Townes Van Zandt Album

Your eyes seek conclusion in all this confusion of mine
Though you and I both know it's only the warm glow of wine
That's got you to feeling this way, but I don't care,
I want you to stay and hold me
And tell me you'll be here to love me today

Children are dancin', the gamblers are chancin' their all
The window's accusing the door of abusing the wall
But who cares what the night watchmen say
The stage has been set for the play
Hold me and tell me you'll be here to love me today

The moon's come and gone but a few stars hang on on to the sky
The wind's runnin' free but it ain't up to me ask why
The poets are demanding their pay
They've left me with nothin' to say
'cept hold me and tell me you'll be here to love me today
Just hold me and tell me that you'll be here to love me today

It's plain to see, the sun won't shine today
But I ain't in the mood for sunshine anyway
Maybe I'll go insane
I got to stop the pain
Or maybe I'll go down to see Kathleen.

A swallow comes and tells me of her dreams
She says she'd like to know just what they mean
I feel like I could die
As I watch her flying by
Ride the north wind down to see Kathleen.

Stars hang high above, the oceans roar
The moon is come to lead me to her door
There's crystal across the sand
And the waves, they take my hand.
Soon I'm gonna see my sweet Kathleen.

Soon I'm gonna see my sweet Kathleen

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 pleads sadly
Has it all come to this?
And I wonder, will she call my name?

Well 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

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


Well Illusions projected
On walls made of tiffany
Mad minuets 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
And her arms surround me
Like chains made of velvet
And the demons fall faithfully
Into their place
And the river runs 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
Her face was crystalFair and fineAnd her breath was morningAnd her lips were wineAnd her eyes were laughterAnd her touch divineAnd her face was crystalAnd she was mine
If only sheCould feel my painBut feelin' is a burdenShe can't sustainSo like a summer ThursdayI cry for rainTo come and turnThe ground to green again

If only sheCould hear my songs'bout the empty difference'tween the rights and wrongsThen I know that ICould stand aloneAs well as theyNow that she's gone
Her face was crystalFair and fineAnd her breath was morningAnd her lips were wineAnd her eyes were laughterAnd her touch divineAnd her face was crystalAnd she was mine

My lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom
The moon's dancin' purple
All through her black hair
And a ladies-in-waiting she stands 'neath my window
And the sun will rise soon on the false and the fair

She tells me she comes from my mother the mountain
Her skin fits her tightly
And her lips do not lie
She silently slips from her throat a medallion
Slowly she twirls it in front of my eyes

I watch her, I love her, I long for to touch her
The satin she's wearin'
Is shimmering blue
Outside my window her ladies are sleeping
My dogs have gone hunting
The howling is through

So I reach for her hand and her eyes turns to poison
And her hair turns to splinters,
And her flesh turns to brine
She leaps cross the room, she stands in the window
And screams that my first-born
Will surely be blind

She throws herself out to the black of the nightfall
She's parted her lips
But she makes not a sound
I fly down the stairway, and I run to the garden
No trace of my true love
Is there to be found

So walk these hills lightly, and watch who you're lovin'
By mother the mountain
I swear that it's true
Love not a woman with hair black as midnight
And her dress made of satin
All shimmering blue

By townes van zandt

You're wakin' next to me
Tears splash across the sun
You whisper soft to me
That I ain't the only one
To breathe your yellow hair
Caress your bosom fair
Do you think I really care?
Do you think it matters?

What do your feelings mean?
Do you think I'd love more
If you stood pure and clean
Of those you'd known before
Would your words be sweeter then
Upon November's wind
If you began again
Could your smile be softer?

Would your eyes more brightly shine?
Would your laughter be so tender?
If you'd been only mine
For as long as you remember?

