Going Down To Cuba

Jackson Browne · Time Conqueror [2008]

Sometimes I get to feeling low

Wish I could just pick up and go

Somewhere new, I'd change my point of view

Maybe somewhere I don't know



Toss the idea to and fro

Not sure what makes it come and go

There it is again, sweet music on the wind

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 women wear gardenias in their hair



People will tell you it's not easy

You're not supposed to go, they say

They 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

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 the things you and I know

They do know what to do in a hurricane



Maybe I'll go through Mexico

And old 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 trouble will 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 rum ojito, no, no the mojito

And walk out on the Malecon, the Malecon

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 thrice

It'll put a smile on your face

To see a Chevrolet with a Soviet transmission



Oh, that Mojito, Malecon, yes



I bet the country cast a spell

And there are things I think of still

Like the beauty of that woman that spoke to me

In the Hotel Nacional



I'm gonna book my flight today

I'm definitely on my way

Just hold my place and I'll get back in the race

And I'm back in the USA