Townes Van Zandt Album

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
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
My sorrow is real even though I can't change my plans
If she could see how I feel then I know that she'd understand
Does she actually think I'm to blame
Does she really believe that some word of mine
Could relieve all her pain
Can't she see that she grieves just because she's been blindly deceived
By her shame
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong

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
It's only to herself that she's lied
She likes to pretend there's something that she should defend with her pride
I don't intend to stand her and be the friend from whom she must hide
Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song
Who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong

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

Well it's many a fine lady that's walked along beside me
With their flesh made of velvet and their eyes made of rain
Well some tried to hold me to hurt me to hide me
And some turned away not to look back again

One stood among them I remember most clearly
Well her sorrows were heavy and her laughter was slow
Well I courted her gently and I loved her most dearly
And I came her majestic reflection to know

Her words like a mountain stood lonely and lofty
With her face like a daydream and her hair like the shawl
Worn by a mourner as he steals away softly
From those that would have him mourn nothing at all

Endlessly sorrow rode high on the north wind
Slashing and slicing to take him his toll
And endlessly creatures of darkness were cuttin'
Their paths through the walls that shelter the soul

But no longer gypsy lie sadness unending
Well her eyes they lay hollow and her face petrified
Well, the sun will go laughin' and others condemn him
But who there among you could have told her good-bye

Well, a diamond fades quickly when matched to the face of Maria
All the harps they sound empty when she lifts her lips to the sky
Ah the brown of her skin makes her hair seem a soft golden rainfall
that spills from the mountains to the bottomless depths of her eyes

She stands all around me her hands slowly siftin' the sunshine
All the laughter that lingers down deep 'neath her smilin' is free
Well, it spins and it twirls like a hummingbird lost in the morning
then caresses the south wind and silently sails to the sea

As softly she wanders I'll desperately follow her footsteps
I chase after shadows that offer a trace of her sigh
They promise eternally that she lies hidden within them
but I find they've decieved me and sadly I bid them goodbye

So the serpent slides slowly away with his moments of laughter
and the old washer-woman has finished her cleanin' and gone
but the bamboo hangs heavy in the bondage of quicksilver daydreams
and a lonely child longingly looks for a place to belong

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 on gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round 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, she headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Seemed easier than just a-waitin' 'round 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, drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years, just a-waitin' 'round to die

Now I'm out of prison, I got me a friend at last
He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie
His name's codeine, he's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die

There's no stronger wind than the one that blows
Bown a lonesome railroad line
No prettier sight than looking back
On a town you left behind
There is nothin' that's as real
As a love that's in my mind

Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while

There's lots of things along the road
I'd surely like to see
I'd like to lean into the wind
And tell myself I'm free
But your softest whisper's louder
Than the highways call to me

All the mountains and the rivers
And the valleys can't compare
To your blue lit dancin' eyes
And yellow shining hair
I could never hit the open road
And leave you layin' there

Lay your head back easy, love,
Close your cryin' eyes
I'll be layin' here beside you
When the sun comes on the rise
I'll stay as long as the cuckoo wails
And the lonesome bluejay cries

When the bandits have stolen your jewelry and gone
And your crippled young gypsy, he's grown tall and strong
And your dead misconceptions have proven you wrong
Well then, princess, where you plannin' to turn to?

When your magazine memory has spun you around
And you realize your lovers were just painted clowns
And outside your window you start hearing sounds
Where they're building a cross for to burn you

When all your bright scarlet turns slowly to blue
Will you stop and decide that it's over?

When your teardrops go sour and no longer fall
The splash cross the virgin that lives down your hall
And spends all her nights with an ear to your wall
Well then, what will you have you can offer?

When the firedancers finish and leave you alone
With nothing but embers and sacks full of stone
That hang round your neck, slicing through to the bone
Will there still be a place for your laughter?

When all your bright scarlet turns slowly to blue
Will you stop and decide that it's over?

As your shattered illusions come a-tumblin' home
And all of the butchers you've nourished have grown
And they're are suddenly able to leave you alone
And they run like slaves that are set free

When your questions are answered and your pleadin' is done
And your mind starts to a-screamin' that you ain't the one
That once dwelled within you, will you turn, will you run
Then princess, will you come home and get me?

When all your bright scarlet turns slowly to blue
Will you stop and decide that it's over?

When all your bright scarlet turns slowly to blue
Will you stop and decide that it's over?