I don't want tears from you
Don't build your love on shame
All that we've done is through
And all we can do remains
My lady can't you see
I love not jealously
But for all you are to me
And all you'll be tomorrow

When she had twenty years she turned to her mother
Saying Mother, I know that you'll grieve
But I've given my soul to St John the gambler
Tomorrow comes time leave
For the hills cannot hold back my sorrow forever
And dead men lay deep 'round the door
The only salvation thats mine for the asking
So mother, think on me no more

Winter held high round the mountains breast
And the cold of a thousand snows
Lay heaped upon the forests leaf
But she dressed in calico
For a gambler likes his women fancy
Fancy she would be
And the fire of her longing would keep way the cold
And her dress was a sight to see

But the road was long beneath the feet
She followed her frozen breath
In search of a certain St John the gambler
Stumbling to her death
She heard his laughter right down from the mountains
And danced with her mothers tears
To a funeral drawn a calico
'neath the cross of twenty years

To a funeral drawn a calico
'neath the cross of twenty years

The name she gave was caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her

She came from spencer
Across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
'cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter

She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labor

But the times were hard, lord,
The jobs were few
All through tecumseh valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at gypsy sally's

She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her pa had died
The word come down from spencer

So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her

They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to gypsy sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... tecumseh valley

The name she gave was caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her

Mr. Ten Dollar man
Let me tell where you're bound
Drink your green liqour, Lord
You'll roll to the ground
But you come around here
With your money in your hand
Taste of my woman
You die where you stand

Snake Mountain blues
They got me down low
I could die in the morning
But noone would know
My woman come 'round
My body she'd find
Go down to Dundee
Have her a time

Snake Mountain's
Gonna crumble Lord
And fall from the sky
Before that woman of mine
Stops tellin' her lies
If I'd die Lord she'd weep
She'd weep and she'd mourn
Soon as I's buried
Forget I'd been born

Love of black-skinned woman
She won't do you no wrong
Slow to start moanin'
She don't moan for long
A yellow-headed woman
Brings you nothin' but pain
Take all you give her
She leaves only shame

My Daddy, Lord he rides
On a long holy train
First winds of winter
I'll see him again
It's farewell to this yellow
Headed misery I've known
Snake Mountain's callin'
Callin' me home

Snake Mountain blues
They got me down low
I could die in the mornin'
No one would know
My woman come around
My body she'd find
Go down to Dundee
Have her a time

By townes van zandt

My home is Colorado
With her proud mountains tall
Where the rivers, like gypsys
Down her black canyons fall
But I'm a long, long way from Denver
With a long way to go
So lend an ear to my singing
Cause I'll be back no more

Well I left as a young man
Not full seventeen
With nothin' for company
But the wind and a dream
'bout all the fast ladies
And livin' I'd find
When I left my proud mountains
And rivers behind

So I rolled and a-rambled
Like a leaf in the wind
Well, I found my fast ladies
And some hard livin' men
Well, I sometimes went hungry
With my pockets all bare
Lord, I sometimes had good luck
With money to spare

Well I made me some friends, lord,
That I won't soon forget
Well some are down under
And some are rambling yet
But as for me
Well I'm headed for home
Back to high Colorado
Never more for to roam

So friends, when my time comes
As surely it will
You just carry my body
Out to some lonesome hill
And lay me down easy
Where the cool rivers run
With only my mountains
'tween me and the sun

Yeah my home is Colorado

By townes van zandt

Like silent she stands
Like laughter she falls
From a castle of sand
Like a memory she calls
And the mockingbirds grieve
'cause they can't make her cry
And they'll soon start to believe
That the lady has died
Oh what it all goes to show
It ain't my job to say
For who am I to know
Why she's actin' this way

Oh once again turn away
If you're sure that it's done
Tell your prophets to pray
Tell your bandits to run
Take your eyelids of stone
They won't do you no harm
And take your cross made of bones
Take your your fly-paper arms
And when everything's placed
In your coffin of gold
Throw a scarf 'round your face
'cause the subway gets cold


Pack up your sunflower smile
And your bandana blues
Take your worthless denials
They're all you've got left to lose
Take your tinkerbell lies
And your weary desires
Take the tears in your eyes
Take your cup full of fire
Ah give your lover a call
If your legs start to fail
And he'll come break your fall
With a bed full of nails

No need to glance back again
There ain't nothin' to see
Just this drunken old man
And this woman and me
And you've made it quite plain
That we're just wastin' time
And you say it seems strange
That I'm staying behind
But don't you worry 'bout me
I can make it alone
'cause I got no place to be
And I ain't far from home