Live At The Old Quarter (houston, Texas)

By townes van zandt

Among the strangest things i ever heard
Was when a friend of mine said "man, let's get some thunderbird"
I said "what's that?" he just started to grin
Slobbered on his shirt, his eyes got dim
He said "you got fifty-nine cents?"


I said "yeah, i got a dollar, but don't be a smart-aleck
I ain't gonna spend it on no indian relic"
And he said "thunderbird's not an old indian trinket,
It's a wine, man, you take it home and drink it."
I said "it sure don't sound like wine to me"
And he said he'd bet me the change from my dollar


We hustled on down to the nearest u-tate-um
The guy wanted my id, i whipped her out and showed him
He got a green bottle from the freezing vault
My friend started doing backward somersaults
Through the cottage cheese


Took it back to his house, started drinkin'
Pretty soon i set in to thinkin'
"man, this thunderbird tastes yummy, yummy, yummy
And i know it's doing good things to my tummy, tum..., t..."
It's so you reason when your on that crap


Got a few more bottles, chugged them down
I pulled myself up off the ground
Decided i go see my dearest sweet wife
Who met me at the door with a carving knife
Said "get them damn grape peel from between your teeth."


I could see we're gonna have a little misunderstanding
I said "dear, i better get in touch with you later"
She said "forget it, man, you're never touchin' me again!"


Now i've seen the light and heard the word
And i'm staying away from that ol' dirty thunderbird
A message come from heaven radiant, and fine,
All i drink now is communion wine
Six days a week

By townes van zandt

I got a brand new companion
Man, i'm gonna do my best this time
I got a brand new companion
Man, i'm gonna do my best this time
You know she cools me with her breathin'
Chases away those howlin' bottles of wine


She fits just like my guitar
Man, she's near as tall as me
She fits just like my guitar
She's near as tall as me
She lives way out the d train
But she's texas as can be


She got a home-spun disposition
Man, she's just as gentle as you please
She got a home-spun disposition
Man, she's just as gentle as you please
She got arms just like two rattle snakes
Legs just like a billow in the breeze


I got a brand new companion
Man, i'm gonna do my best this time
I got a brand new companion
Man, i'm gonna do my best this time
I want to trace her with my body
I want to track her with my mind

By townes van zandt

Well, won't you lend your lungs to me?
Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly breathe
Up the time that's passing.
Breath i'll take and breath i'll give
Pray the day ain't poison
Stand among the ones that live
In lonely indecision.


Fingers walk the darkness down
Mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found
You fool, it's only moonlight.
If you try to take it home
Your hands will turn to butter
You better leave this dream alone
Try to find another.


Salvation sat and crossed herself
Called the devil partner
Wisdom burned upon a shelf
Who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth
Take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries
Bathe in fiery answers


Jesus was an only son
And love his only concept
Strangers cry in foreign tongues
And dirty up the doorstep
And i for one, and you for two
Ai'nt got the time for outside
Just keep your injured looks to you
We'll tell the world we tried

By townes van zandt

Well, the clouds didn't look like cotton
They didn't even look like clouds
I was underneath the weather
My friends looked a crowd
The swimmin' hole was full of rum
I tried to find out why
All i learned was this my friend
You got to swim before you fly


I got two girls
One's in heaven and one's below
Oh, one i love with all my heart
And one i do not know.


Two lonesome dudes on an ugly horse
Passed by not long ago
They asked me where the action was
I said i did not know
As they disappeared into the brush
I heard the driver say
He's a little slow between the ears
He's always been that way.


Jolly jane just lays around
And listens with her mouth
She's had about a dozen husbands
But the last one pulled out
Now, who's gonna bring her dinner
Through the weary years ahead
All she'll get from me is sympathy
Got no time to see she's fed.


It's cold down on the bayou
They say it's in your mind
But the moccasins are treadin' ice
And leavin strange designs
Cajuns say the last time
That this happend they weren't here
All beaumont's full of penguins
And i'm a-playin' it by ear.

