I have an ever growing playlist that I keep of songs that I intend to learn how to play. Sometimes I forget about it and it goes neglected for significant periods of time. Yesterday, while working the the yard, I put it on and was pleased to find I've been good about learning many of the tunes I recently set out to master. There was one surprise, however. I forgot that I had included "To Live Is To Fly" by Townes Van Zandt. Like many times before, it stopped me dead in my tracks.
This simple, achingly thoughtful song is Townes at his best, and it's easily my favorite of his, so we're just gonna let that be this week's edition of the Quote Machine. Based on the responses from a couple of weeks ago, this may be a bit obscure for the four of you reading here. Do yourself a favor and seek out some Townes Van Zandt. He's widely considered to be one of the most influential songwriters in country and folk music, and he personally mentored the likes of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams before he passed away.
Like many of the great songwriters (Dylan jumps immediately to mind), his strength is in the writing and not in the performance, so I find his songs better performed by other people for whatever reason. Immediately off the top of my head, I can think of versions of this song by Steve Earle, Guy Clark, and the Cowboy Junkies that each make the song sound like their own. A great way to hear Townes the first time is to check out Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt. Steve Earle also recently released his own collection of Townes songs, and once famously said, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."
"To Live Is To Fly"
-Townes Van Zandt
Won’t say I love you, babe,
Won’t say I need you, babe,
But I’m gonna get you babe
And I will not do you wrong.
Living’s mostly wasting time
And I’ll waste my share of mine
But it never feels to good,
So let’s don’t take to long.
You’re soft as glass
And I’m a gentle man;
We got the sky to talk about
And the earth to lie upon.
Days, up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
But don’t turn none away.
Everything is not enough
And nothin’ is to much to bear.
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there.
To live is to fly
Low and high,
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes.
Goodbye to all my friends
It’s time to go again
Think of all the poetry
And the pickin’ down the line
I’ll miss the system here
The bottom’s low
And the treble’s clear
But it don’t pay to think to much
On things you leave behind.
I will be gone
But it won’t be long
I will be a’bringin’ back the melodies
And rhythm that I find.
We all got holes to fill
Them holes are all that’s real.
Some fall on you like a storm,
Sometimes you dig your own.
The choice is yours to make,
Time is yours to take;
Some sail upon/dive into the sea,
Some toil upon the stone.
To live is to fly
Low and high,
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes;
Shake the dust off of your wings
And the tears out of your eyes.
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