In 1983, six years after Emmylou Harris had first popularized it, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song "Pancho and Lefty", reaching number one on the Billboard country music chart. Much of Van Zandt’s life was spent touring various dive bars, often living in cheap motel rooms and backwoods cabins. For much of the 1970s, he lived in a simple shack without electricity or a phone.
His influence has been cited by countless artists across multiple genres, and his music has been recorded or performed by numerous artists, including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, The Counting Crows, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen Jr., Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Wade Bowen, Gillian Welch, Pat Green and Natalie Maines.
He suffered from a series of drug addictions, alcoholism, and was given a psychiatric diagnosis of bipolar disorder. When he was young, the now-discredited insulin shock therapy erased much of his long-term memory.
Van Zandt died on New Years Day 1997 from cardiac arrythmia caused by health problems stemming from years of substance abuse. A revival of interest in Van Zandt occurred in the 2000s. During the decade, two books, a documentary film (Be Here to Love Me), and numerous magazine articles about the singer were written.
Born in Fort Worth into a wealthy family, Van Zandt was a third-great-grandson of Isaac Van Zandt (a prominent leader of the Republic of Texas) and a second great-nephew of Khleber Miller Van Zandt (a major in the Confederate army and one of the founders of Fort Worth). Van Zandt County in east Texas was named after his family in 1848.
Townes's parents were Harris Williams Van Zandt (1913–1966) and Dorothy Townes (1919–1983). He had two siblings, Bill and Donna (1941–2011). Harris was a corporate lawyer, and his career required the family to move several times during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952, the family transplanted from Fort Worth to Midland, Texas, for six months before moving to Billings, Montana.
At Christmas in 1956, Townes's father gave him a guitar, which he practiced while wandering the countryside. He would later tell an interviewer that "watching Elvis Presley's October 28, 1956, performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was the starting point for me becoming a guitar player... I just thought that Elvis had all the money in the world, all the Cadillacs and all the girls, and all he did was play the guitar and sing. That made a big impression on me." In 1958 the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. Van Zandt would remember his time in Colorado fondly and would often visit it as an adult. He would later refer to Colorado in "My Proud Mountains", "Colorado Girl", and "Snowin' on Raton". Townes was a good student and active in team sports. In grade school, he received a high IQ score, and his parents began grooming him to become a lawyer or senator. Fearing that his family would move again, he willingly decided to attend the Shattuck School, in Faribault, Minnesota. He received a score of 1170 when he took the SAT in January 1962. His family soon moved to Houston, Texas.
The University of Colorado at Boulder accepted Van Zandt as a student in 1962. In the spring of his second year, his parents flew to Boulder to bring Townes back to Houston, apparently worried about his binge drinking and episodes of depression. They admitted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was diagnosed with manic depression. He received three months of insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory. Afterwards, his mother claimed her "biggest regret in life was that she had allowed that treatment to occur". In 1965, he was accepted into the University of Houston's pre-law program. Soon after he attempted to join the Air Force, but was rejected because of a doctor's diagnosis that labelled him "an acute manic-depressive who has made minimal adjustments to life". He quit school around 1967, having been inspired by his singer-songwriter heroes to pursue a career in playing music.
Van Zandt was addicted to heroin and alcohol throughout his adult life. At times he would become drunk on stage and forget the lyrics to his songs. At one point, his heroin habit was so intense that he offered Kevin Eggers the publishing rights to all of the songs on each of his first four albums for $20. At various points, his friends saw him shoot up not just heroin, but also cocaine, vodka, as well as a mixture of rum and Coke. On at least one occasion, he shot up heroin in the presence of his son J.T., who was only eight years old at the time.
As a result of Van Zandt's constant drinking, Harold Eggers, Kevin's brother, was hired on as his tour manager and 24-hour caretaker in 1976, a partnership that would last for the rest of the singer's life. Although the musician was many years older than he was, Eggers would later say that Van Zandt was his "first child." His battles with addiction led him to be admitted to rehab almost a dozen times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Medical records from his time in recovery centers show that he believed his drinking had become a problem around 1973, and by 1982 he was drinking at least a pint of vodka daily. Doctors' notes reported: "He admits to hearing voices, mostly musical voices", and "Affect is blunted and mood is sad. Judgment and insight is impaired." At various points in his life, he was prescribed to take the antidepressant Zoloft and the mood stabilizer lithium. His final and longest period of sobriety during his adult life was a period of about a year in 1989 and 1990.
Van Zandt has been referred to as a cult musician and "a songwriter's songwriter." Musician Steve Earle, who met him in 1978 and considered Van Zandt a mentor, once called Van Zandt "the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." The quote was printed on a sticker featured on the packing of At My Window, much to Van Zandt's displeasure. In the years following, the quote was often cited by the press, much to Van Zandt and Earle's embarrassment; in 2009, Earle told the New York Times, "Did I ever believe that Townes was better than Bob Dylan? No." But he concluded at the end of the same article that, "As a songwriter, you won't find anybody better." Earle has championed the songwriter on a number of occasions: his eldest son, Justin Townes Earle, also a musician, is named after Van Zandt. Earle wrote the song "Fort Worth Blues" as a tribute to the singer in the late 1990s, and in 2009 released an album titled Townes, which featured all covers of Van Zandt songs.
His Texas-grounded impact stretched farther than country. He has been cited as a source of inspiration by such notable artists as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Guthrie Thomas, John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Chelsea Wolfe, Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Cowboy Junkies, Vetiver, Guy Clark, Devendra Banhart, Norah Jones, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Be Good Tanyas and Jolie Holland, Rowland S. Howard, Michael Weston King, Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch, Garth Brooks, Simon Joyner, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon, Laura Marling, Andrew Adkins and Frank Turner. Folk musician Shakey Graves has credited his fast-paced, rhythmic style of finger picked guitar playing partially to Van Zandt's influence.
