Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is To Fly (live)

Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is To Fly

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
Livin's mostly wastin' time
I waste my share of mine
But it never feels too good
So let's don't take too long
You're soft as glass
And I'm a gentle man
We got the sky to talk about
And the world 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
Nothin' is too much to bear
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the gettin' there
To live is to fly
Low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes

It's goodbye to all my friends
It's time to go again
Think on 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 too much
On things you leave behind
I may be gone
But it won't be long
I will be a-bringin' back the melody
And the 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
But choice is yours to make
And time is yours to take
Some 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
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the tears out of your eyes

• Category

  Music

[verbaud]

In the bar, you can be Iron Maiden, or Elvis, or Mick Jagger, whatever..., but when you stumble home alone, and grab your guitar, and write a song at 3am at the kitchen table, you're always going to be somewhere between Mickey Newbury and Townes van Zandt or Lyle Lovett and John Prine, because it's only you and your heart sitting there and nobody else to brag to, and then your dreams take flight.

[Trashjism9]

Last year me and some friends travelled to Texas to see Guy Clark play. We got to drink beer at Townes grave site where it read's "To Live's To Fly" and then go see Guy play. After Guy played me and a friend got to go backstageand interview him for our radioshow. We asked him why this was the Townes song he always chose to cover and he replied,"Because it's his best one and he knew that. But I do it better anyways". I love both their music, but this is the best version of this song ever played.

[EpicNerd55]

Well said. I take my hat off to you sir.

[SSchus87]

I think Townes was the best songwriter of a generation. Possibly ever. I don't think he ever missed a lyric. When you play this song, don't listen to the song. Listen to the words. They are powerful. R.I.P. my dear friend. We all miss you.

[Cee Ess]

i just love this comment

[chickawawa0506]

Just beautiful :)

[thadaytrippa91]

well spoken. cheers

[Roger Hawcroft]

... and though you are technically correct about the definition of "profilic", this is not the place for such a comment. What Pickininvt intended to express is fairly clear, despite his mistake. Your own pretentious arrogance is just as clear in your ending a statement with a question mark.

I'd suggest that you either lighten up or take a course in grammar. Either way, I imagine that Townes Van Zandt is lost on you.

[Ron Swanson]

I believe that Mr. Van Zandt once called this his favorite of the songs he'd written. I like others better, but this is a good one.