are But they're never the ones to fight or to die. And there are lives in the balance, There are people under fire, There are children at the cannons And there is blood on the wire. |
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27 Aug 06 - 01:34 PM (#1820053) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lives In The Balance / Jackson Browne From: Little Hawk Another brilliant song from Jackson Browne. He wrote some of the finest protest songs ever heard in the 1980's, but it went right by most people I guess. That song is even more relevant now than it was then. |
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27 Aug 06 - 02:37 PM (#1820098) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lives In The Balance / Jackson Browne From: Genie So right, Hawk. You can download a video of Jackson Browne singing Lives In The Balance here: http://video.jacksonbrowne.com/lives/mov . You can also hear clips of it at Jackson Browne's website and at www.itunes.com It is on his album "The Next Voice You Hear - The Best Of Jackson Browne" - a really good buy (15 of his best-loved songs) in addition to the "Lives In the Balance" CD. |
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28 Aug 06 - 09:31 AM (#1820670) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lives In The Balance / Jackson Browne From: ranger1 I have this album, the whole album doesn't have a bad song on it. Unfortunately, I no longer have a turntable so I haven't been able to listen to it for a very long time. |
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28 Aug 06 - 11:38 AM (#1820746) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lives In The Balance / Jackson Browne From: Genie I PM'd you about the album, ranger. Meanwhile, check out the video on Jackson Browne's website. Also, people can buy the songs individually at www.itunes.com for 99 cents each. |
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25 Mar 08 - 10:16 AM (#2297223) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lives in the Balance (Jackson Browne) From: Genie The older link to Jackson Browne's website doesn't work now, but I found a very powerful video montage set to his ""Lives In The Balance" at YouTube. The montage uses images from a number of wars and conflict areas, including Viet Nam, Iraq, and, I think, Darfur, but a lot of the focus is on the current US occupation of Iraq. |