It is the third track on his self-titled debut album, Jackson Browne, released in 1972.
On the surface it tells of the mournful memory of a friend of Browne's, Adam Saylor, who died in 1968, possibly by suicide.
Wordplay and themes in the lyrics make allusions to mankind and Browne's place in this lost mankind, playing off of the name "Adam" and its religious connotations, and the use of candle as a metaphor for life's journey: "Now the story's told that Adam jumped, but I'm thinking that he fell..." Instrumentally, it contains a soft acoustic guitar part interlaced throughout by a viola line.
Paris had become a staff writer for Elektra Records' publishing company, Nina Music, in addition to reporting on musical events in New York City with his friends Copeland and Saylor.
"[2] "Even the meticulously structured requiem 'Song for Adam' interests me more for the quality of Browne's concern than for its philosophical conclusions," noted Robert Christgau.