He neve really had the choice to live his life the way he wanted - if you could ask his Mom she would tell you he was robbed. Anyone who questions the addict has never felt the pain. Just appreciate his music and pray no one you love falls into the downward spiral of mental disease.
Townes came from a very wealthy family in Texas. He just didn't care about money etc. He lived his life to the fullest. I have been following him, Gram, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, all of those wonderful musicians. I saw him and Guy Clark at a small club in NC. They were great!!!!
I love the man's music, but he was no hero and drank himself to death. I don't think, in the end, he lived life to the fullest. I have been around too many addicts and drunks to want to glorify that aspect of his life. And I think Steve would agree, now that he has been clean for years.
I hope you didn't take what I said as negative... I love Townes' music and respect his artistic integrity. I just think it is dangerous to idealize the way he lived his life, and not recognize that he was deeply troubled. I have known people who use artists like Townes to justify their own self-destructive behavior, as if art requires it.
M.Jagger and K.R. always stated for the record that Townes was instrumental in the final cut of the song.they had thrown it around for a long time with no thread and Townes helped to tidy it up.I believe this to be true.
Do you have a source? I have heard Gram Parsons was involved, which makes sense since he was hanging around them then. I have never heard anything authoritative about Townes even meeting the Stones in 1970-71, much less being in London when they were recording. Townes was just scraping by, back and forth between Texas, Colorado and Nashville in the early 70s, from what I have read. I have also seen a interviews where Keith talked about the it without mention of Townes or Gram.
sorry i totally posted that out of ignorance, honestly thought that tvz wrote it, never knew he paid tribute to the stones! i guess in my mind it sounded like something he wrote.
What makes you think that the Stones didn't write Dead Flowers... especially when Townes attributed it to the Stones on the album. You seem like someone who cares about music, so you might want to do some research and start reading liner notes instead of trusting rumors.
@comaradella toot your own horn much? Most important? Maybe because they got so fucked up on drugs that they forgot that there was a world going on around them. Fuck the baby-boomers! It is their fault the world is in the shape it is in right now. Hippies were (and are still) the paradigm for social excess and mass disorder. They gobbled up "the man's" bait hook-line-and-sinker thinking the whole time that they were doing things on their own free will. All they did was confuse themselves.
Is the second guitar player a complete midget, or is that the largest guitar ever built? Does anyone know the source of the live recording of this that has a semi-electric backing and has the crowd noise and breaking bottles in the background?
needle and a spoon,funerals, dead flowers, another girl to take the pain away, seems pretty sad to me. But its good that we have a self appointed spokesman for the song to let the rest of us know how to feel about it.
That is how you hear it... but it doesn't mean others interpretations are wrong. Yeah, it is a kiss off to the woman, but it is still a blues song musically and thematically. And if you have experience with dope, you wouldn't see this as a happy song.
@darlincommitme If I have experience with dope?.. First of all, I've done enough "dope" to bring down a fricken elephant.. The point is, you and I have been speaking the same language since we were toddlers, and there's no mistaking what the point of the song is.. People just seem to latch onto a single verse in the song that was inserted at Keith's insistence.. The song is about a womanizer, not drugs..
You are right, I shouldn't make assumptions about your experience. As for the rest, we have had that conversation. Your arrogance in is what irritates me. I have already said I think it is both a kiss off and a drug song. You might be right, but you don't "know" the meaning, or even that it was Mick's song with one line by Keith (there are also rumors it was Keith and Gram, with little from Mick) unless you are a friend of Mick's.
@kingacree listen up guys....we are just natures toys......so dont take it too seriously.........we're just passin thru so live it to the full. im 54 ride a 1000cc sports bike...why? cos why the fuck not. who wrote the rulebook of ilfe....you do,i do we all do....we write our own book. some just dont have the balls to do it or prefer to hide from it but guess what.....yeah right!!!! we are all dying ....just at different speeds.
@roo7227 It is indeed a VERY sad song. and also beautiful...comes to mind La Pietá a very sad sculpture by Michelangelo, shows the virgin Mary holding his dead son, sad AND beautiful, as art often is.
@DJBeastFromTheEast Towns Does damn good! and this is a stones fan talking.No one is making you watch this video,.......you can leave and stop acting like Nagging beatles fans acts.
@DJBeastFromTheEast ordinarily i'd agree. check out the Big Lebowski. its a movie. as the credits role it plays a version of this song by Townes thats better than any Stones version i've heard. But i think they're both really good. Kieth and Townes are very similar except that Townes is cold dead and buried, and Kieth is cold dead and someone forgot to bury him.
@spinch1488 It's not just you man. Aside from the sad beauty of this song, the fact that it was the last song in the last scene of the Big Lebowski, which was played post Donny-death, gets me right in the heart.
