Date: 8/16/97; 5:43:54 PM
From: "Geoffrey A Kaeuper" <G-KAEUPER@prodigy.net>
Subject: TO LIVE IS TO FLY by Townes Van Zandt

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.]