Linda Ronstadt - Rock Me on the Water [HD]+

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Linda Ronstadt sings 'Rock Me on the Water' from her 1972 Capitol album 'Linda Ronstadt'. The lyrics are below with comments about the song and album.

Note: This is a redo of an earlier video for this song. The images of the man in the video are songwriter Jackson Browne.

[Vinyl/15-Images/WAV]

Rock Me on the Water (Singer: Linda Ronstadt)

Oh people look around you
The signs are everywhere
You left him for somebody other than you
To be the one to care

You're lost inside your houses
There's no time to find you now
Oh your walls are burning
And your towers are turning
I've gotta leave you here
And try to get down to the sea somehow

Rock me on the water
Sister won't you soothe my fevered brow
Oh rock me on the water
I'll get down to the sea somehow

The road is filled with homeless souls
Every woman, child and man
Who have no idea where they will go
But they'll help you if they can

Now everyone must have some thought
That's gonna pull them through somehow
Oh the fires are raging hotter and hotter
But the sisters of the sun
Are gonna rock me on the water now

Rock me on the water
Sister won't you soothe my fevered brow
Oh rock me on the water
I'll get down to the sea somehow

Oh people look among you
It's there your hope must lie
There's a seabird above you gliding in one place
Like Jesus in the sky
We all must do the best we can
And then hang onto that gospel cloud
When my life is over
Gonna stand for the father
But the sisters of the sun
Are gonna rock me on the water now

Rock me on the water
Sister won't you soothe my fevered brow
Oh rock me on the water
Then maybe I'll remember
Maybe I'll remember how

Rock me on the water
The wind is with me now
Oh rock me on the water
I'll get down to the sea somehow
I gotta get down to the sea somehow

Songwriter: Jackson Browne
[Lyrics from Musixmatch]

Wikipedia states:

"Rock Me on the Water" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released as the second single from his 1972 debut album, Jackson Browne, following the No. 7 success of Browne's debut single, "Doctor, My Eyes".

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote that Browne was performing the song as early as autumn 1970. "In the songs he was writing shortly before his recording debut in 1972, Jackson Browne continually alluded to apocalyptic events, but never more explicitly than in 'Rock Me...'," he wrote. Browne is documented as saying that the song, with its reference to the "sisters of the sun," pays homage to his real-life sisters.

Browne addressed the gospel and religious issues in the song, saying that "it's not about religion, it's about society." The song is meant to employ gospel language, but, he said, he turns "it around 180 degrees... If you heard even three seconds of it, you would say, 'well, that's gospel,' but you have to have an idea in a gospel song, and if it's not going to be Jesus, then it must at least be salvation. If I say 'when my life is over, I'm going to stand before the father, but the sisters of the sun are going to rock me on the water now' is like a way of, lovingly, and in a friendly way, refuting the traditional and conventional messages of redemption having to do with the straight and narrow... I staked a lot on that song, because it was a combining of that social awareness and paying attention to what's going on around, with the inner search for spiritual meaning."

Linda Ronstadt is the third solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in early 1972 on the Capitol Records label. The album was a sales failure, prompting Linda's exit from Capitol Records. It peaked at #163 on Billboard's Pop Album Chart and #35 on Billboard's Country Album Chart. It is considered to be a front-runner in the country rock music genre.

Before recording the album, Ronstadt hired guitarist Glenn Frey to assemble a touring band; Frey did so with members of drummer Don Henley’s band Shiloh, who were signed to Amos Records at the same time as Frey’s previous band, Longbranch Pennywhistle. The touring band, augmented by pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow and producer John Boylan on guitar, accompanied Ronstadt on six of the album’s ten tracks, including three that were recorded live at The Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood, California during March of 1971. The other members of the original Eagles lineup, guitarist Bernie Leadon and bassist Randy Meisner, appeared on other tracks as session musicians, with Meisner accompanying Ronstadt on backing vocals with the live band on “Birds” and “Rescue Me”.

Frey, Henley, Leadon and Meisner formed the Eagles, with Ronstadt’s approval, after the album’s release. Other notable session musicians on the album include violinist Gib Guilbeau, pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, harmonica [Jimmy Fadden of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band], and Herb Pedersen on guitar, banjo and backing vocals.