Townes forgot the lyrics in this song for 2 reasons. The first being he had memory problems due electroshock therapy, the second being he may have been drunk/high. In the documentaries about Townes, many of his friends stated that in his later years he often lost his place during song. On several occasions Blaze Foley would jump in and steer him back on the right course. Townes was a genius, but a troubled one. R.I.P.
Why is there a gap in the lyrics from 2:13-2:20. The lyrics for that section are
"Well when you're sitting back in your rose pink Cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day
*Ah, I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon*
And another girl to take my pain away"
What's up with that, people cuss and curse, mention sex here and there, but this song with a powerful expression of agony, loneliness and love lost is edited?
I don't think it is editingor that he was avoiding the emotions, I think Townes forgot the lyrics. He was certainly not someone to edit a song. He was a genius, but he was also an alcoholic who was not always the best on stage. There used to be a better version of this on youtube witht he sound synched properly, and it seemed like he was humming at that point.
live music...you get what you get. Yer not in a studio. That's a large piece of the beauty part. Live performance. Performers are human. Whether he forgot the lyrics...or hummed 'em...as was mentioned...'cause he didn't want to sing 'em...what have you, however I don't personally think so. AND, I don't figure it was an editing thing. It's live.
You tube is hilarious. this is quintessential Stones.. Sticky Fingers is an awesome album. This guy has covered the song very well .. but come on ! You're havin a laff if you're debating on here who wrote this song ! Embarrassing !
@HarryPowell7 It's funny, because when I heard the stones version I thought, "What a bunch of hacks," but then when I realized they actually wrote it, I was cool with Townes covering it. Who knows why. It makes no sense. It's just Townes. He can do what he wants and it's all cool.
What's this day of rest shit? This bullshit? I don't fucking care! It don't matter to Jesus. You may fool those fucks in the League Office, but you don't full the Jesus. Bush League psych-out stuff. Laughable man, Ha Ha!
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards may have wrote it. But Townes gave this song a real life feel like Jagger never could. He actually lived the song and to our loss he also died it.
Where does this rumor that Townes wrote the song keep resurfacing from? I have never seen anyone cite a source. I would think Townes fans would have the album, and Townes clearly attributes it to the Stones there. In fact, it is an album that is almost entirely covers. His liner notes say they are songs he wished he had written.
And to jiggler64 - it is called a cover. Townes may not have written this, but he was one of the best sonwriters of his generation.
I should add that I am not counting JimmyG's citing WIkipedia as citing a source. He is obviously a troll since he carefully took one line out of context. The article is clear the it is a Stones original. It says they recorded it in '71 but then stopped singing it live until 89.
The stones might have released it first but if you hear Townes version on the roadsongs album, you can hear that Townes perfected it.(just my opinion)
It was the Stones who wrote this! And someone censored this version. They muted " a needle and a spoon" in the 2nd verse. I do think Townes does the best rendition.
It's not censored - It is a live version, and Townes forgot the words - it is more clear when you see the video and audio synched. There used to be a better version up here.
@JimmyGtunes Before the Stones what??? If you read below you will see that the Stones put it on Sticky Fingers which came out in April 1971 .... Damn man if your not stupid how come you can't read the whole Wikipedia entry?
If anyone could find a way to sync up the video with the audio, this would be amazing. But, considering Townes was too messed up to remember the lyrics, I guess it's appropriate.
@JimmyGtunes Jagger and Richards wrote it dude. In 1970. Believe it or not, they did do a thing or two original. You probably think Johhny Cash wrote "Hurt" too. Talk about looking stupid...
It does'nt matter that it was written by someone else. All good songs get covered. That's why you hear so many artist covering Townes works. Just sit back and enjoy the soul coming through on every song that he sings.
Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man . Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would
Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.
@ajarnbilly1 So here's to Donny, the good bowler and a good man. Those of us who survived Khe Sanh and the surrounding mountains, we have to pay our respects to our buddies who didn't make it back home. Goodbye Donny.
Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so
danahall5558 Incorrect murpleturkey is correct. Townes had covers too Roadsongs is an album released singersongwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1993.
"These songs were recorded over a number of years in joints all over America. I wish I'd written every one. No such luck. This collection represents a lot of love and fun."This is off of the liner notes for Townes album Roadsongs. Note he says that he wishes that he had written every one of these songs but that he didnt. Dead Flowers is on here
who gives a shit who hears what where, I'm 23 but I've delved into the oldies over the past few months and artists like townes and blaze are impressing me more than most, timeless
you dont know it because its not in your age category. you get all your info from movies and wickpedia. this was our info. life talent. not video makeovers.
@joeyjobear yeah what we see as genius is often coupled with torturous thoughts...easily forgotten when one imbibes...there seems to be a cost for gifts bestowed...this was not just some drunk, some junkie, he was trying to get by...I think I can in a way empathize.
@joeyjobear this is a guy who suffered in life! absolute genius with poetry and music, not bad for someone on heroin & whatever else was going round, someone who'd been given electro shock therapy, thrown himself off a balcony...just to feel what flying felt like etc... if any of your clean shiney musicians who are straight outta drama school could pull the work of townes off, il eat my johnny cash finger!
Who gives a flying fig who stole/borrowed it? No one on here knows the truth that's for sure. They're both excellent songs and I'm too busy enjoying them to care
@metalmachineliar whatever dude, if yr talking about lebowski it's a good flick. and anyway townes is a legend. anyone who hears one song can see this.
Not sure if I am feeding trolls,,, but I have never seen any evidence that Townes gave or sold this to the Stones. No interview with Brian Jones and no claim by Townes or his estate. I don't think it was beyond the Stones to take a song and I am more a fan of Townes, but if you do a search, all you find is people repeating an unfounded rumor. It might be true that Parson's influenced the song, as he was hanging with the Stones. I suspect that the two have been conflated in this rumor.
The Rolling Stones did it first. Its on Sticky Fingers. Townes though makes it his own, so much so that many people believe that he wrote it about himself. Thats one mark of a great performer. He makes everything his own.
Jivezilla, he only had a hard life because he chose to. He was born with money and decided to walk away from it, and chose to drink heavily and use drugs. I'm a huge fan of Townes, but that's the truth. If I'm not mistaken, most of the Stones have had similar issues. It's a miracle that Keith Richards is still alive. And the Stones did write some really good songs.
Well, sort of made a decision. I think having shock therapy at a young age and having your memory erased might have had something to do with the "decision" to drink. Being what is now considered bipolar might have contributed to the way his life turned out.
@Jivezilla yeah, keith didnt lose a child, have a rough upbringing, have his gardener shoot himself in his bed with his gun after an affair with his wife, and no way did they have a lot of love for country music. townes didnt write his most famous song, fucking tragic huh? well thats life kids. the stones wrote KILLER songs.
@murpleturkey No, I am afraid you are incorrect. You may not realize it,but Townes Van Zandt is one of the two best songwriters in America. And he is gone. The only one left is Bob Dylan.
@danahall5558 Yes, Townes was one of the greatest American songwriters, but no he did not write Dead Flowers. You have an internet connection, you have access to allmusic etc., go figure it out for yourself.
@danahall5558 Well, it's a bit difficult to rank and quantify when it comes to art. I would put Springsteen head and shoulders above either you mentioned.
@TalamoxSmith If you would take the time to read back a few comments you would see that no, not everybody knows that it's a Stones cover. In fact, many people think Townes wrote it. And I agree that Townes recorded the definitive version, so no need to get all indignant on everyone.
He neve really had the choice to live his life the way he wanted - if you could ask his Mom she would tell you he was robbed. Anyone who questions the addict has never felt the pain. Just appreciate his music and pray no one you love falls into the downward spiral of mental disease.
fscofi 1 week ago
Comment removed
wofats 3 weeks ago
Townes came from a very wealthy family in Texas. He just didn't care about money etc. He lived his life to the fullest. I have been following him, Gram, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, all of those wonderful musicians. I saw him and Guy Clark at a small club in NC. They were great!!!!
sherelaine 2 months ago
@sherelaine
I love the man's music, but he was no hero and drank himself to death. I don't think, in the end, he lived life to the fullest. I have been around too many addicts and drunks to want to glorify that aspect of his life. And I think Steve would agree, now that he has been clean for years.
darlincommitme 2 months ago
@darlincommitme He lived and died just like he wanted to; what's the problem?
SONGFORTHESOUTH 1 month ago
@darlincommitme I was gonna say something ugly, but how can you while listening to TVZ
GCandD 2 weeks ago
@GCandD
I hope you didn't take what I said as negative... I love Townes' music and respect his artistic integrity. I just think it is dangerous to idealize the way he lived his life, and not recognize that he was deeply troubled. I have known people who use artists like Townes to justify their own self-destructive behavior, as if art requires it.
darlincommitme 2 weeks ago
M.Jagger and K.R. always stated for the record that Townes was instrumental in the final cut of the song.they had thrown it around for a long time with no thread and Townes helped to tidy it up.I believe this to be true.
jaxareback 2 months ago
@jaxareback
Do you have a source? I have heard Gram Parsons was involved, which makes sense since he was hanging around them then. I have never heard anything authoritative about Townes even meeting the Stones in 1970-71, much less being in London when they were recording. Townes was just scraping by, back and forth between Texas, Colorado and Nashville in the early 70s, from what I have read. I have also seen a interviews where Keith talked about the it without mention of Townes or Gram.
