Friday, December 17, 2021

A song about avoiding heartbreak - by getting an artificial heart

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second song on Jackson Browne’s 2021 album, Downhill From Everywhere, is titled My Cleveland Heart. The hilarious YouTube video shows him having his heart replaced by an improbably large mechanical one. I recently saw him perform it on the PBS TV program Austin City Limits. That song’s humorous lyrics begin as follows:

 

“I’m going to make a few changes right away

The way I leap and the way I fall

The way I need somebody else’s eyes to see me

The way I need anyone at all

 

But I expect the real changes to start

When I finally get my Cleveland Heart

They’re made to take a bashin’

And never lose their passion

 

They never break, they don’t even beat

And they don’t ache, they just plug in and shine

Don’t make mistakes, and they don’t know defeat

Like my heart makes, like this broken heart of mine”

 

An image of a broken heart was adapted from a poster for Why Men Leave Home at the Library of Congress.

 


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