Today’s classic singer/songwriter song of the day is “Jamaica Say You Will” by Jackson Browne. This song was the first track on his self-titled 1971 debut album and immediately established Mr. Browne as a force to be reckoned with.
Jackson Browne wrote “Jamaica Say You Will” during the fall of 1969. He recorded a demo of the song in February of 1970, with backing vocals by with Glenn Frey, Ned Doheny, and JD Souther. That demo got the attention of record business executive David Geffen, who promptly signed Mr. Browne to a management deal and eventually founded his own record label, Asylum Records, specifically for Browne. In many says, “Jamaica Say You Will” was Jackson Browne’s calling card or proof of concept into the music business.
Browne wasn’t the first to record “Jamaica Say You Will,” however. That honor went to the Byrds, who included it on their 1971 album, Byrdmaniax, with vocals by Clarence White. It’s a highlight of that album.
“Jamaica Say You Will” is about a man’s relationship with a woman named Jamaica, the daughter of a ship’s captain, who loses her when she decides to sail away with her father to explore the world. Browne viewed the song as a bit of a modern-day fable:
“I thought I was kind of writing it for this girl I knew that worked in a garden in Zuma Beach, across the street from the Pacific Ocean, and she worked in this organic food orchard, like the Garden of Eden, and she was the kind of Eden-like girl, too. When I created the fable of this girl who lived by the sea and whose father is a captain, and eventually she would be taken away and go sailing off, I wanted to hide in the relationship. I wanted to sort of have the cocoon of this relationship to just stay sort of insulated from the world. And she was ready to move out into the world and was… you know, the relationship had broken up. That’s the … reality that was going on in my life. I just think it’s odd that that’s exactly how songs come into being, but if you feel it, it’s about something.”
It’s a beautiful song with gorgeous harmonies, full of longing and regret. Musicians on the track include the Byrds’ Clarence White on acoustic guitar, Lee Sklar on bass, and Russ Kunkel on drums. Mr. Brown himself played piano.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Jackson Browne performing “Jamaica Say You Will” solo on the the February 5, 1972, episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test. He was a fine songwriter, indeed.