darlincommitme 2 months ago
Thank you for posting this, musicloveraustria2.
writersblock26 3 months ago
He kinda looks like Roger Waters in this vid
diplomatiks 4 months ago
Oh but you know I could never be alone.
marydwyer14119 4 months ago
sorry i totally posted that out of ignorance, honestly thought that tvz wrote it, never knew he paid tribute to the stones! i guess in my mind it sounded like something he wrote.
towleyman 4 months ago 2
Comment removed
towleyman 4 months ago
@towleyman
What makes you think that the Stones didn't write Dead Flowers... especially when Townes attributed it to the Stones on the album. You seem like someone who cares about music, so you might want to do some research and start reading liner notes instead of trusting rumors.
darlincommitme 4 months ago
THE DUDE ABIDES
caseyangus 5 months ago 2
One of the few performers who can do justicve to a Stones cover.
jbstonesfan 5 months ago 3
@jbstonesfan
Steve Earle's cover of "Dead Flowers" is great as well.
darlincommitme 4 months ago 2
Turn on, drop out, tune in.
comaradella 6 months ago
I suspect we´re a few millions, most of us probably teens in the glorious heroic 60´s
time of birth of the most important sociopolitical movement of the last 20 centuries......HIPPIES
YEAHHH; RIGHT ON
comaradella 6 months ago
@comaradella toot your own horn much? Most important? Maybe because they got so fucked up on drugs that they forgot that there was a world going on around them. Fuck the baby-boomers! It is their fault the world is in the shape it is in right now. Hippies were (and are still) the paradigm for social excess and mass disorder. They gobbled up "the man's" bait hook-line-and-sinker thinking the whole time that they were doing things on their own free will. All they did was confuse themselves.
Ostehout 5 months ago
@Ostehout
You seem to be a very sorry person, probably lacking love or even not knowing how to please a lady.
comaradella 5 months ago
you're not alone spinch
tarapolivka1 6 months ago
Is the second guitar player a complete midget, or is that the largest guitar ever built? Does anyone know the source of the live recording of this that has a semi-electric backing and has the crowd noise and breaking bottles in the background?
Nyquilcoma 6 months ago
Townes at his worst is Townes at his best !! god we've killed them all.
dannyknapp 8 months ago
@dannyknapp
Much as I love his music... I think Townes is responsible for his own fate to a large degree (not to mention genetics).
nilradem 7 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Checkout the flowers video on my channel
2965islyfegodfrey 8 months ago
up to pismo
mspubquiz83 8 months ago
Ugh... The song is not supposed to be sad.. Why do these "artists" always get that wrong?..
roo7227 8 months ago
@roo7227
needle and a spoon,funerals, dead flowers, another girl to take the pain away, seems pretty sad to me. But its good that we have a self appointed spokesman for the song to let the rest of us know how to feel about it.
kingacree 8 months ago 7
@kingacree Yeah, and Mick is saying that all of this is still better than you!.. Which is why she keeps sending dead flowers, dummy..
roo7227 8 months ago
@roo7227
That is how you hear it... but it doesn't mean others interpretations are wrong. Yeah, it is a kiss off to the woman, but it is still a blues song musically and thematically. And if you have experience with dope, you wouldn't see this as a happy song.
darlincommitme 8 months ago
And I would add that as one of the best country blues interpreters, Townes is a great interpreter of the song.
darlincommitme 8 months ago
@darlincommitme If I have experience with dope?.. First of all, I've done enough "dope" to bring down a fricken elephant.. The point is, you and I have been speaking the same language since we were toddlers, and there's no mistaking what the point of the song is.. People just seem to latch onto a single verse in the song that was inserted at Keith's insistence.. The song is about a womanizer, not drugs..
roo7227 6 months ago
@roo7227
You are right, I shouldn't make assumptions about your experience. As for the rest, we have had that conversation. Your arrogance in is what irritates me. I have already said I think it is both a kiss off and a drug song. You might be right, but you don't "know" the meaning, or even that it was Mick's song with one line by Keith (there are also rumors it was Keith and Gram, with little from Mick) unless you are a friend of Mick's.
darlincommitme 5 months ago
@kingacree listen up guys....we are just natures toys......so dont take it too seriously.........we're just passin thru so live it to the full. im 54 ride a 1000cc sports bike...why? cos why the fuck not. who wrote the rulebook of ilfe....you do,i do we all do....we write our own book. some just dont have the balls to do it or prefer to hide from it but guess what.....yeah right!!!! we are all dying ....just at different speeds.
stevieraygod 2 months ago
@roo7227 no its sad...
wendlermb15 6 months ago
@roo7227 It is indeed a VERY sad song. and also beautiful...comes to mind La Pietá a very sad sculpture by Michelangelo, shows the virgin Mary holding his dead son, sad AND beautiful, as art often is.
comaradella 5 months ago
4 dislikes? This aggression will not stand, man.
davefoster12 8 months ago 4
The kind ole drunken, glue sniffer could sure grab ya by the heart...I say that in the context of admiration as well as awe.
kyuss4me 8 months ago
This is one of those songs only The Stones (greatest band ever) can play.
