2003 /\ --- Market @east of Golden Gate, looking south west --- \/ 196?

Credit: San Francisco Public Library


GOING DOWN TO CUBA
by Jackson Browne

Sometimes I get to feeling low
I wish I could just pick up and go
Somewhere new might change my point of view
Or maybe somebody - I don't know
I toss the idea to and fro
Not sure what makes it come and go
But there it is again, sweet music on the wind
From over the Gulf of Mexico

I'm going down to Cuba someday soon
Following that Caribbean moon
It's been too long since I've been there
I'm going down there to see my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
Where the women wear gardenias in their hair

People will tell you it's not easy
You're not supposed to go, they say
They'll say that Cuba is the enemy
I'm going down there anyway

I'm going down to Cuba to see my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
And no problem is too difficult to solve
Yeah, times are tough down there, it's true
But you know they're going to make it through
They make such continuous use of the verb "to resolve"

They've got to deal with that embargo
Enough to drive any country insane
They might not know all the freedoms you and I know
But they do know what to do in a hurricane

Maybe I'll go through Mexico
And Jesse Helms don't have to know
Anyway, all the allies of the USA
Travel to Cuba everyday

I'm going down to Cuba to see my friends
Down where the rhythm never ends
Where by comparison my troubles just unravel
I'm North American you know
Don't like to hear where I can't go
Free people will insist on the freedom to travel
I'm going to drink the ron añejo
And walk out on the Malecón
In one hand a Monte Cristo
And in the other an ice cream cone

I'm going down to Cuba with my band
We're going to formulate a plan
Whereby we obtain that "cultural" permission
If I told you once, I told you trés
It'll put a smile on your face
To see a Chevrolet with a Soviet transmission

Ah but the country casts a spell
And there are things I think of still
Like the beauty of that woman who spoke to me
In the Hotel Nacional

I'm going to book my flight today
I am definitely on my way
Just hold my place and I'll get back in the race
When I'm back in the USA