Jackson Browne aims to leave
audiences satisfied while standing
firm on expressing political views

These days, more often than he cares to admit, Jackson Browne wonders whether people listen to the words of his songs or simply enjoy the pleasant melodies.

Browne used to worry that focusing more on political themes as he matured rather than sharing deeply personal lyrics about life and love, failure and joy, would alienate fans.

That's not to say he let up. Browne still wrote and sang politically charged songs but still seems not to want to disappoint fans, "and it has nothing to do with (album) sales."

"It seems a lot of people -- well, some people -- who go to my concerts or buy my records and separate the political from the personal; they choose one over the other," Browne said in a Los Angeles phone interview. "People have told me they like the personal songs rather than the political. And I don't want to be someone who lectures people, whether they're fans or not.

"But political things have always resonated importantly for me. I think now in my career it's more prominent than the personal, which I still sing and I write about. Somewhere, politics became a very intense part of my life."

Perhaps because of the political climate and certainly because what Browne's music has always represented, there seems to be a change in the air.

"I was performing recently when a black woman stood up and shouted at me that she wanted to hear something political," Browne said. "I wasn't prepared, but she was adamant. So I said I'll play these songs for her because no one ever does what she does."

Following a concert in Arizona, a Hispanic woman wrote Browne to ask why he didn't sing "Lives in the Balance."

"I called her to talk," Browne said. "She explained why it was important to her. She came from Central America and said I was the only artist who had described something that is a major factor in her life. It never occurred to her I wouldn't sing it."

BROWNE HAS always been an artist of social and personal conscience. He may have sacrificed album sales to send a message but "I can't change who I am -- well, not by much," he said, laughing.

Browne doesn't do many interviews. Though he doesn't verbalize it, Browne gives the impression that he doesn't care to waste time talking to someone who doesn't at least know his music. The major reason Browne avoids interviews is that he shares a lot of intimate feelings.

"I'm not good at holding back," he said. "If I trust someone, I share. I like hearing other people's feelings, too; I like them hearing mine. We sorta compare notes."

Over the course of three decades Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music. His songs defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics.

Last year, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an induction speech by Bruce Springsteen and awarded a doctorate degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, his father's alma mater.

"I am so honored because it's where my father attended and my grandfather was the school's printer," Browne said. "But maybe the coolest thing about the doctorate is I really didn't go to college. I sidestepped it and went on to do what I could and learn on my own."

Browne's musician father, mother and sister were all politically aware. As a young man, he noted the issues of the times: the Vietnam war and civil rights in particular.

"Watching my mom and sister, the idea came to me that you can make a difference and to take a responsibility for what the world is," he said.

Browne quickly backtracks.

"Did I say, 'Take responsibility for what the world is?' " he said. "Well that's pretty major."

One of his biggest obstacles early on artistically was figuring out how to use the words to have political overtones and still be music.

"I couldn't do it for a long time," he said. "I would go to a rally or demonstration and be asked to sing and would only have a couple of songs that were vaguely political (like) 'For Everyman' and 'Before the Deluge.' I think they had some bearing."

THEN BROWNE did "Lives in the Balance," and he learned that "some people are allergic to stuff like this."

Songs on the album questioned American imperialism, its foreign policy and the state of the country's dream. It was staunchly anti-war and shows how embittered Browne is by the sense of ironic betrayal that characterized political songwriting during the Nixon years.

"Some looked at it as being preached to or being contacted by an overdue bill company," he said.

Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn, at the time, said the album was "more of a speech than songs. Some lyrics make me cringe."

"I thought it was a speech someone should make," Browne said. "I was sharing deeply held convictions. I guess I made him feel uncomfortable. All I wrote was that I was born and raised in American and put in the service of my country with its true ideals.

"Now the country is run by people who won't stop waving the flag and who taunt their belief in America. It's really the liberals who simply don't have the stomach for standing up and repeating this patriotic theme over and over, even though I think what they're working for in their lives is very patriotic.

"Challenging the status quo isn't disloyal."

IT WAS Jack Johnson who invited Browne onto his festival bill.

"I met Jack before I heard him play," said Browne, who met the musician over dinner with former North Shore lifeguard Mark Cunningham. "Jack told me he played a little ...

"This was before he got famous, and when I went to see Ben Harper, Jack was opening. Later, he reminded me we had met at dinner and I said 'Uh, yes, I remember, far out.' "

The two musicians have performed together twice since, including a Ventura, Calif., fund-raising concert to preserve the beach community's hillsides and a Vote for Change event in Arizona.