DJBeastFromTheEast 8 months ago
@DJBeastFromTheEast Towns Does damn good! and this is a stones fan talking.No one is making you watch this video,.......you can leave and stop acting like Nagging beatles fans acts.
imaStonesFan 8 months ago
@DJBeastFromTheEast
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
kingacree 8 months ago 4
@DJBeastFromTheEast ordinarily i'd agree. check out the Big Lebowski. its a movie. as the credits role it plays a version of this song by Townes thats better than any Stones version i've heard. But i think they're both really good. Kieth and Townes are very similar except that Townes is cold dead and buried, and Kieth is cold dead and someone forgot to bury him.
wendlermb15 6 months ago 2
....Townes Lives!!!!
Shamagogue 8 months ago
Fuck it dude, let's go bowling.
TheLeftyGrove 8 months ago 2
so hard to disentangle this song with the scene from big lebowski
rob756 9 months ago
stones' version is 100x better!
Tysmeli 9 months ago
Thanks to the Stones - Love to Townes!
nevillejking 9 months ago
@nevillejking Yes! He is great and does a wonderful version
imaStonesFan 9 months ago
love this version. RIP TVZ
Screw the 4 dudes who don't abide.
textech00 10 months ago
4 dudes don't abide..
TheSuperintendant 10 months ago 2
Take it easy, Dude.. I know that you will..
Yeah, well.. You know.. The Dude abides...
Theworldanchor 10 months ago 3
that's at De Melkweg in amsterdam, right? I've got the video tape, great show (1st part), then... some problmes. oh Townes, happt birthday!
M
maldoror2007 10 months ago
kinda disappointed he censored himself
thewill2pwr 11 months ago
intense
mojavej 11 months ago
Donny der das Bowlen liebte...
WUFF94 11 months ago
The dude abides.
Heff385 11 months ago
@Heff385 the dude certainly abides!
clearyourthirdeye 11 months ago
hey do you get teary eyed when you hear the late great townes van zandt sing or what or is it just me ???
spinch1488 11 months ago 32
@spinch1488 It's not just you man. Aside from the sad beauty of this song, the fact that it was the last song in the last scene of the Big Lebowski, which was played post Donny-death, gets me right in the heart.
TheButlerDidIt81 11 months ago
Comment removed
comaradella 6 months ago
@spinch1488 It is not just you spinch, if you have a pulse and you listen, you will choke up when you hear TVZ
josephkenny77 5 months ago
@spinch1488 no he is the best all of his stuf is good
kjk2gether 3 months ago
@spinch1488 Not just you, friend.
eldo500 1 month ago
@spinch1488 Not just you, my friend. Not just you.
pelodelperro 5 days ago
Townes forgot the lyrics in this song for 2 reasons. The first being he had memory problems due electroshock therapy, the second being he may have been drunk/high. In the documentaries about Townes, many of his friends stated that in his later years he often lost his place during song. On several occasions Blaze Foley would jump in and steer him back on the right course. Townes was a genius, but a troubled one. R.I.P.
espacho 11 months ago 2
what the fuck does anything have to do with vietnam?
cspencer90 1 year ago
@cspencer90 Dude Im sorry...
arabianzeppelin 11 months ago
Best version. Great. Thanks for posting!
blueslidejoe 1 year ago
in the thumbnail he looks like dennis leary. anyone else think that?
wild1033 1 year ago
I completely agree! The Dude Abides!
schenut 1 year ago 2
Why is there a gap in the lyrics from 2:13-2:20. The lyrics for that section are
"Well when you're sitting back in your rose pink Cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day
*Ah, I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon*
And another girl to take my pain away"
What's up with that, people cuss and curse, mention sex here and there, but this song with a powerful expression of agony, loneliness and love lost is edited?
pmarti1000 1 year ago
@pmarti1000
Probably meant something to him, and he didn't want to sing it. Sometimes you avoid emotions.
