Song · Jackson Browne
“Fountain Of Sorrow” by Jackson Browne
From the album Late for the Sky (1974)
“Fountain Of Sorrow” by Jackson Browne appears on 7 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1976 and 2020. It was first released in 1974 on the album Late for the Sky. Its best result is #43 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1976). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,724 alternative song of all time.
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"Fountain of Sorrow" is the wide, rolling centerpiece of Jackson Browne's 1974 album Late for the Sky, nearly seven minutes long and the longest song he'd released up to then. It went out as the album's second single with two minutes cut, and still missed the Hot 100, but the full version is the one that matters.
It's a relationship song, widely assumed to be about his short romance with Joni Mitchell, and Browne sings it with rueful tenderness rather than bitterness. David Lindley's slide guitar and fiddle weave around Browne's piano and Jai Winding's organ, with Doug Haywood on bass and Larry Zack on drums. Browne produced with Al Schmitt. Critics heard in it the mood of a whole generation coming down after Vietnam and Nixon.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 43 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1976) | 50 |
| 2001 | 1593 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 255 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 691 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 424 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2014 | 388 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2020 | 355 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
Also listed as: Fountain of Sorrow.
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