Townes Van Zandt – Waiting Around To Die

Once in a while, I’ll listen to a song that is so good that it’s beyond a normal song. It happens when lyrics can tell a story just right..in a real down-to-earth way. Few fit in this category…this song does. Townes said it was the first song he ever wrote. If so…that would be like painting the Mona Lisa on your first try.

He lived in an apartment with his first wife Fran and he converted a walk-in closet into a studio. Fran said that he wrote the song in there and she was disappointed that he didn’t write a happy or a love song.

“Waitin’ Around to Die” was first recorded for Van Zandt’s 1968 studio debut called For the Sake of the Song. It’s a dark song that encapsulates the pain, despair, and struggle that can engulf a person’s life. It also foretold Van Zandt’s life and ending in a lot of ways.

Townes was diagnosed with depression in his sophomore year of college. His father, Harris Williams Van Zandt, was a corporate lawyer. Townes tried to follow in his footsteps but dropped out of school to become a musician. Earlier in grade school, his friend Guy Clark said that Van Zandt found out that the sun was slowly burning out. Clark thinks that after that he didn’t take much seriously in life.

He was born John Townes Van Zandt in Fort Worth, Texas, into a wealthy oil family whose prestige was known throughout the state. His great-great-grandfather Khleber Miller Van Zandt became president of both a construction company and a bank, the Fort Worth National Bank. Khleber’s own dad, Isaac Van Zandt, was a leader of the Republic of Texas. Van Zandt County, located in the northeastern part of the state, was named for Isaac in 1848.

Townes Van Zandt died on New Year’s Day in 1997 at age 52, exactly 44 years after the death of his idol, Hank Williams.

Townes Van Zandt: “I talked to this old man for a while, and he kinda put out these vibrations.  I was sitting at the bar of the Jester Lounge one afternoon drinking beer, thinking about him, and just wrote it down …..Sometimes I don’t know where this dirty road is taking me/Sometimes I can’t see the reason why/But I guess I’ll keep rambling/Lots of booze and lots of gambling/Well, it’s easier than waitin’ round to die.”

Townes Van Zandt:  “I have a few others like that that I don’t play all the time. I have to watch that when I do shows. I have to stay away from that side because nobody wants to hear blues on blues on blues.”

Waiting Around To Die

Sometimes I don’t know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I don’t even know the reason why
But I guess I keep a-gamblin’
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin’
Well it’s easier than just a-waitin’ around to die

One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
Well he beat her with a belt once ’cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to Tennessee
Well it’s easier than just a-waitin’ around to die

Well I came of age and I found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to hide the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Well it’s easier than just waitin’ around 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
And drug me back to Muskogee
Two long years waitin’ around to die

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

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

31 thoughts on “Townes Van Zandt – Waiting Around To Die”

  3. I like his country voice, and even though I have heard of him, I don’t know any of his music. This song reminds of something that Dylan might have done. In approximately five billion years, our own sun will transition to the red giant phase. I guess that in one way or another, we are all waiting around to die.

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  4. I have heard of him but, know little of his music.

    Van Zandt County, in between Dallas & Tyler. I have driven thru it several times, on my way back to NC on I-20. He had deep roots, there.

    Diagnosed as bi-polar. Poor thing.

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    1. Sorry I missed this…I don’t know how I did but…
      He is such a great writer…just terrific…as a song writer…it’s something that yea…I could never top…about all of his stuff is like that.

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  5. I know a bit about his music but not much about the man so that was interesting. I love his songwriting but never grabbed on to his voice. Hence I listen to a lot of his songs covered by others. Was that a little Guy Clark bonus I heard at the beginning of that first clip?

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  8. Unlike Townes. CB isn’t “waiting around”, he’s enjoying every moment he can and a few of those moments are listening to TVZ. Unique and one of a kind. Every time you pull up this kind of music you set the craving for more. Did this make it onto any top 10 radio lists? Just kidding.

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  9. Well, now I’m uplifted and ready to face the day! I see what you mean about the lyrics. ‘Tuscaloosca bar’ is the perfect fit. ‘Baltimore bar’ or ‘Sacramento bar’ wouldn’t work but this name nails it.

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    1. Yea it’s not a happy one…
      Unlike Dylan he didn’t use word play…just straight ahead self destructive content…but it fit like you said.

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  10. not bad, but I like what he says about no one wanting to hear blues upon blues upon blues! I’ve heard his name but didn’t really know much at all about him, for some time I used to think he was related to those LS/38 Special Van Zants, but of course it’s spelled differently anyway!

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  11. Now I feel like a jerk for not reading this post earlier. The amount of time you took to research this had to be a lot. So much good info on Townes’ family. I knew he came from a wealthy oil family but none of the other details. So he was friends with Guy since grade school and it’s possible that was the beginning of his path, learning about the sun. He’s one of the greatest of the greats in my book. A boddhisatva sent here and being ok with suffering to get the message across.

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    1. No…hey I do the same thing to you. We have so many to read Lisa…
      I love this song…just love it. Yes it’s sad but it’s so true in many ways…like I said…if it was really his first song…is is incredible.

      Townes could have told Guy that he found that out in grade school…I’m not sure he knew him then. It wasn’t clear on that but he just made that statement.
      His relatives were important people in Texas for sure.

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      1. When I hear different versions of what happened to Townes, I remember how important his relatives were and how they might make sure whatever was printed showed them in a positive light. In the doc, Townes was partying hearty at college and fell off of a balcony and shortly after ended up in the psychiatric ward, where they did their “treatments” i.e. tortures on him. Of course the word says he was mentally ill, but I don’t believe it. He was on a mission.

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      2. Yes he was on a mission… his songwriting is so pure…like I told someone…he avoided word play and just told it straight out. This one sure turns ominous at the end…and he fell into those last lines. If this is his first song like he said…my God what a talent.

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    1. When I hear his songs…I’m astounded… he has to be in the conversation of the great songwriters. He has such an easy style of singing…

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