Lives in the Balance

No, Jackson Browne did not perform "Lives in the Balance" at Levon Helm Studios last night where I sat in the third row. With a discography like Jackson's, he can pick and choose. In addition to classics like "The Pretender," "Late for the Sky," "Doctor My Eyes," "Redneck Friend," and "Running on Empty," Jackson performed songs of The Band with the Midnight Ramble Band and also managed to squeeze in a couple of tunes by Woody Guthrie, Warren Zevon, and Bob Dylan. It was a great set list, and clearly, Jackson was having a good time.

But the show caused me to think back on all the JB concerts I have been fortunate to see. My memory settled on the Vote for Change concert in the fall of 2004. I took two of my kids to that concert (because it's never too early to expose kids to the importance of being politically active). My son was twelve at the time, and I remember him being a little bit off-balance climbing into our nosebleed seats. But after the show, which included performances by John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen, Sam said the song he liked the best was Jackson Browne's "Lives in the Balance." Proud Mama Moment.

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year

Well, yeah. I admit it: I'm an MSNBC junkie. Every day, afraid I am going to miss something, I tune into MSNBC on my computer. I am embarrassed to say that this practice has replaced my former addiction to 24/7 music. I know I need to correct this . . . but I've been waiting for something to happen.

Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

Well, I don't have to explain the lies, do I? And I'm not sure what war we might be drifting toward: North Korea? Iran? Turkey? Russia? Or maybe (arghhhh!) another civil 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

Erik Prince? John Bolton? Hey, is Dick Cheney still around?

There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannon
And there is blood on the wire

(I want to change that one line to There are children at the border.) But yes, there are lives in the balance . . . in so many places, so many ways. This is the world we live in, and although I will admit it has pretty much always been this way, I am more frightened now than I have ever been in my 68 years. Jackson wrote "Lives in the Balance" in 1986. Thirty-two years later, there are still lives in the balance.

Jackson's opening number last night was "Before the Deluge." Released in 1974 (OMG, 44 years ago?), the song, according to Rolling Stone, was "a moving secular prayer for music, shelter, and spiritual sustenance." What else could one ask for?

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Thank you for that, Jackson.