"For a Rocker" is a 1983 single by Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

. It charted at number eight on the Mainstream Rock Tracks

Mainstream Rock Tracks

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...

 chart. The third single released from his seventh album, Lawyers in Love

Lawyers in Love

Lawyers in Love is the seventh album by American singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1983 . It reached number 8 on the Billboard Pop album chart and number 30 on the Billboard 200. It was Browne's fourth straight Top 10 album and stayed on the charts for 33 weeks. Out of eight tracks,...

, it's also the eighth and last track on it.

The song was something of a departure for Browne, a straight-out uptempo party number: "I got a shirt so unbelievably bright, I'm gonna dig it out and wear it tonight." Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

commented on its apparent attempt to emulate Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

's work, and indeed Browne used it to close out concerts in the arena

Arena

An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...

s he was now playing. This song was written as a tribute to James Honeyman-Scott the guitar player for the Pretenders, who died of heart failure June 16 1982. The reference to Peggy Sue is Jimmy's wife and Jenny is her sister.

Chart positions

Chart (1983)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	45
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks	8