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Jamaica, Say You Will Lyrics
Jamaica was the lovely one, I played her well
As we lay in the tall grass where the shadows fell
Hiding from the children so they would not tell
We would stay there 'till her sister rang the evening bell
Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these empty hours
Say you will come again tomorrow
The daughter of a captain on the rolling seas
She would stare across the water from the trees
Last time he was home he held her on his knees
And said the next time they would sail away just where they pleased
Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these lifeless sails
And stay until my ships can find the sea
Jamaica was a sweet young one, I loved her true
She was a comfort and a mercy through and through
Hiding from this world together, next thing I knew
We had brought her things down to the bay -- what could I do
Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these sails
And we will sail until our waters have run dry
As we lay in the tall grass where the shadows fell
Hiding from the children so they would not tell
We would stay there 'till her sister rang the evening bell
Help me find a way to fill these empty hours
Say you will come again tomorrow
She would stare across the water from the trees
Last time he was home he held her on his knees
And said the next time they would sail away just where they pleased
Help me find a way to fill these lifeless sails
And stay until my ships can find the sea
She was a comfort and a mercy through and through
Hiding from this world together, next thing I knew
We had brought her things down to the bay -- what could I do
Help me find a way to fill these sails
And we will sail until our waters have run dry
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When you see him play this when he's younger, it looks like she's someone he cared for in his youth (younger years). Before the models and Darryl Hannah! :)
I have thought that same thing - summer love, young love, vacation love. Probably Jamaica is not her name, but a family vacation trip that they took.
It would be fun to know that you were the one that had a fling with him when you were younger, and he wrote one of his first songs to you!
It's a great song - he does look so young there. I have loved growing up to JB and also seeing him grow and mature over the years. Also, David Lindley. Their "marriage" is just too cute. Once Jackson performed live on TV and he wore a David Lindley T-Shirt under his jacket. They've probably had a better relationship over the decades when most male/female relationships, hehe.
@parismatch I know Jackson Browne. He was never into men the way you are insinuating.
@parismatch I know Jackson Browne. He was never into men the way you are insinuating.
It's my favorite. Just sad that people you love go away. It seems straight forward... just love it.
I also love this song. I came across it while watching a episode of "The Wonder Years." I seems like the perfect summer love song. I just sit back and listen to:
"Jamaica, say you will Help me find a way to fill these empty hours Say you will come again tomorrow"
Summer love... vacation love... that sort of thing??
Here are JB's own words about the song: “I wrote that song for a girl I was seeing who lived nearby the ocean. She worked for this old Italian guy in a garden. An organic vegetable farm overlooking Zuma Beach. And I used to go visit her. And it was a pretty idyllic time. She was very beautiful, and ideologically she was into yoga and vegetarianism and organic gardening. I was really crazy about her, but I wasn’t into any of those things. And I’d go hang with her and she’d pick figs and I’d feel transported into some sort of Maxfield Parrish landscape – that sort of dry fig orchard with this very beautiful girl. I wrote this song for her. It was sort of a metaphor. Later I realized that that song really wasn’t really about her. As much as she inspired me, what I was really talking about was a relationship which I’d concluded a few months before, and which had been going on for two or three years. She was really drawn to an adult world and I just wanted to stay indoors and make love. So the song’s about a girl who’s going to sail away with her father and go into the world, and a guy who wants to stay there in that idyllic world.”
Jamaica is the song of his piano. Its a song about his piano.