GotsTricks 1 year ago
@pmarti1000
I don't think it is editingor that he was avoiding the emotions, I think Townes forgot the lyrics. He was certainly not someone to edit a song. He was a genius, but he was also an alcoholic who was not always the best on stage. There used to be a better version of this on youtube witht he sound synched properly, and it seemed like he was humming at that point.
nilradem 1 year ago
@nilradem
live music...you get what you get. Yer not in a studio. That's a large piece of the beauty part. Live performance. Performers are human. Whether he forgot the lyrics...or hummed 'em...as was mentioned...'cause he didn't want to sing 'em...what have you, however I don't personally think so. AND, I don't figure it was an editing thing. It's live.
My thoughts are...yer over figuring it.
Let it roll.
MarchDad 1 year ago
@MarchDad
No need to be rude. I was simply responding to the comment that it was edited. I know it is live. No "over figuring."
nilradem 1 year ago
clearly, "he doesn't roll on shabbos"......
GlenQuagmireful 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
You do not mess with the Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MStock57 1 year ago
This rascals awesome.
MaharishiMahaYogi 1 year ago 3
You tube is hilarious. this is quintessential Stones.. Sticky Fingers is an awesome album. This guy has covered the song very well .. but come on ! You're havin a laff if you're debating on here who wrote this song ! Embarrassing !
HarryPowell7 1 year ago
@HarryPowell7 It's funny, because when I heard the stones version I thought, "What a bunch of hacks," but then when I realized they actually wrote it, I was cool with Townes covering it. Who knows why. It makes no sense. It's just Townes. He can do what he wants and it's all cool.
Crackhouts 1 year ago
What's this day of rest shit? This bullshit? I don't fucking care! It don't matter to Jesus. You may fool those fucks in the League Office, but you don't full the Jesus. Bush League psych-out stuff. Laughable man, Ha Ha!
komodoyama 1 year ago
This guy is a lousy lip-syncer.
CatapultYourMom 1 year ago
me encanta esta versión, la hace propia
melocotoso 1 year ago
The Dude Abides.
manunda73 1 year ago 4
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards may have wrote it. But Townes gave this song a real life feel like Jagger never could. He actually lived the song and to our loss he also died it.
sophizgood 1 year ago 4
Good job!
TheWERNERbeinhart 1 year ago
Everybody knows that it's a Stones song originally. So what, Townes never claimed it was his, he just made it his.
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
@jiggler64 You're an idiot. What the hell are you jiggling, jiggler64
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
@jiggler64 You're an idiot
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
Where does this rumor that Townes wrote the song keep resurfacing from? I have never seen anyone cite a source. I would think Townes fans would have the album, and Townes clearly attributes it to the Stones there. In fact, it is an album that is almost entirely covers. His liner notes say they are songs he wished he had written.
And to jiggler64 - it is called a cover. Townes may not have written this, but he was one of the best sonwriters of his generation.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
@darlincommitme
I should add that I am not counting JimmyG's citing WIkipedia as citing a source. He is obviously a troll since he carefully took one line out of context. The article is clear the it is a Stones original. It says they recorded it in '71 but then stopped singing it live until 89.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
The stones might have released it first but if you hear Townes version on the roadsongs album, you can hear that Townes perfected it.(just my opinion)
\\// peace, love, happiness
The60sMusicman 1 year ago
It was the Stones who wrote this! And someone censored this version. They muted " a needle and a spoon" in the 2nd verse. I do think Townes does the best rendition.
quatz52 1 year ago
@quatz52
It's not censored - It is a live version, and Townes forgot the words - it is more clear when you see the video and audio synched. There used to be a better version up here.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
@JimmyGtunes Before the Stones what??? If you read below you will see that the Stones put it on Sticky Fingers which came out in April 1971 .... Damn man if your not stupid how come you can't read the whole Wikipedia entry?
TheLoonyMonk 1 year ago
If anyone could find a way to sync up the video with the audio, this would be amazing. But, considering Townes was too messed up to remember the lyrics, I guess it's appropriate.
kneedeep1977 1 year ago
@JimmyGtunes Jagger and Richards wrote it dude. In 1970. Believe it or not, they did do a thing or two original. You probably think Johhny Cash wrote "Hurt" too. Talk about looking stupid...
mcmcmahon1 1 year ago 2
It does'nt matter that it was written by someone else. All good songs get covered. That's why you hear so many artist covering Townes works. Just sit back and enjoy the soul coming through on every song that he sings.
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
this song was written by Townes Van Zant and the stones recorded it
mytaylor310 1 year ago
@mytaylor310 wrong ...stones all the way .....
raojr53 1 year ago
frankie miller does this song good :)
bobblueeyes 1 year ago
TOWNES
cantarooots 1 year ago
My hero
marydwyer14119 1 year ago
Man, Townes forgot that line, did you hear that?
