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Jackson Browne Disliked This Hit – Until Therapy Changed His Mind
Jackson Browne's catalog is rife with songs that deal with exigent ideas: life, love, death, and heartbreak. That sentimentality paired with a keen sense of melody making gives Browne his appeal. Naturally, any song that seems to only scrape the surface level might not sit well with the singer-songwriter. In fact, Browne disliked one of his biggest hits for a time because of its, self-proclaimed, meaninglessness.
Well, just a-look at that girlWith the lights comin' up in her eyesShe's got to be somebody's baby
Browne recorded "Somebody's Baby" for the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack. When compared to other Browne classics like "These Days" or "Doctor My Eyes," this track could be considered a little blithe. Browne himself didn't consider this an "important" song.
Despite "Somebody's Baby" finding success, Browne didn't claim it as one of his signature songs. Though his label might've deemed it crazy for Browne to give up this song for the soundtrack, the "unabashed pop" tune wasn't in line with what he was known for.
[RELATED: The 3 Other Songs Jackson Browne Co-Wrote with the Eagles Outside of "Take It Easy"]
"It was not typical of what Jackson writes at all, that song," Co-writer Danny Kortchmar said of "Somebody's Baby." "But because it was for this movie he changed his general approach and came up with this fantastic song. But it's atypical of him – he wasn't sure what to make of it himself."
All the guys on the corner stand back and let her walk on byShe's got to be somebody's babyShe must be somebody's babyShe's got to be somebody's baby, she's so fine
However, Browne's feelings for "Somebody's Baby" changed after a particularly affecting therapy session. The therapist in question told Browne that this track was important. After all, it does concern something everyone can relate to: falling in love and the need to feel wanted.
"You've got it all wrong," Browne's therapist reportedly said to him. "This is about something important. Everybody wants to belong to somebody. Everybody wants to feel loved and this is the most fundamental thing."
Revisit the song, below.
(Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)
What Is Jackson Browne's Net Worth?
What is Jackson Browne's Net Worth?Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter who has a net worth of $50 million. After launching his career in the mid-1960s, Jackson Browne went on to sell over 18 million albums in the United States after having begun his career in the mid-1960s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2007.
Some of his biggest and most well-known singles include:
Browne was born on October 9, 1948 in Heidelberg, Germany. His father, Clyde, was an American serviceman and was stationed there for his job assignment with the "Stars and Stripes" newspaper. He spent his first few years of life in Germany with his father, mother – Beatrice, and his two siblings – Roberta and Edward. Browne also has a much younger sister, Gracie, who was born some years later.
At the age of three, the family moved to Highland Park in Los Angeles. As he grew up, he started becoming interested in music and began singing folk songs in local venues like Ash Grove and The Troubador Club. He attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California, and graduated in 1966.
CareerAfter finishing high school, Brown joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, though he left after a few months to move to New York. He became a writer for Electra Records' publishing company, Nina Music, just before his eighteenth birthday. He would write about various musical events in New York City while also performing as a backup musician for artists like Tim Buckley and Nico of the Velvet Underground. He then returned to Los Angeles in 1968 and formed a folk band. Some of his early songs were released by other artists, like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Nico before he released his own version years later.
In 1971, Brown signed with his manager David Geffen's Asylum Records. In 1972, he released the self-titled record "Jackson Browne." The album was a huge success, with several of its tracks receiving significant radio play. He embarked on a tour with Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell to promote the album.
In 1972, he released his next album, "For Everyman," and then a third, "Late for the Sky," in 1974. This was his most successful album yet, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard album chart.
His fanbase continued to grow as he toured, and he became known for his very personal lyrics, which were set to memorable melodies. This was even more apparent in his next album, "The Pretender," which was released after the untimely death of his first wife. A track inspired by her death, "Here Come Those Tears Again," which he co-wrote with the mother of his deceased wife, peaked at number 23 on the Hot 100.
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His 1977 album, "Running on Empty," became his biggest commercial success yet. The album was unconventional as it was recorded entirely while he was on tour, and it combined live concert performances of new material along with recordings made in hotel rooms and backstage.
