The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Album - 1972 - Debaser id 122936

I ain't gonna sing no lonesome tune
Ah, babe, I'm a-commin' soon
I cannot believe I stayed so long away
But a man must look around
And you're the sweetest thing I've found
Your lost high roller's rollin' home today

My daddy said to me
son, it's hard as you will see
To find someone upon whom to rely
In the kitchen mama sneezed
And he grinned big as you please
Said bless you and a tear come to his eye

I did decide that very day
That I would like to live that way
And now I know I just been wastin' time
It's with you that I should be
If you feel the same 'bout me
I'm headed home along the straightest line

By townes van zandt

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 turn 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 place for your laughter?

As your shattered illusions come a-tumblin' home
And all of the butchers you've nourished have grown
And they are suddenly able to leave you alone
And they run like slaves that are set free
When your questions are answered and your pleading is done
And your mind starts to screaming 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?

Well if your baby leaves you,
And you got no place to go,
Come and see me darlin',
And bring along some dough.
(Chorus)
And we'll go honky tonkin, honky tonkin
Honky tonkin, honky tonkin
We'll go honkin tonkin 'round this town.
If you and your old man,
Have a fallin' out,
Well you come and see me darlin,
And we'll go steppin' out.
(chorus)
I'm headin' out to the city,
To the city fair,
If you wanna do the boogie babe,
You can meet me there.
(chorus) x2

By townes van zandt

Snow don't fall
On summers time
Wind don't blow
Below the sea
My loves lies
'neath frozen skies
And waits in sweet
Repose for me

Her eyes did laugh
Her lips did sing
Her legs did roll
My soul to bring
Her hair did curl
And her thoughts unfurled
Like birds upon
The wings of spring

My love I need not see
To know she cast her glance at me

Snow don't fall
On summers time
Wind don't blow
Below the sea
My loves lies
'neath frozen skies
And waits in sweet
Repose for me

Far across the blue water lives an old german's daughter
By the banks of the old river rhine
Where i loved her and left her but i can't forget her
I miss my pretty fraulein

Fraulein, fraulein, look up toward the heavens
Each night when the starts start to shine
By the same stars above you, i swear that i love you
You are my pretty fraulein

<instrumental interlude-"country fiddle">

When my memories wander a-way over yonder
To the sweetheart that i left behind
In a moment of glory a face comes before me
The face of my pretty fraulein

Fraulein, fraulein, walk down by the river
Pretend that your hand's holdin' mine
By the same stars above you i swear that i love you
You are my pretty fraulein

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