Jackson Browne - For a Dancer (1974) lyrics below

[IcyPeas]

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down

I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must've thought you'd always be around

Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
But I can't sing, I can't help listening

And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying is they ease you down
'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing

Dancing our sorrow away (right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play (there's nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end, there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down

Perhaps a better world is drawing near
Just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found

Don't let the uncertainty turn you around (the world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know

[maptap22]

1. My favorite JB song, next one being Rosie.

[George McGovern]

2. O' Man One of Jackson's best compositions on one of his best albums. Thanks IcyPeas!!