Jackson Browne – I Thought I Was a Child

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It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought I knew where I was going until I heard your laughter flowing
And came upon the wisdom in your eyes
Surprise--

I've spent my whole life running 'round
Chasing songs from town to town
Thinking I'd be free so long as I never let love slow me down
So lonely and so wild until you turned and smiled
By now I should have long been gone
But here I am still looking on
As if I didn't know which way to run

It's such a clever innocence with which you show myself to me
As if you know how it feels to never be who you wanted to be
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought that I was free but I'm just one more prisoner of time
Alone within the boundaries of my mind
I thought I was a child


Lyrics submitted by Howard55

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4 Comments

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  • +1
    General CommentThis song is about ME! Every time i hear it, I feel it. At this stage of life... it's as if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free... the young me emerges innocently to certain people... ah... can't explain it...
    Jaws451on November 07, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis song is one of my favorites off the album For Everyman. This guy, kid really, meets this woman who is just perfectly in tune with him. He has always been, maybe, afraid of love or perhaps more accurately afraid of being burned in love and has chased down dream after dream in an attempt to keep moving and stay out of reach of love. But one glance from this woman and he realizes that with the right woman he could see himself and find out where he truly belongs.
    wearydreameron August 18, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI always thought it was interesting that on his first album he has a song that says "I am a child in these hills" and on his second album puts one saying "I thought I was a child", like he's grown a bit since then and re-appraised his previous situation.
    knightwriteron October 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Commentthis song is about his time spent with Bonnie Raitt,
    and has that type of feel where he's never sure about
    love, etc - a lot of his songs cover that territory, as
    do a lot of Neil Young's tunes - with both of them one
    of their main themes, and favorite themes, is the
    inability to keep a lover - also, Bonnie Raitt covers
    this song on one of her albums
    rockboy52on January 15, 2013   Link

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