tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4775955554050052451.post7206772453776829943..comments2023-04-03T07:08:03.903-04:00Comments on ninetymilewind: The Vital Visionchromeheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08033332691491146650noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4775955554050052451.post-12436109573347625552008-11-06T00:43:00.000-05:002008-11-06T00:43:00.000-05:00Ah, you gotta love Townes. He is one of my true mu...Ah, you gotta love Townes. He is one of my true musical heroes. I fell under the spell of his magic in 1969 when I found his first album for ten cents (literally—it still has the sticker on it) in a cut-out bin in a supermarket in Chico, California, where I was going to college and trying to write and perform songs. He was such an interesting contradiction. As a singer he did Ramblin' Jack and Dylan one better, with an incredibly impressive, uncultivated voice (talk/croaking as much as singing) and a unique writing style, at once colloquial and ungrammatical, while richly poetic and occasionally mystical—often all at the same time.<BR/> <BR/>The great thing about "To Live is to Fly" (and a number of his songs) is that it has a Garrison Keillor style narrative structure. Keillor starts telling a story by talking about a concept or event, then his narrative seems to soar off wildly in some other direction until you have pretty well forgotten the starting point. Suddenly, just at the right time, he brings back that original point and you see it, brought home beautifully and hilariously in a punchline that ties the whole piece together.<BR/><BR/>Townes' song is a song of seduction, the musician's pitch for a one night stand..., his "Carpe Diem" (or it could be a song for a wife or girl that must be left behind)<BR/><BR/>"Won't say I love you, babe<BR/>Won't say I need you, babe<BR/>But I'm gonna' get you, babe<BR/>And I will not do you wrong<BR/><BR/>Living's mostly wasting time<BR/>And I waste my share of mine<BR/>But it never feels too good<BR/>So let's don't take too long<BR/><BR/>Well, you're soft as glass and I'm a gentle man<BR/>We got the sky to talk about<BR/>And the world to lie upon"<BR/><BR/>"Days up and down they come<BR/> Like rain on a conga drum<BR/> Forget most, remember some<BR/> Oh, but don't turn none away"<BR/><BR/>As you say, it is the life of the itinerant musician, the loneliness and fleeting companionship, the dicey sound system and chancy audience, the constant leaving and arriving and leaving again. In the end, he brings it back around by pointing out to the woman that "we've all got holes to fill" (I don't think the sexual pun was intended, but Townes was not above that sort of thing) and the admonition that "the choice is yours to make...so shake the dust off of your wings and the tears out of your eye."<BR/><BR/>The strange similes and jarring, but apt, imagery: "Soft as glass?" or "Like rain on a conga drum?" The rhyme scheme is extremely unusual, as well. It almost appears as if there is none, but consonance, rhyme and internal rhyme occur in the stanzas in an apparently nonchalant, but, in fact, meticulously repeating pattern.<BR/><BR/>Clearly, your point is not to imitate Townes. He is inimitable. However, following his lead by visualizing the details that allow the listener to share and be moved by an experience is essential to powerful song writing. <BR/><BR/>Long live the song writer...Long live Townes Van Zandt.Tim McMullenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840770464754311701noreply@blogger.com