In the late 1970s, his music started taking on a more political tone, which tracked with Browne's own growing involvement in activist causes. His 1980 album, "Hold Out," was very successful and became his only number-one record on the U.S. Pop albums chart. His biggest hit, "Somebody's Baby," was released in 1982 as part of the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" soundtrack.
Browne continued steadily releasing successful albums throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. While he was not able to recapture the commercial success he experienced in the 1970s, his core fanbase has remained solid. He has released four albums in the 2000s, including "Downhill from Everywhere" in 2021.
Brown's music has received six Grammy Award nominations. In 2004, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2007, into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Occidental College in Los Angeles named him an Honorary Doctor of Music in 2004 to honor his remarkable career.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Activism and CharityOutside of his musical career, Browne is a devoted environmental activist. He has campaigned against the unnecessary use of plastic and has consciously attempted to reduce the amount of plastic used while he is touring. He is part of the "Plastic Free Backstage" movement. Additionally, he is a founding member of Plastic Pollution and the REFUSE Disposable Plastics Campaign. He founded MUSE, Musicians for Safe Energy, along with Bonnie Raitt and John Hall, in 1979 as part of the anti-nuclear movement in the United States.
He has been involved with Save Our Shores, a California ocean advocacy group. They gave him their Ocean Hero Award in February 2011 to acknowledge his work in environmental and anti-plastic activism. The previous year, he had received the Duke LEAF Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award.
Browne has also performed by himself and with other musicians in various benefit concerts to raise money for causes like environmental disaster relief funds, mental healthcare, scholarships for underprivileged children seeking music lessons, Amnesty International, and the ALS Association, among many others.
Personal LifeIn 1971, Browne began dating actress and model Phyllis Major. The couple had a son together named Ethan in 1973 and then were married in December 1975. Sadly, in March of 1976, Phyllis was found dead in their home from an accidental overdose at the age of 30.
In January of 1981, Browne married Australian model Lynn Sweeney. They had a son together in January of 1982 and then divorced in 1983. Browne immediately began dating actress Daryl Hannah, and they remained together until 1992. Since the mid-1990s, Browne has been in a relationship with artist and environmental activist Dianna Cohen.
Real EstateJackson owns a number of properties around the world, primarily in California. For example, in 2010, he spent $2.7 million to buy a 4,000-square-foot home in Los Angeles. He also owns a rural ranch outside of Aptos, California.
Jackson Browne's most valuable asset is his 100-acre property in the Hollister Ranch community outside of Santa Barbara. He has owned the property since the 1970s. This property is likely worth $10-20 million alone.
All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. When provided, we also incorporate private tips and feedback received from the celebrities or their representatives. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below.
Grammy-nominated Songwriter Making Solo Debut At Tucson Folk Festival
Leslie Mendelson wasn't sure how she landed as one of the headliners of the 39th annual Tucson Folk Festival this weekend.
"I couldn't believe when I saw I was headlining. I'm so honored; that's so cool," she said during a phone call late last month.
The annual Tucson Folk Festival has plenty of activities for children, in addition to the music.
C. Elliott PhotographyThe Brooklyn, New York, Americana singer-songwriter is headlining alongside former Tucsonan Lisa Morales, Native American blues rocker Keith Secola, the newgrass trio Cross-Eyed Possum, Tucson's own Carnivaleros and several others.
Lisa Morales and her band headline the 39th annual Tucson Folk Festival on Saturday, April 6.
Courtesy Tucson Folk FestivalThe festival runs Friday, April 5, through Sunday, April 7, with more than 400 musicians doing 150 performances on six stages downtown, centered around Jácome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave.; Mendelson in set to take the Plaza Stage at 5 p.M. Sunday.
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The annual Tucson Folk Festival brings in a diverse range of Americana musical style from mariachi to rock. The 2024 festival features 150 stage performances with more than 400 musicians.
