TOWNES' BLUES

(Michael Timmins)

You're clean as a widow woman's washboard, son,
stick it in the wind
Put the mountains to your back
the great plains on your grille
time to take a little spin
Boulder looks like the type of town
that I could spend some time,
but in Houston they got our name in lights
You're clean as a widow woman's washboard, son,
the slab is yours tonight

Townes is in the back lounge
with his hands in his pocket
pulls out two dice and says, 'Let's get at it'

Salina in the headlights, snake eyes on the floor,
Al drops another twenty, Pete heads for the door,
Springer's feeling lucky, sits down for a spell,
Oklahoma City and he's lost his last bill
Jeff is in a bind waiting on sister hicks
seven comes a-calling
as we cross on into Texas

Townes is in the back lounge
with a fist full of fives
he says, 'It's a little bit long
but I'm enjoying this ride'

Be careful with the dice
when you're surrounded by others
with boxcars in their eyes
Never count your winnings at hour 23
of a 24-hour drive
Remember that you're not the one
calling the tune
that's making those diamonds dance
or you'll be clean as
a widow woman's washboard, son,
and those are the facts

Townes is in the back lounge cursing at them bones
he says, 'Ain't this fool ever heard of Raton'

TO LIVE IS TO FLY

(Townes Van Zandt)
Columbine Music ASCAP

Won't say I love you babe
Won't say I need you babe
But I'm going to get you babe
and I will not do you wrong
Living's mostly wasting time
and I waste my share of mine
but it never feels too good
so let's not take too long
You're as 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
nothing is too much to bear
where you been is good and gone
all you keep's 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

It's 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 too much
on the things you leave behind
I may be gone but I won't be long
I'll be bringing back the melody
and the rhythm that I find

We all got holes to fill
and 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
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
the sleep out of your eyes    

CRESCENT MOON (Michael Timmins)

Reach a hand to the crescent moon
grab hold of the hollow
If she sits in the palm of the left
that moon will be fuller tomorrow
If she sits in the palm of the right
that moon is on the wane
and the love of the one who shares your bed
will be doing just the same

`Won't you come with me', she said,
`there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain'

Out among the fields gently hipped
beneath the corn,
Assiniboine bones beneath the highway
he stood there and he thought of home
A finger traces the path of a satellite
You're drawn to a distant copse of trees
A voice as sweet as Mare's Tail
clings to the prairie breeze

`Won't you come with me', she said,
`there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain'

Do I reach for you
when I know you're on the wane?
Do I sense you when I know you're not around?
Do I search for you
when I know you can't be found?
Do I dare to speak your name?

Raise your eyes to a moonless sky
and try to wish upon a rising star
Search all you want for her blessing
but you won't find her sparkling there
Now cast your eyes to a part of the sky
where nothing but darkness unfolds
and watch as all around you
she reveals the brilliance of secrets untold

Won't you come with me, she said,
there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain

FIRST RECOLLECTION (Michael Timmins)

My first recollection is a day in December
black iron steam engine covered in ice
like some Precambrian monster
moaning and snorting
Nothing was ever going to beat that beast
in a fair fight

I've sat and watched the woodpiles
grow through the summer
now I'm sitting, smelling summer burn through the fall
Winter's coming on, days getting dreary
and I'm thinking this is the season
that I leave you all

I've heard a man in crisis
falls back on what he knows best,
a murderer to murder
a thief to theft
And I don't want you to think
that this is some kind of deathbed confession
but run is what I did when put to the test

My first recollection is a day in December
747 tracing lines through the sky
like some old gypsy curse
silently preying upon the dreams of those
who jealously watch life pass by

I've sat and watched my troubles
pile through the summer
now I'm sitting, hearing my youngest cry
down the hall
Winter's coming on, days getting dreary
and I'm thinking this is the season
that I leave you all

I've heard that the son must bear
the burdens of the father
but it's the daughter that is left
to clean up the mess
And I don't want you to think
that I'm asking for absolution,
but run is what I did when put to the test

RING ON THE SILL (Michael Timmins)

She placed her ring on the sill,
dishes piled high
She's on the front porch step
and the air smells like snow
She's thinking of the siege to come
and how she'll miss those weekends
in the park with the sun on her face
and her book by her side and that
lingering taste that he left on her tongue

He lifts his glass from the table
It leaves a ring where it stood
He sees the light from the window
caress her like he knows he should
He's remembering the first time he kissed her
and how he'd wake
and immediately he'd miss her,
like a spell, with each breath,
he'd taste her breath like a haunting,
irritating as hell

