ROCK MOMENT – Jackson Browne “These Days”
Jackson Browne’s “These Days” sounds like the work of someone looking back over a long life filled with regrets. Remarkably, Browne began writing the song when he was only 16 years old.
Written around 1964, the deeply reflective song revealed Browne’s extraordinary maturity as a young songwriter. Its themes of missed opportunities, lost love and personal failure would eventually become trademarks of his writing. Rather than offering easy answers, “These Days” captures the quiet moments when people replay the choices they have made and wonder what might have been.
Browne was still establishing himself as a songwriter when Nico became the first artist to release “These Days.” Her version appeared on her 1967 album Chelsea Girl. Browne played the distinctive fingerpicked electric-guitar part on the recording, while producer Tom Wilson added strings and flute. Nico reportedly disliked those orchestral additions, but her distant, melancholy vocal helped turn the song into one of the album’s most memorable performances.
Several other artists recorded “These Days” before Browne released his own version, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Tom Rush. Gregg Allman also recorded a soulful interpretation for his 1973 debut solo album, Laid Back. Allman slowed the song down and brought out its Southern soul and gospel qualities.
Browne admired Allman’s recording and later acknowledged that it influenced the arrangement he created for his own version. Browne finally released “These Days” on his second album, For Everyman, in October 1973. His recording featured a beautifully restrained arrangement, highlighted by David Lindley’s mournful slide guitar, Jim Keltner’s drums and David Paich’s piano. Browne’s understated vocal makes the song feel less like a dramatic confession and more like a private conversation.
Although “These Days” was never released as a major hit single, it gradually became one of Browne’s most respected compositions. Its reputation grew through the recordings by Nico, Allman and numerous other performers. Nico’s version found an entirely new audience when it was featured during a memorable scene in Wes Anderson’s 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums.
More than six decades after it was written, “These Days” remains powerful because its emotions are universal. It is a song about regret, but also about continuing to move forward—even while carrying the memory of opportunities that have slipped away.