TheEndKing 1 year ago
@TheEndKing I'll be in my room, with a needle and a spoon!!! It was probably a TV show and they wouldn't let him sing it!!! Censoring b^$&*rds!!!
trshev 1 year ago
@TheEndKing Maybe he didn't want to say it.
MattMonk 1 year ago
Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man . Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would
Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.
ajarnbilly1 1 year ago 180
@ajarnbilly1 Everything's a fuckin travisty with you, what the fuck was that about Viatnam what does anything have to do with Viatname!
MrSiebel 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 Awesome dude.
MaharishiMahaYogi 1 year ago 72
mick can make you sick, gimme Townes.
bdjaslu 7 months ago
@ajarnbilly1 So here's to Donny, the good bowler and a good man. Those of us who survived Khe Sanh and the surrounding mountains, we have to pay our respects to our buddies who didn't make it back home. Goodbye Donny.
BluezGuitarz 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 "he fixes the cable?"
ajarnbilly1 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 WALTER!
MichaelThomasMarion 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 Everything's a f*^kin' travesty with you, man!
marcalanjacobs 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 ahhhhhhhhh. Shut The Fuck up Donny!!! You have no clue.I told that kraut a fucking thousand times that I don't roll on Shabbos!
jackhair311 1 year ago 4
@ajarnbilly1 Ha! Beautiful dude, love this movie!!!
MidnightSkyline 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 such an awesome movie.
nateman20 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 nice man, well said, write a line for me when I leave
comaradella 1 year ago
@ajarnbilly1 fantastic
MYRMIDION 9 months ago
@ajarnbilly1 Fantastic, im Jacki Treehorn how is youse?!?!?!?!
MiguelTube138 8 months ago
Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so
well. Good night, sweet prince.
ajarnbilly1 1 year ago
danahall5558 Incorrect murpleturkey is correct. Townes had covers too Roadsongs is an album released singersongwriter Townes Van Zandt in 1993.
"These songs were recorded over a number of years in joints all over America. I wish I'd written every one. No such luck. This collection represents a lot of love and fun."This is off of the liner notes for Townes album Roadsongs. Note he says that he wishes that he had written every one of these songs but that he didnt. Dead Flowers is on here
Stallo67 1 year ago
#deadflowers
ChristopherVenture 1 year ago
Dude.
mojo4404 1 year ago
Townes obviously understood the mindset behind this song!
Shamagogue 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
this sucks so badly
Rocker095150 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A poor cover vesrion in my opinion
SelangorNight 1 year ago
one of the best songs ever written in my books. His version of it is better than the stones original.
Katanajoe7 1 year ago
love!!! greatest song writer of all time....
maatkinson1 1 year ago
Did he write this song?
gordondelma 1 year ago
@gordondelma
You will see people saying he did, but no, this is a Rolling Stones song, co-written by Richards and Jagger.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
RIP Townes
dww459 1 year ago
Amazing one, so smooth, so soulful. And a perfect ending for a perfect film.
admirs6 1 year ago
Hendrix forgot an entire verse of Like a Rolling Stone at the Monterey Pop Fest, and like he said, yeah I know I forgot a verse, so what....
Whysper023 1 year ago
who gives a shit who hears what where, I'm 23 but I've delved into the oldies over the past few months and artists like townes and blaze are impressing me more than most, timeless
ThePapillon37 1 year ago
you dont know it because its not in your age category. you get all your info from movies and wickpedia. this was our info. life talent. not video makeovers.
angiekim1126 1 year ago
in his later years he was always doing shows under the influence of heroin
joeyjobear 1 year ago
@joeyjobear yeah what we see as genius is often coupled with torturous thoughts...easily forgotten when one imbibes...there seems to be a cost for gifts bestowed...this was not just some drunk, some junkie, he was trying to get by...I think I can in a way empathize.
steele917 1 year ago
@joeyjobear this is a guy who suffered in life! absolute genius with poetry and music, not bad for someone on heroin & whatever else was going round, someone who'd been given electro shock therapy, thrown himself off a balcony...just to feel what flying felt like etc... if any of your clean shiney musicians who are straight outta drama school could pull the work of townes off, il eat my johnny cash finger!
