Name: Townes
Duration: P00H03M33S
Description: A song about Townes Van Zandt falling out of a window

Townes

by Janice Francis-Smith

	/

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about

A song about Townes Van Zandt falling out of a window

lyrics

Four stories to the ground and he landed right flat on his back
Fallen angel with a death wish and a cowboy cavalier kind of laugh
He'd been hanging out the window trying to figure out just where is too far
'Cause daring just a little doesn't suit our soon-to-be shooting star

He said he only wanted to know how it feels to fall
And the only way to really know is to fall

He'd been gliding around the campus with a glassy kind of far-away stare
He'd been sniffing on some substances that made him feel like
walking on air
He was a poet and a scholar and an athlete and a good-looking guy
But something in his soul sought out the darkness
like the moth to the fire

He said he only wanted to know how it feels to fall
And the only way to really know is to fall

He would fill his lungs with vapors from the stuff that holds together
little flying things
But he sorely was mistaken if he thought that stuff could save him
with some glued-on wings
Disintegrating genius, the Icarus of Texas
Just the damndest thing
He wrote To Live Is To Fly

His family got worried when they heard their baby fell from the sky
So they swooped in trying to save him with the finest treatment
money could buy
They called it insulin shock therapy, the doctor said let's give it a try
It stole away his memories but left him his desire to die

He said he only wanted to know how it feels to fall
And the only way to really know is to fall

credits

released March 7, 2024

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about

Janice Francis-Smith Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Janice Francis-Smith is an award-winning songwriter and poet based in Oklahoma City.

janicefrancissmith.com

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