TOWNES VAN ZANDT - TO LIVE IS TO FLY

TO LIVE IS TO FLY

TOWNES VAN ZANDT

SONGWRITER: TOWNES VAN ZANDT

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: HIGH, LOW AND IN BETWEEN

LABEL: POPPY

GENRE: COUNTRY ROCK

YEAR: 1971

High, Low and In Between is an album by country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1971. The album was recorded in L.A. and showcases what Van Zandt himself considered to be one of his most well written songs, "To Live Is To Fly".

"To Live Is to Fly" is a song written by Townes Van Zandt. The name is also that of a biography about the songwriter, by the name To Live's to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt. It was covered by Wade Bowen on his album The Given. It was also covered by Cowboy Junkies on their album Black Eyed Man.

John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997), best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American songwriter. He is widely regarded for his poetic, often heroically sad songs. In 1983, six years after Emmylou Harris had first popularized it, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song "Pancho and Lefty", scoring a number one hit on the Billboard country music charts. Much of his 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.

He suffered from a series of drug addictions, alcoholism, and 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. The 2000s saw a resurgence of interest in Van Zandt. During the decade, two books, a documentary film titled Be Here to Love Me, and a number of magazine articles about the singer were written.

Won't say I love you, babe

Won't say I need you, babe

But I'm gonna get you babe

And I will not do you wrong

Living's mostly wasting time

And I'll waste my share of mine

But it never feels too good

So let's don't take too long

You're soft as glass

And I'm a gentle man

We got the sky to talk about

And the earth to lie upon

Days, up and down they come

Like rain on a congadrum

Forget most remember some

But don't turn none away

Everything is not enough

And nothin' is too much to bear

Where you been is good and gone

All you keep is the getting there

To live is to fly

Low and high

So shake the dust off of your wings

And the sleep out of your eyes

Goodbye to all my friends

It's time to go again

Think of all the poetry

And the pickin' down the line

I'll miss the system here

The bottom's low

And the treble's clear

But it don't pay to think too much

On things you leave behind

I will be gone

But it won't be long

I will be a'bringin' back the melodies

And rhythm that I find

We all got holes to fill

Them holes are all that's real

Some fall on you like a storm

Sometimes you dig your own

The choice is yours to make

Time is yours to take

Some sail upon/dive into the sea

Some toil upon the stone

To live is to fly

Low and high

So shake the dust off of your wings

And the sleep out of your eyes

Shake the dust off of your wings

And the tears out of your eyes.