In 1994, Israeli singer David Broza performed with Van Zandt during a Writers in the Round concert in Houston. When Van Zandt died, he left a shoe box full of unreleased poems and lyrics with a request that Broza set them to music. The resulting album was Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt.
In 2012, Van Zandt was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In July 2012, Neurot Recordings released a three-way split album in tribute to Van Zandt, featuring Neurosis singer/guitarists Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till and doom/stoner metal legend Scott "Wino" Weinrich.
On June 18, 2015, Van Zandt was inducted into the second year's ceremony of the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame, along with Asleep at the Wheel, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark and Flaco Jimenez. Gillian Welch inducted Van Zandt by telling stories about how he had come to her early gigs in Nashville and how he had bolstered her confidence in writing sad songs.
Waitin' Around to Die
Townes Van Zandt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
One time, friends, I had a ma
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
I came of age and I found a girl
In a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, bought some wine
And hopped a train
Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die
A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years I've been waitin' around to die
Now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's Codine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Waiting Around To Die is a critically acclaimed song by Townes Van Zandt that is often considered an autobiographical account of his struggles and difficult experiences in life. The song talks about the singer's journey through life, the pain of his past, and how he eventually finds solace in the company of a friend.
The first two verses of the song describe the bleakness and hopelessness that the singer sees in his life. The dirty road that he is on leads him to gamble, drink and roam around without a real purpose. He just doesn't see any other way of living. In the second verse, he reveals that his childhood was full of violence as his mother was beaten by his father. His father left them, and he went to Tennessee while the singer chose a life of self-destruction because he perceived it to be easier than waiting around to die.
The next verse details a relationship with a woman in Tuscaloosa that ends with him being taken for everything he has. He buries his pain by drinking and finding temporary escape in hopping trains to different whereabouts. In the 4th verse, the singer is offered an opportunity for easy money by a friend. In a bid to make a quick score, he finds himself robbing someone and subsequently being caught by the police. He is sent to prison and must wait for two years around to die.
In the final verse, the singer provides a glimmer of hope in finding a friend named Codine who doesn't share his vices. Finally, he sees that there is someone who is worth living for and together they will wait around to die.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes I don't know where
At times, I have no idea about the destination of my journey
This dirty road is taking me
This unpleasant path I'm on is leading me somewhere
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
Occasionally, I don't even comprehend the purpose behind my actions
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
I suppose I continue to take risks and bet on unknown outcomes
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
I consume much alcohol and wander aimlessly around
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
Such a lifestyle is relatively simple compared to sitting still and waiting for death
One time, friends, I had a ma
At one point, my acquaintances, I had a mother
I even had a pa
I also had a father
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
He struck my mother with a belt for shedding tears
She told him to take care of me
She instructed him to look after me in her absence
Headed down to Tennessee
She then departed towards Tennessee
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
Leaving was a more comfortable choice than passively waiting for fate to take its course
I came of age and I found a girl
When I matured, I met a woman
In a Tuscaloosa bar
We encountered each other at a bar in Tuscaloosa
She cleaned me out and hid it on the sly
She emptied my wallet and kept it secret
I tried to kill the pain, bought some wine
To ease my distress, I purchased wine
And hopped a train
Then, I boarded a train
Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die
This choice appeared more preferable than remaining idle and waiting for the end
A friend said he knew
A friend told me that he had information
Where some easy money was
He knew where we could obtain money with little difficulty
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
We robbed an individual and wasted no time in fleeing the scene
The posse caught up with me
A group of law enforcement officials pursued and captured me
And drug me back to Muskogee
They then forced me to return to Muskogee
It's two long years I've been waitin' around to die
I have been sitting in captivity for a very long time, contemplating death
Now I'm out of prison
Presently, I have been released from jail
I got me a friend at last
Finally, I have found a companion
He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
My comrade neither drinks nor steals or cheats or lies
His name's Codine
He goes by the name of Codine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
He is the most pleasant entity I have encountered
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Together, we shall sit and await our eventual demise
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: Townes Van Zandt
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Páramo, Alejandra.
Sometimes I don't know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
I came of age and I found a girl
In a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, bought some wine
And hopped a train
Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die
A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years I've been waitin' around to die
Now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's Codine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Estevao Varela da Rosa
Singalongmtfkrs
Sometimes I don't know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just waitin' around to die
I came of age and I found a girl
In a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, bought some wine
And hopped a train
Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die
A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years I've been waitin' around to die
Now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's Codine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Dan D. Lyons
If you play this three times in a row at work (or twice along with his cover of "Dead Flowers"), someone from HR will stop by and ask if you're ok.
Clayton Hayward
One time at work someone asked me what I was listening to. I responded simply Townes Van Zandts cover of Dead Flowers. The next day, HR called me down to ask if I was going through anything and if they could help. I had never been more confused. Apparently an old timer overheard and knew the song well enough.
Bobby Boykin
😂😂😂
Jamison Watters
🙏🏻✌🏻🫶🏻🤙🏻🤘🏻🖕🏻
Julie Jones
@Tommy Gipson m
Patrick Ramesbottom
it's nice at 70 to accidently stumble across a talent like this
Caleb Shows2
Never too late. 23 myself, TVZ has been so influential to me as a person the past 3 years.
Jay •TX
Cheers brother
Bear
Same hear @76
EL KennedyStrat
Also seventy. Got to see him many times here in Texas. He was truly a gifted and tortured soul. Tragic at the highest level. RIP, brother.