By townes van zandt

Don't go saying i'm leaving you
Thinking i never got close enough to stay
Time runs in, and then runs out
Starts again and it's always been that way
You're gonna drown tomorrow
If you cry to many tears for yesterday
Tomorrow's half of all you've got
So treat him good, 'cause when i'm gone, he'll stay


I won't be forgetting you
You won't be forgetting me, i know
If memory comes a summer cloud
Rains her sweetness down to me below
I see you like you look right now
Maybe wonder why i had to go
But heaven is the way she is
Rain falls and rivers flow


So here's to feelin' good
Here's to feelin' bad
Here's to bein' thankful
Sorry for the pleasures that we had
And autumn days and window panes
God, forgive us if you feel decieved
The clock don't know you like i do
And it's only him or me you got to believe

By townes van zandt

Living on the road my friend,
Is gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron,
Your breath as hard as kerosene.
You weren't your mama's only boy,
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye,
And sank into your dreams.


Pancho was a bandit boy,
His horse was fast as polished steel
He wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel.
Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in mexico
Nobody heard his dying words,
Ah but that's the way it goes.


All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness, i suppose.


Lefty, he can't sing the blues
All night long like he used to.
The dust that pancho bit down south
Ended up in lefty's mouth
The day they laid poor pancho low,
Lefty split for ohio
Where he got the bread to go,
There ain't nobody knows


The poets tell how pancho fell,
And lefty's living in cheap hotels
The desert's quiet, cleveland's cold,
And so the story ends we're told
Pancho needs your prayers it's true,
But save a few for lefty too
He only did what he had to do,
And now he's growing old

By townes van zandt

If i needed you
Would you come to me,
Would you come to me,
And ease my pain?
If you needed me
I would come to you
I'd swim the seas
For to ease your pain


In the night forlorn
The morning's born
And the morning shines
With the lights of love
You will miss sunrise
If you close your eyes
That would break
My heart in two


The lady's with me now
Since i showed her how
To lay her lily
Hand in mine
Loop and lil agree
She's a sight to see
And a treasure for
The poor to find

By townes van zandt

Don't you take it too bad
If you're feelin' unlovin'
If you're feelin unfeelin'
If you're feelin' alone
Don't take it too bad


'cause it ain't you to blame, babe
Lord, it's just some kind of game made
Out of all of this living
That we got left to do


And if you go searchin'
For rhyme or for reason
Then you won't have the time
That it take just for talkin'
About the places you've been, babe
About the places you've seen, babe
And how soft the time flies
Past your window at night


And we just can't have that, girl
'cause it's a sad, lonesome, cold world
And a man need a woman just to stand by his side
And whisper sweet words in his ears about daydreams
And roses and playthings
And the sweetness of springtime
And the sound of the rain

By townes van zandt

She came and she touched me
With hands made of heaven
Reflections sent spinnin'
Through a face laced in mist
Now i stand where she left me
Buried deep 'neath her shadow
And the mirror plead sadly
Does it all come to this
And i wonder: will she call my name?


The wind careens madly
Through wide windows paneless
Fragrancies mingle
In a room full of shade
The peons pick partners
And waltz cross the ceilings
But the violins whisper
That i've been betrayed
Tryin not to look ashamed


The drunkards drink deeply
From cups full of nothingness
Ghost lovers laugh
At the games that they play
The moments do somersaults
Into eternity
Cling to their coattails
And beg them to stay
Saying i got nothing to hide


Illusions projected
On walls made of tiffany
Mad men you adds to
A sad satin song
A harlequin mandolins
Harmonize helplessly
Hoping that endlessly
Won't last for long
Praying that their god ain't dying


Then i turn and i see her
In a dress made of moonlight
Teardrops like diamonds
Run slow down her face
Her arms surround me
Like chains made of velvet
And the demons fall faithfully
Into their place
And the rivers run with jewels


Now the morning lies open
The night went quite quickly
Memory harmlessly
Fractures and fades
All the poets do push-ups
On carpets of rubber foam
Loudly they laugh
At some joke that's been made
And the wise men speak like fools

By townes van zandt

If i had no place to fall
And i needed to
Could i count on you
To lay me down?


I'd never tell you no lies
I don't believe it's wise
You got pretty eyes
Won't you spin me 'round


I ain't much of a lover it's true
I'm here then i'm gone
And i'm forever blue
But i'm sure wanting you


Skies full of silver and gold
Try to hide the sun
But it can't be done
Least not for long


And if we help each other grow
While the light of day
Smiles down our way
Then we can't go wrong


Time, she's a fast old train
She's here then she's gone
And she won't come again
Won't you take my hand


If i had no place to fall
And i needed to
Could i count on you
To lay me down?

By townes van zandt

The wicked king of clubs awoke
It was to his queen turned
His lips were laughing as they spoke
His eyes like bullets burned
The sun's upon a gambling day
His queen smiled low and blissfully
Let's make some wretched fool to play
Plain it was she did agree


He send his deuce down into diamond
His four to hart, and his trey to spade
Three kings with their legions come
Preparations soon where made
They voted club the days commander
Gave him an army face and number
All but the outlaw jack of diamonds
And the aces in the sky


He give his sevens first instructions
Spirit me a game of stud
Stakes unscarred by limitation
'tween a man named gold and man named mud
Club filled gold with greedy vapors
'til his long, green eyes did glow
Mud was left with the sighs and trembles
Watching his hard earned money go


Flushes fell on gold like water
Tens they paired and paired again
But the aces only flew through heaven
And the diamond jack called no man friend
The diamond queen saw muds ordeal
Began to think of her long lost son
Fell to her knees with a mother's mercy
Prayed to the angels every one


The diamond queen, she prayed and prayed
And the diamond angel filled muds hole
The wicked king of clubs himself
Fell in face down in front of gold
Now three kings come to clubs command
But the angels from the sky did ride
Three kings up on the streets of gold
Three fireballs on the muddy side


The club queen heard her husband's call
But lord that queen of diamond's joy
When the outlaw in the heavenly hall
Turned out to be a wandering boy
Now mud he checked and gold bet all
And mud he raised and gold did call
And the smile just melted off his face
When mud turned over that diamond ace


Now here's what this story's told
If you feel like mud you'll end up gold
If you feel like lost, you'll end up found
So amigo, lay them raises down

By townes van zandt

Why does she sing
Her sad songs for me,
I'm not the one
To tenderly bring
Her soft sympathy
I've just begun
To see my way clear
And it's plain,
If i stop i will fall
I can lay down a tear
For her pain,
Just a tear and that's all.


What does she want me to do?
She says that she knows
That moments are rare
I suppose that it's true
Then on she goes
To say i don't care,
And she knows
That i do


Maybe she just has to sing, for the sake of the song
And who do i think that i am to decide that she's wrong.


She'd like to think that i'm cruel,
But she knows that's a lie
For i would be
No more than a tool
If i allowed her to cry
All over me.


Oh my sorrow is real
Even though
I can't change my plan
If she could see how i feel
Then i know
That she'd understand


Oh does she actually think i'm to blame?
Does she really believe
That some word of mine
Can relieve
All her pain?
Can't she see that she grieves
Just because she's been blindly deceived
By her shame?


Nothin's what it seems,
Maybe she'll start someday
To realize
If she abandons her dreams,
Then all the words she can say
Are only lies
When will she see
That to gain
Is only to lose?
All that she offers me
Are her chains,
I got to refuse


Oh but it's only to herself that she's lied
She likes to pretend
It's something that she must defend,
With her pride
And i don't intend
To stand her and be the friend
From whom she must hide