"[Jackson] Browne had approved [Wes] Anderson's use of 'These Days,' but had forgotten about it completely by the time he bought a ticket..."

"... to see it at his local theater. 'When the scene started and the song came on, I thought, "Wow, I used to play just like that,"' Browne said, laughing. 'Then I realized it was me. I think the song had already taken on a life of its own, but it was definitely amplified by that movie.'"

From "The Song That Connects Jackson Browne, Nico and Margot Tenenbaum/Browne wrote 'These Days' at 16. Now 75, he and some famous admirers reflect on his unexpected mainstay: 'If a song is worth anything, it’s about the life of the listener.'" (NYT).

Here's that scene from "The Royal Tenenbaums":

 

The song, written when Browne was 16, seems to be from the point of view of someone who's lived through many phases of life. It ends: "Please don’t confront me with my failures/I had not forgotten them."

The article quotes Jimmie Fadden, "a co-founder of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band — which Browne briefly joined": "I don’t know what his failures were at that time — maybe it was his report card, or school credits or the authorities at Sunny Hills coming down hard on him. All these years later, it’s a perfect song for any of us in our 70s.”

Andrew Rosenthal, the NYT editorial page editor, "runs the show and is lazy as all get-out."

According to a NYT writer, quoted in a NY Observer piece titled "The Tyranny and Lethargy of the Times Editorial Page/Reporters in 'semi-open revolt' against Andrew Rosenthal." The Observer pauses to say "one can almost hear the Times-ness in his controlled anger (who but a Timesman uses the phrase 'as all get-out' these days?)" and that riff on language derails me from the substance of the article.

I mean, I nearly got sidetracked earlier this morning, when I was writing about Justice Scalia's remarks — about the way judges inactivate themselves in times of war — into riffing on his use of "whatnot." Talking about WWII, he'd said, "the panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and whatnot." Whatnot! Who talks like that?

Sting, "Girl from the North Country"... Mark Knopfler – "Restless Farewell"...

Jackson Browne, "Love Minus Zero/No Limit
"...  Bryan Ferry, "Bob Dylan’s Dream"... Carly Simon, "Just Like a Woman
"... Bad Religion, "It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue"... My Chemical Romance, "Desolation Row"... Ke$ha, "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
... Taj Mahal, "Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream"... Dave Matthews Band, "All Along the Watchtower"... Kris Kristofferson, "Quinn The Eskimo"... Eric Burdon, "Gotta Serve Somebody"... Marianne Faithful, "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"... Pete Seeger, "Forever Young"...

The full list. The one I'd be most interested in hearing? Oddly enough, it's Taj Mahal doing "Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream"... which just by chance is kind of Thanksgiving-appropriate:

I was riding on the Mayflower
When I thought I spied some land...
“I think I’ll call it America”
I said as we hit land
I took a deep breath
I fell down, I could not stand

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Here at Meadhouse, it's pre-dawn and we're eating pancakes. (We just invented peanut butter pancakes.) I'd give you an Amazon link for that Bob Dylan cover songs album so you could buy it, but it's not available yet. Feel free to buy something else at Amazon. For example, here's Taj Mahal album I really like. Listen to the title track.