Do you remember when you'd pray
to never see the day
when someone would make you feel this way
'Cause you knew
they would cut right through you
and once inside, you were afraid they'd find
nothing to hold on to

He puts her ring on her finger,
she brushes back his hair
He takes a sip from his glass,
she inhales the cold fall air
And they're thinking of the long road ahead
and the strength that they will need
just to reach the end
And there in the silence they search for
the balance between this fear that they feel
and a love that has graced their lives

ANNIVERSARY SONG (Michael Timmins)

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful
as that of the rain-soaked purple
of the white birch in spring?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful
than on a warm fall night
under a Mackerel sky,
the smell of grapes on the wind?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And I'll share them all for a cup of coffee
and to wear your ring

Have you ever had the pleasure of watching
a quiet winter's snow slowly gathering
like simple moments adding up?

Have you ever satisfied a gut feeling
to follow a dry dirt road that's beckoning you
to the heart of a shimmering summer's day?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And I'll share them all for a cup of coffee
and to wear your ring

And I don't know how I survived those days
before I held your hand
Well I never thought that I would be the one
to admit that the moon and the sun
shine so much more brighter when
seen through two pairs of eyes than
when seen through just one

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful
as a face in a crowd of people
that lights up just for you?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful
as when you wake
by the side of that boy or girl
who has pledged their love to you?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And now every morning there's a cup of coffee
and I wear your ring

WHITE SAIL (Michael Timmins)

Raise a white sail if you love me
a black sail if you don't
Seal me up in an impregnable tower
or surround me with an impassable moat
I've heard all the stories told about love
(unattainable and pure)
but there is one love of which I'm sure

Your fear as honed as a battle axe,
I'll bear my neck, I'll wear the scar,
and if my nerve should fail the task
I know your faith will not roam too far
I've heard all the stories told about love
(two souls into one)
but this tale of love is one we've just begun

Isoldt had her Tristan,
but love potions are not what we need,
and Paris had his Helen
but it was infatuation that was plain to see
What I desire is your trust to inspire
this love for you which grows in me

Plant a rose tree on his grave
and on mine plant a vine,
as seasons pass and markers fade
watch them slowly intertwine
I've heard all the stories told about love
(till death do us part)
but our love is a vow which has been wrought
from heart to heart

SEVEN YEARS (Michael Timmins)

Haven't seen the sun for seven days
November's got her nails dug in deep
Haven't seen my son for seven years
and the chances are we'll never again meet

If truth be told I don't even know his name
If truth be told he doesn't even know my name

I spend my spare time with my rosary beads
although I never learnt to pray
but you don't need the light
and it's best to pretend
that you've seen the errors of your ways

The darkness in here
is as heavy as a judgement
This darkness, heavy as a judgement

My dreams are now filled with Gilead trees
and other sights that I've never seen
They used to be filled
with the fears of tomorrow
and the horror that it might bring

His eyes felt to me
as cold as a stone mason's chisel
His eyes fell on me, cold
like a stone mason's chisel

Strange how a mind can always recall
what the senses eagerly leave behind
I can remember his face, rage,
disgust and distaste
but to my fear I have grown blind

Memories are just dead men making trouble
this memory is just a dead man making trouble

PALE SUN (Michael Timmins)

Fifty miles from Dakota territory
Cheyenne scalp hangs from his belt
Found him alone washing in the Bighorn
a steady aim and he bagged his game

Pale sun falls without contest
Here is obedient darkness
He will not return

White Cadillac, white man at the wheel,
white faces on the mountain,
wounds that will never heal
Black clouds overhead, old man says
looks like rain
Thieves' Road winds to the Black Hills sign
says South Dakota, U.S.A.

Grass plains stretch to the horizon,
not a soul can be found on them
They will not return

Old rusted pickup and a mad dog in the yard,
purple paint peels but fails to reveal
the bitterness that grows inside
Cloud of dust in the distance,
strange knock beneath my hood
Is it better to have words left unsaid
than to have words misunderstood?

Pale sun falls without contest
Here is obedient darkness
It will return
I know it will return
It will return

THE POST (J. Mascis)

[Cesstone Music BMI]

Eyed it, dried it, untied it
Chilled it, spilled it, refilled it
Taste it, traced it, erased it

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground

Eyed it, dried it, untied it
Chilled it, spilled it, refilled it
Taste it, trace it, erased it

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground