VAN ZANDT, Townes
Rake
I used to wake and run with the moon
I lived like a rake and a young man
I covered my lovers with flowers and wounds
My laughter the devil would frighten
The sun she would come and beat me back down
But every cruel day had it's nightfall
I'd welcome the stars with wine and guitars
Full of fire and forgetful
My body was sharp the dark air clean
And outrage my joyful companion
Whisperin' women how sweet did they seem
Kneelin' for me to command them
And time was like water but I was the sea
I'd have never noticed it passin'
Except for the turnin' of night into day
And the turnin' of day into cursin'
You look at me now, and don't think I don't know
What all your eyes are a sayin'
Does he want us to believe these ravings and lies
They're just tricks that his brains been a playin'?
A lover of women he can't hardly stand
He trembles he's bent and he's broken
I've fallen it's true but I say unto you
Hold your tongues until after I've spoken
Our Mother the Mountain
My lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom
The moon's dancin' purple
All through her black hair
And a ladies-in-waiting she stands 'neath my window
And the sun will rise soon
On the false and the fair
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
She tells me she comes from my mother the mountain
Her skin fits her tightly
And her lips do not lie
She silently slips from her throat a medallion
Slowly she twirls it
In front of my eyes
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
I watch her, I love her, I long for to touch her
The satin she's wearin'
Is shimmering blue
Outside my window her ladies are sleeping
My dogs a gone hunting
The howling is through
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
So I reach for her hand and her eyes turn to poison
And her hair turns to splinters,
And her flesh turns to brine
She leaps across the room, she stands in the window
And screams that my first-born
Will surely be blind
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
Then she throws herself out to the black of the nightfall
She's parted her lips
But she makes not a sound
I fly down the stairway, and I run to the garden
No trace of my true love
Is there to be found
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
So walk these hills lightly, and watch who you're lovin'
By mother the mountain
I swear that it's true
And love not a woman with hair black as midnight
And a dress made of satin
All shimmering blue
Sing a-too a-loor-a-lie-o
Oh my lover comes to me with a rose on her bosom
The moon's dancing purple all through her black hair
And a lady's in waiting, she'll stand 'neath my window
And the sun will rise soon on the false and the fair
Black Crow Blues
Oh babe, don't lie lonesome after I'm gone
Don't mourn your young life away
Just lower me down with a prayer and a song
Just 'fore the breaking of day
Just 'fore the breaking of day
Well, it's a life worth the living but we all gotta die
All your crying can't do me no good
Just lower me down with a quick sad goodbye
Pour in the black Texas mud
Pour in the black Texas mud
It's a hard road you're travelin', you can't walk it alone
Find a big man to stand beside you
Take him down to the river, show him my bones
Tell him there lies a friend I once knew
There lies a friend I once knew
Well, the black crow's a-screaming, the yellow sun's warm
And the grass tumbles tall down the hill
There's a cold wind building, it's bringin' a storm
When the call of the black crow goes still
When the call of the black crow goes still
Big Country blues
Well, I been up the Mississippi to the Manitoba line
I've been downstream to the Gulf of Mexico
Followed the sun out west to Californ
And there just ain't no place left for me to go
Spent a lonesome month in Maine and a year in Louisian
Packed my bags and hit the Westward Trail
Rambled down through Texas 'til I came to El Paso
Spent a week in a stinkin' Juarez jail
Well, I rambled through Nevada gamblin' most of my life away
I headed north when I heard Dakota call
Well, I stayed until the Northers came rollin' down the line
I headed south when summer turned to fall
I've been north and east, south where the cotton grows
And out in the west where the sun forever shines
Well, I've bent my back for a dollar a day in a Texas sugar field
Labored in a Minnesota mine
Well, I've seen your hungry babies scream, I watched their mamas cry
Seen a worn out prostitute beg for a dime
I've seen men come out of gutters ready to give their lives away
For a slug at a lousy bottle of rot gut wine
I've been up the Mississippi to the Manitoba line
Downstream to the Gulf of Mexico
Followed the sun out west to Californ
And there just ain't no place left for me to go
Well, there just ain't no place left for me to go