Jackson Browne Reveals Details Of ‘Downhill From Everywhere’ For Noise11.com

Jackson Browne has revealed details of his 15th album ‘Downhill From Everywhere’ in an interview with Noise11.com.

Jackson says, “’Downhill From Everywhere’ is a reference to the fact that the ocean is downhill from everywhere. It is downhill from humanity really. It was a remark made by this oceanographer named Captain Charles Moore, who is the oceanographer who discovered the great Pacific garbage patch. He discovered it by happening to being in the middle of it and realising that he was navigating through a sea of plastic. That song originates from contemplating how many things we do in life and contemplating how many things we are dependent on that generate plastic that eventually winds up in the ocean. Although its not a linear song that you have to pay attention to from the beginning to the end that is what those references are all from that”.

The topic Jackson warns of in ‘Downhill From Everywhere’ is not that different from a similar message he was also telling in 1974’s ‘Before The Deluge’. “There is a thread from ‘Before The Deluge’ and everything,” Jackson tells Noise11.com. “That song was a quasi-prophecy. That song was based on a book called ‘Eco-Catastrophe’ by Dr Paul Erhlich. That was sort of based on speaking after an apocalyptic event. What ‘Eco-Catastophe’ was about the compounding catastrophe’s that lead to the world’s demise. Those compounding catastrophes are taking place now with climate change and the build-up of plastic in our environment and in our bodies. It’s not just that we have plastic in the ocean we have babies being born with plastic in their body because of what has been ingested by the parents. It is a exponential treat what people are doing to the oceans and to the planet in general more than 50 years ago calls into question the survival of human kind on the planet”.

Writing a song about it must be the most glacial response you can have. By the time it takes to write a song, then hear a song and then do something about it … I don’t flatter myself. Its not exactly a call to arms. It is a call to consciousness.

I think the resonance of the title ‘Downhill From Everywhere’ really does speak to what’s happening across the board in the environment and in politics.

Really the threat of nuclear power, the radiation keeps happening for 28,000 years. Whatever we were going to do to contain that threat has not also happened yet but it would have to take time over a long long period of time. I take part in the celebration in the coming month of the nuclear power plant in New York called Indian Point. Every time they finally give up on one of these nuclear plants which was designed to generate electricity of 30 to 40 years, it will take more money than it took to build it to decommission to clear the environment after. Its not a sustainable way of making electricity for business.

‘Downhill From Everywhere’ will be released on July 23, 2021

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