TO LIVE IS TO FLY by Townes Van Zandt
-----------------------------
[Transcribed by Geoffrey Kaeuper (G-Kaeuper@Prodigy.net), who considers it
probably the best song ever written. Roman numerals in parentheses
represent fret numbers for those chords which should be played outside of
first position.]
INTRO.: G(VII) D(V) A(V) D G(VII) D(V) A(V) D
G(VII) D(V)
Won't say I love you, babe
G(VII) D(V)
Won't say I need you, babe
D A
But I'm gonna' get you, babe
G D
And I will not do you wrong
G(VII) D(V)
Living's mostly wasting time
G(VII) D(V)
And I waste my share of mine
D A
But it never feels too good
G D
So let's don't take too long
G D G A
Well, you're soft as glass and I'm a gentle man
D A
We got the sky to talk about
G D A G D
And the world to lie upon
Days up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
Oh, but don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
Nothing is too much to bear
Where you've been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there
Well, to live's to fly awe low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And a sleap out of your eyes
It's goodbye to all my friends
It's time to leave again
Here's to all the poetry
And the pickin' down the line
I'll miss the system here
The bottom's low and the trebble's clear
But it don't pay to think too much
On things you leave behind
Well, I may be gone, awe, I won't be long
I'll be bringing back the melody
And the rhythm that I find
We all got holes to fill
And them holes are all that's real
Some fall on you like a storm
Sometimes you dig your own
The choice is yours to make
Time is yours to take
Some dive into the sea
Some toil upon the stone
Well, to live's to fly awe low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eye
Awe, shake the dust off of your wings
And the tears out of your eye
[This is as recorded live on the "Rear View Mirror" album released this
year by Sugar Hill Records.]
