Townes Van Zandt

capo: 4th fret

Well she had twenty years when she turned to her mother
Sayin’, “Mother I know that you’ll grieve,
but I’ve given my soul to St. John The Gambler
Tomorrow comes time to leave.

Well the hills cannot hold back my sorrow forever
Dead men lie deep ‘round my door,
of the only salvation that’s mine for the askin’
So mother think on me no more.”

The winter howled high ‘round the mountain’s breast,
and the cold of a thousand snows
Lay heaped upon the forest sleep.
She dressed in Calico.

For a gambler likes his women fancy,
fancy she would be
And the fires of her longing would keep ‘way the cold,
and her dress was a sight to see.

But the road was long beneath her feet,
she followed her frozen breath
In search of a certain St. John The Gambler,
stumbled to her death.

And she heard his laughter right down from the mountain,
and it danced with her mother’s tears
To a funeral drone of Calico,
‘neath a cross of twenty years.

To a funeral drone of Calico,
‘neath a cross of twenty years.

When She Don?t Need Me
By Townes Van Zandt
rmofle at satx.rr.com
11/7/2004

When she don’t need me
It makes me crazy
She say rest easy
And it makes me lazy
But when she please me
She please me all night long

My friends are leavin’
She say don’t worry
They’re only leavin’
There is no parting
You will be lonely
I will be here with you

On the winds of darkness
The light is soaring
And chains are bonded
Freedom is singing
Cling to the darkness
Until you’ve turned to song

The blues shall wash me
And sun shall dry me
The world will hide me
But she will find me
And when she find me
She will take me home

When she don’t need me
It makes me crazy
She say rest easy
And it makes me lazy
But when she please me
She please me all night long