Je viens de découvrir Townes Van Zandt. Je ne connaissais pas du tout, et franchement quelle claque. Largement du niveau d'un Neil Young et sans doute pas loin de Bob Dylan. En tout cas du haut niveau. Et une vie, quasi mythique, digne d'un roman.

Townes Van Zandt



Le texte :

Sometimes I don't know where this dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep on gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

One-time friends I had a ma, I even had a pa
He beat her with a belt once cause she cried
She told him to take care of me, she headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Seemed easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

A friend said he knew where some easy money was
We robbed a man and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me, drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years, just a-waitin' 'round to die

Now I'm out of prison, I got me a friend at last
He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie
His name's codeine, he's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die"

Impressionnant... En fait je découvre cet artiste par le biais d'un autre chanteur de la scène folk alternative américaine, Steve Earle et d'un album de reprises de Townes.


Double CD (hé oui, j'ai acheté un CD, petite infidélité provisoire aux disques vinyles). Le premier avec les reprises et un groupe avec Steve Earle, le second, avec uniquement Steve Earle, les mêmes titres, à la guitare acoustique. Et c'est bon, très bon...