50 for 50: Jackson and Warren

It’s been a while since I’ve tried one of these, but as I believe I said earlier, I’m trying to stretch the 50th birthday celebration over an entire year. Why, just last week, I celebrated by having an endoscopy and colonoscopy – on the same day! How many people can say that?

But in any event – I could easily come up with 50 each for both of these artists, two of my main men, but they’ve been inextricably linked in my mind ever since Bruce Springsteen’s speech inducting Jackson into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For those who don’t remember:

"The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, they gave us California as paradise and Jackson Browne gave us Paradise Lost. Now I always imagine, what if Brian Wilson, long after he'd taken a bite of that orange the serpent offered to him, what if he married that nice girl in Caroline No, I always figured that she was pregnant anyway, and what if he moved into the valley and had two sons? One of them would have looked and sounded just like Jackson Browne. Cain, of course, would have been Jackson's brother in arms, Warren Zevon. We love ya, Warren. But, Jackson to me, Jackson was always the tempered voice of Abel. Toiling in the vineyards, here to bear the earthly burdens, confronting the impossibility of love, here to do his father's work. Jackson's work was really California pop gospel."
So – and this one was hard, and I could change my mind within 10 minutes – here are the Top 50 songs by Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon, split right down the middle – 25 each.

50. Lawyers in Love (Jackson)
49. Gorilla, You’re A Desperado (Warren)
48. The Night Inside Me (Jackson)
47. Looking East (Jackson)
46. Shaky Town (Jackson)
45. Prison Grove (Warren)
44. Let Nothing Come Between You (Warren)
43. The Road and the Sky (Jackson)
42. Boom Boom Mancini (Warren)
41. Love Needs A Heart (Jackson)
40. Genius (Warren)
39. Splendid Isolation (Warren)
38. My Stunning Mystery Companion (Jackson)
37. Play It All Night Long (Warren)
36. Too Many Angels (Jackson)
35. Disorder in the House (Warren)
34. Ain’t That Pretty At All (Warren)
33. I Am A Patriot (Jackson)
32. For America (Jackson)
31. My Shit’s Fucked Up (Warren)
30. For A Dancer (Jackson)
29. Mohammed’s Radio (Warren)
28. The Naked Ride Home (Jackson)
27. Doctor My Eyes (Jackson)
26. Porcelain Monkey (Warren)
25. Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren)
24. Finishing Touches (Warren)
23. Before the Deluge (Jackson)
22. Fountain of Sorrow (Jackson)
21. Werewolves of London (Warren)
20. Sentimental Hygiene (Warren)
19. Alive in the World (Jackson)
18. Back in the High Life Again (Warren)
17. Detox Mansion (Warren)
16. The Load Out/Stay (Jackson)
15. For Everyman (Jackson)
14. Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner (Warren)
13. Redneck Friend (Jackson)
12. The Indifference of Heaven (Warren)
11. The Pretender (Jackson)
10. My Ride’s Here (Warren)
9. Sky Blue and Black (Jackson)
8. Your Bright Baby Blues (Jackson)
7. Carmelita (Warren)
6. Late for the Sky (Jackson)
5. Desperados Under the Eaves (Warren)
4. In the Shape of a Heart (Jackson)
3. I Was In the House When the House Burned Down (Warren)
2. Lawyers, Guns and Money (Warren)
1. Running on Empty (Jackson)