C. Elliott PhotographyMendelson's music leans more folk-rock than folk acoustic, although her Folk Festival show with her longtime songwriting partner Steve McEwan will feature just the duo on guitars.
"I feel like my stuff is folk-rock, with a hint of country," she explained, summing it up as simply Americana because "I draw from so many influences" including Joni Mitchell, the Beatles and Randy Newman.
Rocker Jackson Browne said the songwriter reminded him of Burt Bacharach and Carole King.
Browne made the comments after he and Mendelson teamed up in 2018 to record her song "A Human Touch" for the "5B" documentary soundtrack.
Mendelson wrote the song with McEwan for the documentary about the world's first AIDS ward established at San Francisco General Hospital in the 1980s.
"Steve is a brilliant writer and Jackson loved it," she recalled. "We got together in New York and we recorded it and it made the movie."
It also sparked a friendship that brought Mendelson to Tucson for the very first time in 2021, when she was touring with Jackson. She opened for Browne when he played the first post-pandemic live show at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall that September, just as live music was starting to come back.
Being Browne's friend has perks aside from touring; last year, Mendelson used Browne's studio to record her forthcoming album, "After the Party," due out June 21.
It is a departure from her 2020 album "If You Can't Say Anything Nice ..."
"That album was dark," she said, describing it as her primal scream at the world.
"Even before the pandemic, the 24-hour news cycle and people dealing with anxiety and depression," she said. "It was my way of talking about those feelings. It was very much of that time and of me wanting to scream and let it all out."
"After the Party" is her exhale as the world emerged from the other side of the pandemic's darkness, isolation and uncertainty.
"I started to feel like I was coming out of this fog and that's what this album feels like, the lifting of the clouds, so to speak," said the Grammy-nominated Mendelson.
She released the album's first single, "Other Girls," on major streaming platforms in mid-March and has a second single queued up in the coming weeks.
"Other Girls," with its infectious melody and driving guitar and percussion, is a full-on pop-rock song — "Yeah I went for it," she says — that draws on women empowering women with a subtle wink-wink to indulging fantasies.
"It felt right," she said of her pop approach. "I could have done it a million ways but when we got into the studio we started playing and it played exactly how it came out; it needed to be a rock song. It had a bit of an edge. The subject matter is edgy. I had something to say and it needed to be said."
"Other Girls" will be on her setlist Sunday along with several other cuts from "After the Party," including "Rock and Roll on the Radio," "The Good Life" and "Keep a Little Light On." She'll also draw from her five other studio albums with a few covers thrown in, including a deconstructed acoustic version of the Pretenders' "Don't Get Me Wrong," before closing her show the with the final cut on "After the Party," the deprecating "I Know A Lot of People," taken from Heath Ledger's famous quote, "I don't have many friends, I just know a lot of people."
"We took it and we kind of flipped it on its head," Mendelson said.
During live performances of the song, she asks if anyone in the audience can whistle, and suddenly "I get like hundreds of people whistling and its the most fun ever," she said. "It's a blast."
If you goWhat: 39th annual Tucson Folk Festival
When: 6-9 p.M. Friday, April 5; noon-9:30 p.M. Saturday, April 6; and 11:30 a.M.-8:30 p.M. Sunday, April 7
Where: Six stages downtown in and around Jácome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave.
Cost: Admission is free
Details: tucsonfolkfest.Org
Ryanhood (from left, Ryan Green and Cameron Hood) headlined the 38th annual Tucson Folk Festival last year. The duo are set to play the Plaza Stage at 5 p.M. Saturday, April 6, at the 39th festival this weekend.
C. Elliott PhotographyJam Pak Blues 'N' Grass Neighborhood Band played the Young Artist Showcase on the Wildflower Stage last year. They are set to perform at 2 p.M. Saturday, April 6, and 11:30 a.M. Sunday, April 7, as part of the 2024 festival.
Courtesy Tucson Folk FestivalSophia Rankin and the Sound tore it up at last year's Tucson Folk Festival. Expect a repeat when they play the North Church stage at 1:30 p.M. Sunday, April 7.
C, Elliott Photography
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