Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997)

Subject: Townes Van Zandt
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:48 AM

Just been introduced to his music, its really good, he;s a dead american bloke.
theres a website, townesvanzandt.com have a listen.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Leadfingers
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 08:37 AM

I'll agree with you on that jOhn - and nice to see you posting , though how come you're only a guest ?

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 09:29 AM

There are many over here who think Townes was/is one of the best American song wrinters to have ever lived. I am one of them. Certainly in my opinion he is in the top 20.

Don

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: jeffp
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 09:38 AM

Agreed. He was one of the greatest.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Max
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 10:16 AM

Saw a great documentary about him recently. I hightly recomend Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt. Very tragic demons. Great songwriter.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Barry Finn
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 01:05 PM

Yes a great songwriter & widely loved & respected over hear. Glad to hear that he's getting known over there too.

Barry

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Amos
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 01:10 PM

Sir John, a pleasure to see your typos again!

Townes was certainly brilliant in episodes. The Ballad of Pancho and Lefty, The Tale of the Dead Whore under the Stairs (Tecumseh Valley), If You Needed Me, and a score of other really fine songs. But a crazy mess o'demons, as you say.

A

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 01:24 PM

Van Zandt is one of those puzzles without answer to me. On the one hand, people like that seem bent on destroying themselves; on the other hand, had they not gone into music, for instance, maybe they would have destroyed themselves much earlier.

Buddy Tabor, a talented songwriter in his own right, brought Townes VZ to Juneau a couple of years before he died. His 'handlers' hewed to a fine balance between 'enough' and 'too much', even on stage.

Maybe it is kind of like what happened in literature. There was a time - I hope it is over - when upcoming writers seemed to think they had to live a hard life in order to be taken seriously even by themselves.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: open mike
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:27 PM

Townes Van Zandt home page

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Declan
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:39 PM

I saw Townes at the Cambridge Folk Festival about a year before he died.

He delivered one of my favourite one liners ever (I'm aware that he tended to repeat his inter-song banter, so most have you may have heard it before).

It was something like "I'm Schizophrenic, but Hell that makes two of us".

Great line. Great songwriter. sorely missed.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Amos
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:57 PM

I have often thought that syndrome was a backlash against the saccharine flowery writings of the Victorian era.

A

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 07:39 PM

Best reading of van Zandt in England a ce moment -

.....the great Jack Hudson!

Not appearing at you local folk festival or your local folk radio, cos they're all assholes.

Purely a professional opinion!

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 09:35 PM

For me, Townes was Orpheus, destined to be torn apart by Maenads in a Bacchanalian frenzy. A tragic story too oft repeated amongst our great musical artists. But that is Orpheus.

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 10:06 PM

An absolute hero of mine. Maybe one of greatest songwriters and more importantly, interpreters ever. If you get a chance, go read the interview on TVZ central by following the link above. Every so often I need to get back in touch with how to sing and make folks feel what I need them to feel. I usually start by reading the unedited story on that site.

I think I will go read it now.

Mick

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: number 6
Date: 18 Dec 06 - 11:43 PM

"Maybe one of greatest songwriters and more importantly, interpreters ever."

I agree Mick ... evidence of that statement can be found in his song "Tecusmseh Valley". That song hits the heart every time I hear him sing it.

biLL

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 01:00 AM

Time she's a fast old train
she's here and she's gone
and she won't come again
so won't you take my hand
...If I had No Place to Fall

Subject: RE: Townes Van Zandt
From: Barry Finn
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 03:06 AM

Yup #6,
I've been toying with "Tecumseh Valley" for some time now but I can't get to the place where I feel that I can do it justice so it's still sits on my tongue.
Right from the beginning, where the 1st line introduces our woman to the 2nd & 3rd lines where the listener can't help but so soon, already falls for our fallen woman with the lines:

"Her ways were free, and it seemed to me,
That sunshine walked beside her".

After that I feel as if I've been set up by Townes & I've been willingly trapped into the rest of the song.

It's taken me a long while & I still can't quite get to giving those line their due.

Barry