Although of course I remember the encounter vividly, I was extremely unsure when it exactly happened. The extent of my uncertainty is shown by this: the only way for me to tie down the date was to look back through my diaries for each year in turn, & I started off with 2006, '07 & '08 because I guessed it had happened in one of those three. But as it turns out it was longer ago than I thought (the value of keeping good records !), in 2004 - Thursday 21st of October in fact at about 15.00 hrs, that I, improbable as it seems, met Jackson Browne. I recorded it in my diary in the following words, which now seem extraordinarily laconic for such an unlikely & significant occurrence, but which will do as well as any other way:
21 Thursday
15.00 ran into Jackson Browne outside Track
Those who know me will confirm that I lead a very retired & sedentary life, like Descartes & Montaigne; I rarely go anywhere or do anything, & am a creature of routine; which makes it all the more unaccountable that I of all people should meet someone like Jackson Browne, a famous musician who comes from & lives in another country, almost a separate planet. How it came about was as follows:
That Thursday was my day off, & I was coming back from my usual walk along the river. I turned into High Ousegate, where at the time was a well-known independent record shop called Track Records (long since closed, killed off by the Internet). Track had spinners of cds to browse in their doorway, & as I turned into the street I saw a figure browsing those spinners who I realised with a shock was very possibly, of all people in the world on a humdrum autumn afternoon in York, Jackson Browne. You see, I knew he was playing in York round about this time, and, thinking about it, what could be more natural for a musician to do on the afternoon before the gig than to have a mooch in some record shops ? Anyway, the figure went into the shop. Without stopping to consider, I went up to the doorway of the shop & peeped in to see if I could get a better view of the person. I had a clear view; it was indeed more than likely Jackson Browne in the flesh. (I identified him from old footage I'd seen from The Old Grey Whistle Test, & I suppose photos I'd seen in music magazines over the years.)
So, there he was at the counter in the shop either buying something or just chatting to the staff. I was in a quandary, & had to make up my mind fast. How exactly do you accost someone so randomly ? I felt very English all of a sudden. I didn't want to bother him. Would it annoy him ? Would he find it intrusive ? Had I even got the right person ? What decided me was, this chance was presenting itself to me, & I had to take it now or lose it forever. So I waited excitedly outside the shop until he came out.
When he did so, I stopped him and mumbled in the best English manner,"I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but are you Jackson Browne?" He said "Yes, I am !", & I put my hand out & we shook hands. My heart was beating wildly. I had a great rush of adrenalin. At the time I couldn't account for this. Later, as I thought about it, I realised why it was. I can't remember what we talked about particularly. We stood there, in High Ousegate, Thursday afternoon outside Track for about 5 minutes. He asked me what were my favourite albums of his - now, as it happens I hardly know Jackson Browne's music at all, then or now - so I said the one I do know, Saturate Before Using, one of his early ones (whose title has always puzzled me - it's evidently a reference I don't get). He seemed a bit vexed, I'm not sure about this but I think so, that I was as it were 'stuck' in his early work; that often annoys song-writers, they feel the audience is restricting them in a nostalgic way which is oppressive to them, not allowing them to age, change, grow. He asked me if I was coming to the concert that night. I answered firmly that I wasn't; in those days public events of any kind terrified me. And that was that. We shook hands again & parted, he back into the rest of his life, & me likewise. All in all he was gracious, friendly & down-to-earth. In fact I was a little taken aback that he was quite small & thin, an ordinary size; he ought to have been gigantic.
As I walked home, I was puzzled myself as to why I was so blown away by meeting him. Surely it wasn't just because (to people with taste in music like mine anyway) he was famous ? As I teased it out, I realised there were four principle reasons, all to do with the complex subject of the memories music lays down involuntarily as we progress through life & then evokes later.
The first was not so much to do with Jackson Browne himself, but the milieu of song-writers of which he is a part, many of whom are great favourites, even heroes, of mine. Encountering him in real life was like meeting a living link with Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Joan Baez & all the California early-70s crowd, it was almost like meeting them all embodied in him, he was somehow a conduit or channel for them. That's how I excitedly put it to myself, hardly able to believe that I really had met him: "He's met David Crosby !" As a very young man, Jackson as I knew was involved with The Factory in New York as well before he moved back to California, so he was a link to all of that powerful medicine as well.
The second reason is to do with the song I am listening to as I write this. When I was 15, starting to play guitar & absorbing styles from those players I knew, I had a friend called Ange who played guitar & had a beautiful voice. She must have introduced me to Jackson Browne's music because she used to sing a song I thought was called Morocco, because that word occurs prominently in the chorus, but is in fact called Something Fine & is on Saturate Before Using. It's a haunting song, & her version was too.
The third reason is to do with how I learned to play the guitar. My eldest brother JP is a player, & he showed me a few chords & above all barre chords. Then I got one of those thin guitar-case chord books (I still have it, the same one) to further my education. One major method I had of teaching myself was to get scores out of the Central Library. If you think about it, only scores where I knew the music in the first place (since I can't sight-read) & were simple enough for me to have a chance of playing them were of any use to me - & of course my choice was limited by what the library had on offer. They had a copy of the music for Saturate Before Using (other invaluable ones were of The Wall & The Final Cut by Pink Floyd), & I ploughed through it, playing what I could. So, as it turns out, Jackson Browne was unwittingly one of my major guitar teachers. That deep innocent thrill of playing something that sounds even remotely, however stumblingly, like what's coming out of the speakers, what's coming off the record ! And they were records or tapes in those days; this took place in the second half of the 80s.
The fourth reason is that Jackson's song Late For the Sky is used by Martin Scorsese as the soundtrack to a very powerful scene in Taxi Driver. It's quite late on in the film, & Travis is just sat in his small apartment watching television. There's a pop programme on, with teenagers dancing to Late for the Sky. Their carefree enjoyment forms an awful contrast with Travis' isolation as he watches, & you can see the pain, anger & loneliness in his face. Late for the Sky is a very poignant song to start off with; its use in this scene heightens the effect both of it & the scene itself greatly. I used to be obsessed with Taxi Driver. The first 3-quarters of the film, before Travis goes completely nuts, I related to very strongly indeed, in a way that's hard to convey or recapture once it's gone, which it has. I used to have a big Taxi Driver poster showing Travis walking up the street towards the camera, which I loved, in my kitchen; and I always thought it was a good & healthy thing when I took it down & put it away. So meeting Jackson himself brought up in an instant all those powerful forgotten feelings associated with Taxi Driver.
It was a power moment, no doubt about it.
Written & proofed to the accompaniment of Saturate Before Using.
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