PMK1002 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
"Sucks the only reason people know or like this song is because of a movie"
the movies have some educational worth
conistonavenue79 1 year ago
Who gives a flying fig who stole/borrowed it? No one on here knows the truth that's for sure. They're both excellent songs and I'm too busy enjoying them to care
freddragoon 1 year ago 2
Sucks the only reason people know or like this song is because of a movie.
metalmachineliar 1 year ago
@metalmachineliar not me.
raggajones12 1 year ago
that aint the only reason i know it. Rolling Stone's Sticky Fingers is.
touma1188 1 year ago
@metalmachineliar whatever dude, if yr talking about lebowski it's a good flick. and anyway townes is a legend. anyone who hears one song can see this.
plentyplus1 1 year ago 2
skipped over the "needle and a spoon" line. on purpose...?
mistermendola 1 year ago
@mistermendola
I doubt it - I think he forgot the lyrics. He seems a little out of it here.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
very likely haha
larstait 1 year ago
i think hes just fucked up and forgot it.
touma1188 1 year ago
Not sure if I am feeding trolls,,, but I have never seen any evidence that Townes gave or sold this to the Stones. No interview with Brian Jones and no claim by Townes or his estate. I don't think it was beyond the Stones to take a song and I am more a fan of Townes, but if you do a search, all you find is people repeating an unfounded rumor. It might be true that Parson's influenced the song, as he was hanging with the Stones. I suspect that the two have been conflated in this rumor.
darlincommitme 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
love you all but grow up
the stones stole this from townes
and stole honkytonkwoman from ry cooder
ask brian
paschal421 1 year ago
i like this better than the stone's version. it might be that i grew watching big lebowski
dingleberrycherry 2 years ago 2
The Rolling Stones did it first. Its on Sticky Fingers. Townes though makes it his own, so much so that many people believe that he wrote it about himself. Thats one mark of a great performer. He makes everything his own.
RossM3838 2 years ago 2
Gram Parsons was the same way. He came from a super rich florida family and decided to get supremely fucked up for the rest of his life.
mwells219 2 years ago
I knew Townes enough to know that thompmb is exactly right. I
darvonguppy 2 years ago
Jivezilla, he only had a hard life because he chose to. He was born with money and decided to walk away from it, and chose to drink heavily and use drugs. I'm a huge fan of Townes, but that's the truth. If I'm not mistaken, most of the Stones have had similar issues. It's a miracle that Keith Richards is still alive. And the Stones did write some really good songs.
thompmb 2 years ago 3
Well, sort of made a decision. I think having shock therapy at a young age and having your memory erased might have had something to do with the "decision" to drink. Being what is now considered bipolar might have contributed to the way his life turned out.
lovacoustic 1 year ago
jagger wrote most of the lyrics about getting old, keith chipped in. this is a cover. the real argument is whether its a richards/parsons song.
lysergicdeez 2 years ago
Dead Flowers" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones off their 1971 album Sticky Fingers
larslabanb 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Holy Jesus man, really??? No offense to the stones, but none of their lives were bad enough to write lyrics that stab you through the heart like this.
So in conclusion, Townes Van Zandt wrote the song. The Stones covered it.
Jivezilla 2 years ago
@Jivezilla yeah, keith didnt lose a child, have a rough upbringing, have his gardener shoot himself in his bed with his gun after an affair with his wife, and no way did they have a lot of love for country music. townes didnt write his most famous song, fucking tragic huh? well thats life kids. the stones wrote KILLER songs.
lysergicdeez 2 years ago
@lysergicdeez , you are incorrect about the Stones and country music. You're also clueless about Townes' authorship of his most famous song.
morfeeene 2 weeks ago
rolling stones cover? Go kill yourself!!!
1986kimdyer 2 years ago
it IS a rolling stones cover. the stones wrote it and recorded it first.
murpleturkey 2 years ago 20
@murpleturkey No, I am afraid you are incorrect. You may not realize it,but Townes Van Zandt is one of the two best songwriters in America. And he is gone. The only one left is Bob Dylan.
danahall5558 1 year ago
@danahall5558 Yes, Townes was one of the greatest American songwriters, but no he did not write Dead Flowers. You have an internet connection, you have access to allmusic etc., go figure it out for yourself.
murpleturkey 1 year ago
@danahall5558 dont forget Neil Young
mytaylor310 1 year ago
@mytaylor310 Mr. Young is a canuck
murpleturkey 1 year ago
@murpleturkey a canuck that has lived in the staes longer than he lived in CANADA. Still he does retain his citizenship in the Great white North.
steele917 1 year ago
@danahall5558 I think you forgot about Lou Reed. He's as great as Dylan and Townes IMHO..
sukie584 1 year ago
@danahall5558 I believe you are forgetting Lou Reed.
sukie584 1 year ago
@danahall5558 Well, it's a bit difficult to rank and quantify when it comes to art. I would put Springsteen head and shoulders above either you mentioned.
Gatsby999888 1 year ago
@murpleturkey Everybody knows that.
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
@murpleturkey Duh
TalamoxSmith 1 year ago
@TalamoxSmith If you would take the time to read back a few comments you would see that no, not everybody knows that it's a Stones cover. In fact, many people think Townes wrote it. And I agree that Townes recorded the definitive version, so no need to get all indignant on everyone.
murpleturkey 1 year ago