Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')

Subject: Loop and Lil
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 11 Oct 06 - 02:12 PM

In the third verse of Townes Van Zandt's song If I Needed You he says,"Loop and Lil agree". Who are Loop and Lil?

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Oct 06 - 02:20 PM

His parakeets.

Peter

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil
From: Little Robyn
Date: 11 Oct 06 - 02:29 PM

I don't know the song but might it be '____ and you'll agree'?
Just a thought.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 11 Oct 06 - 02:48 PM

Nope - he said in no uncertain terms within my presence and has said on live albums, "Loop and Lil are parakeets."

Emmylou Harris changed it to "Who would ill agree" when she recorded the song with Don Williams. I guess you can't have a number one hit with unidentified parakeets in the chorus.

I have to admit it threw me for a Loop the first time I heard it - or was it a Lil?


Dan Schatz

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 11 Oct 06 - 02:54 PM

Well thanks Michuck and Dan. You too Little Robyn.
After reading Midchuck's response, I googled Loop and Lil and found this:
"He says that the lyrics were changed in the Emmylou and Doc Watson version to "Who could ill agree / she's a site to see / and a treasure for the poor to find." The original lyric was "Loop and Lil agree" and Loop and Lil were Townes' two parakeets. Loop was named after the North Loop drugstore in Austin where they used to buy codeine cough syrup and Lil was named after a girl Townes knew."

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST,Lindsay Haisley
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 02:18 AM

Loop and Lil were Guy and Susanna Clark?s parakeets. Townes wrote the song while he was staying with them.

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: Hagman
Date: 11 Nov 17 - 02:36 AM

"Loop and Lil were Guy and Susanna Clark?s parakeets. Townes wrote the song while he was staying with them. "

Not according to all the published sources - the parakeets were indeed Townes's.

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 11 Nov 17 - 05:11 AM

I hesitate to disagree with Lindsay Haisley when it comes to Texas music, but Guy Clark himself says they were Townes van Zandt's parakeets in the introduction to If I Needed You on the Songs and Stories album. You can hear it at https://guyclark.bandcamp.com/album/songs-and-stories

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST,Late & Great
Date: 07 Aug 21 - 09:30 AM

I always heard they were Townes' and he took them everywhere with him, even on airplanes until one day one of them got loose and flew out of a window somewhere and the other died shortly thereafter of a broken heart. Makes for a good story anyway.

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST,#
Date: 07 Aug 21 - 09:54 AM

I presume that the post from GUEST,Jim on 11 Oct 06 - 02:54 PM Is from the following which may be found at

http://insurgentcountry.net/class5.htm

"Steve [Earle] plays the second best known Townes tune, "If I Needed You". He cites the lyric "You will miss sunrise / if you close your eyes / that would break my heart in two" as a lyric you only have to ever write one of in a lifetime. He says, there are only so many original melodies out there and they've all been used up. "That's what I keep telling myself so I don't end up quitting." He believes there are still some new melodies out there, but they are gifts given to a very few and that's where the rest of us get them from. Townes was one of those people. He says that the lyrics were changed in the Emmylou and Doc Watson version to "Who could ill agree / she's a site to see / and a treasure for the poor to find." The original lyric was "Loop and Lil agree" and Loop and Lil were Townes' two parakeets. Loop was named after the North Loop drugstore in Austin where they used to buy codeine cough syrup and Lil was named after a girl Townes knew."

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST,#
Date: 07 Aug 21 - 10:03 AM

No one does the song better than the man himself.

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jan 22 - 12:35 PM

I’ll just sing “And those birds agree”
Pls forgive me Townes. Just this once?

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Nov 22 - 06:22 PM

According to a live album by Guy Clark, Loop and Lil were indeed Town Vanzant’s parakeets who travelled everywhere with him: even on commercial flights - in his sort coat’s inside pockets.

I love song lyrics

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Apr 24 - 05:35 PM

GUEST (Steve Bunton)
Please allow me to 'chime in' about Loop & Lil' also. I asked Townes one night, while chatting at McCabe's Guitar shop in Santa Monica, the very question at hand. He was very 'matter of fact" and kindly told me they were his two parakeets he held in the highest of regards.
He was a total gentleman, and enjoyed sharing the time between sets, while smoking a 'cigarette' (yes, it was that long ago.) He was very nice, as he 'noodled' on his guitar, and took it all in stride. I sensed he enjoyed answering many questions, I'm sure he'd been asked dozens of times, but he didn't mind at all, as he casually lit another cig. I miss him, and love singing his timeless songs, that will outlive us all.

Subject: RE: Loop and Lil (Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You')
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 24 - 04:39 PM

So the reasonable guess is that they were Townes parakeets but he brought them to Guy and Susanna's house when staying with them...