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Open Thread: Jackson Browne's 'Going Down To Cuba'

By Alexa

Some smoove for your Monday listening pleasure. This is from Jackson Browne's new Time The Conqueror.

Sometimes I get to feeling low
Wish I could just pick up and go somewhere new
Change my point of view
Maybe somewhere I don't know
Toss the idea to and fro
Not sure what makes it come and go
There it is again: sweet music on the wind
Over the Gulf of Mexico

I'm going to down to Cuba someday soon
Following that Caribbean moon
It's been too long since I've been there
I'm going down to Cuba with my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
Where women wear gardenias in their hair

People will tell you it's not easy
You're not supposed to go, they say
They say that Cuba is the enemy
I'm going down there anyway

I'm going down to Cuba to see my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
No problem is too difficult to solve
Yeah times are tough down there it's true
But you know they're going to make it through
They make such continuous use of the verb to resolve
They've got to deal with that embargo
Enough to drive any country insane
They might not know the things you and I know
They do know what to do in a hurricane
Maybe I'll go through Mexico
Old Jesse Helms don't have to know
Anyway all the allies of the USA
Travel to Cuba everyday

I'm going down to Cuba to see my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
Where by comparison my trouble will just unravel
I'm North American, you know
Don't like to hear where I can't go
Free people will insist on the freedom to travel

I'm going to drink the rum mojito
And walk out on the Malecon
In one hand a Monte Cristo
And in the other an ice cream cone

I'm going down to Cuba with my band
We're going to formulate a plan
Whereby we obtain that cultural permission

If I told you once I told you thrice
It'll put a smile on your face to see a Chevrolet with a Soviet transmission
I bet the country cast a spell
And there are things I think of still
Like the beauty of that woman that spoke to me
In the Hotel Nacional

I'm gonna book my flight today
I'm definitely on my way
Just hold my place and I'll get back in the race
And I'm back in the USA

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on October 04, 2008 (boomark / email).