I'll play upon my violin
Until the mountains ring
Of lonely laughter blindly thrown
Across an endless arc of strings
And the skies are sad
They're dancin' to a silent symphony
And the velvet voices all shall join
The singing

The hall is filled to every corner
By a tinkling hint of chimes
A melody careens and crumbles
Leaving just a trace behind
A rhythm ??? faintly fails
The silver on it's wings
And the velvet voices all shall join
The singing

The cymbals flash, the drums they crash
The trumpets rise to song
The brass baton plucks bits diamonds
From a glittering wall of almost dawn
The crystal chords they slash the wind
In humble majesty
And the velvet voices all shall join
The singing

Well, I ain't very big for twenty-one
And it seems like I never could have any good clean fun
Cause every time I'd go outside some great big ol' bully'd come along
He'd hit me in the face and he'd knock me to the ground
And he'd start kickin' me all around
And that ain't exactly fair, friends, that's wrong.

So I got me a paper the other night
And I crawled up on the sofa and I turned on the light
And flipped through the pages till I found the classified ads.
Said, "take karate from Lee Hung Chow;
Man, make your first appointment now
This course is guaranteed to make you bad."

Well, the next day I drove to the address
And by the Japanese design I was really impressed
It looked like a regular house of the rising sun
I walked inside, I was all alone
I had a nervous feeling down in my bones
I was kind of sorry I'd ever even come

Then a giant Jap came through the door
He must have been at least about seven foot four
And he looked like he's prone to easy aggrevation.
He said, "Lee Hung Chow, ah kee dung"
That's japanese for fee fie foo fum
I tried to explain my entire situation.

He said, "number one course, Yankee, self defence,
Two hundred dollars and twenty five cents";
I said "what's the twenty five cents for? " and he said, "repairs."
I said, "repairs to what? ", and he said "to you"
And I thought to myself "man, that won't do"
Felt about a half inch tall underneath that ol' slanted stare

Ah, you think he was yella ...

I said, "I believe I better go check another place"
He said hostile, "Yankee don't like my race"
I said, "now, there's a mistake, man, and that's true;
I've been for you you Japanese all along
You Japanese just can't do no wrong
And I thought you got a mighty dirty deal in World War II"

Well, he grabbed me by the hand and he gave a heave
I figured there's a pretty good time to leave
Before he had a chance to do me any definite harm.
But my plan worked out in the end, you see,
Now no bully is gonna pick on me
Who's gonna hit a fellow with just one arm?

You live on your hill so high and so lonely
You toss out your bread crumbs to those down below
They think you're a king, believe me it's only
Because they're too blinded to know

Your castle is dingy and dirty and dismal
Your carpets are faded, your walls are all grey
There's dust on your silver and cracks in your crystal
And all your young servants have drifted away

Well, there once was a time when your money had meaning
Your diamonds had glitter but now it's all gone
It poisoned your laughter and muffled your singing
You can't even see that it's wrong

Your castle is dingy and dirty and dismal
Your carpets are faded, your walls are all grey
There's dust on your silver and cracks in your crystal
And all your young servants have drifted away

So go back to your sadness, go back to your sorrow
I'll make my bed on a hill 'neath the sky
And lay there a-listening 'till the sun comes tomorrow
Counting the tears that you cry

Oh, your castle is dingy and dirty and dismal
Your carpets are faded, your walls are all grey
There's dust on your silver and cracks in your crystal
And all your young servants have drifted away

Your castle is dingy and dirty and dismal
Your carpets are faded, your walls are all grey

Let me tell you a story 'bout a girl I knew
Fairest skin with eyes of blue
I swear to the lord that I loved her true
It's a year now she's been gone

Well her spirit was as bright as the soft sunshine
Lips the color of strawberry wine
I wish to God she still was mine
But the chance won't come again

After first we lay in love's sweet bed
With one look at her eyes I might have read
All the pain that was flyin' through her head
Through my guilt I could not see

Oh, I turned to her when the mornin' came
Hungry thoughts racin' through my brain
But the knife in her heart screamed herself she'd slain
And a note whispered love too soon

Oh her old man screamed and her mother cried
All I could do was to wonder why
A girl in her youth was forced to die
Is lovin' such a crime?

She died (few in years) with breasts still small
Seeing sixteens summers and fifteen falls
Me and my blindness never realized all
The fear she kept inside

Let me tell you a story 'bout a girl I knew
Fairest skin with eyes of blue
I swear to the lord that I loved her true