Crossposted at MyDD
"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." — Steve Earle.
I’m big fan of Townes Van Zandt. Unlike Steve Earle, I never had the opportunity to know or play music with him. Anyhoo, I had to work late last night to meet a report deadline, so I did what I often do: dialed my iPod to the TVZ collection and put it on shuffle. For hours, many of Townes’ best tunes pumped through my headphones while I wrote the narrative sections of my scientific report and formatted table after table.
More after the fold.
I came to a good stopping point, and poked my head into MyDD for a quick peek around, knowing there would likely be some "interesting" diaries and comments in the wake of Senator Obama having secured the Democratic nomination for President. Boy howdy. The last thing I did before I finally went to bed last night was read a diary that described an (all but finished) Presidential candidate with a precious metals simile-- specifically, polished gold.
Generally, the diary was all I’ve come to expect from the diarist. It was flowery, folksy, more than a little devotional, and almost entirely cut and pasted from somewhere else. That said, it was (apart from some odd snippets from the block quoted candidate herself) unusually free of the fact bending spin frequently adorns the diarist’s work.
As I’ve noted, little of this diary was self-written, but among the sparse lines that were, I found myself struck by the following:
Hillary - we're still waiting at the foot of that mountain and you're the only one who can beat McCain and help our nation climb back up to the top.
The only one who can beat McCain? And then there was this:
...I for one hope you take this fight to the Credentials Committee, and then to the floor of the convention.
Right, that’s a fantastic plan. We all know how that has worked out in the past.
So not only did we NOT see a concession of any kind from Senator Clinton, it appeared we shouldn’t expect one from some of the MyDD stalwarts either. How unfortunate. When I awoke this morning, one of my favorite TVZ songs, Lungs, kept running through my head, and it struck me that the lyrics were well suited to the endgame that’s now unfolding before us as the Primary draws to a conclusion. Have a look:
Well, won't you lend your lungs to me?
Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly breathe
Up the time that's passing.
Breath I'll take and breath I'll give
Pray the day ain't poison
Stand among the ones that live
In lonely indecision.
Wow. Sound like the hardcore dead-enders, or what?
Fingers walk the darkness down
Mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found
You fool, it's only moonlight.
If you try to take it home
Your hands will turn to butter
You better leave this dream alone
Try to find another.
Here’s the gold reference that probably lead me to associate the song with the situation.
Salvation sat and crossed herself
Called the devil partner
Wisdom burned upon a shelf
Who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth
Take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries
Bathe in fiery answers
Heard any angry "I’ll never vote for Obama" threats lately? Get the feeling a small but select group is trying to hold back a flood?
Jesus was an only son
And love his only concept
Strangers cry in foreign tongues
And dirty up the doorstep
And I for one, and you for two
Ai'nt got the time for outside
Just keep your injured looks to you
We'll tell the world we tried
Hmmmmm...
"I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve [Earle] could get anywhere near his coffee table." — Townes Van Zandt.
Townes was a funny guy, and an inspirational and immensely gifted songwriter. Any thoughts?
P.S. If you don’t know about Townes, I can’t recommend his music enough. Heres a trailer from an excellent documentary about him: