Emmylou Harris Lyrics
"For a Dancer"

(Jackson Browne)

Keep a fire burnin' in your eyes
Pay attention to the open skies
You never know what will be comin' down
I don t remember losing track of you
You were always dancin' in and out of view
I must have thought you would always be around.

Always keeping things real by playin' the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found
I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try.

It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
But I can't sing, I can't help listening
I can't help feeling stupid standing around
Crying is the easier down.

'Cause I know that you
Would rather we'd be dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
No matter what fate throws in your way.

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone.

--- Instrumental ---

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
Just as easy it could all disappear.

Along with whatever meaning
You might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around go on
And I make a joyful sound.

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw
Some seeds of your own.

And somewhere between the time
You arrive and the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know...