gigantic one way gate

the folks they just can't take it no more.

throw you in the back seat and slam the door. drive you through a gigantic one way gate. a big old nurse all dressed in white, slaps you on a table in the middle of the night. straps you down real tight. shoots you full of thorazine. insulin shock on it's deadly way. you can't move, you can't get away. you thought it was a death sentence but they decided to give you life instead. packed up some stuff to keep in your head.

you wonder what do i have to do? could be TB, maybe a tumor. maybe a sickness i can't prove.

then upon a sunlit day they figure they can't cure you so they send you away. on your merry way. back through the gigantic gate. out onto the dusty street. dirt collecting on you feet. smell's like heaven. an empty place.

no one is waiting for you. nobody's on the outside to be found.
you wonder what's the use, you realize you're just tryin' to stay above the ground. you go ahead and move towards town. your head is empty, your eyes are too. you don't know what to do.

but you know living is dying. it's no place to fall into or out of. so you put on your flyin' shoes and try to be here now. so close and yet so far away.

Townes Van Zandt

John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997), best known as Townes Van Zandt, was a country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet. Many of his songs, including "If I Needed You," "To Live Is To Fly," and "No Place to Fall" are considered standards of their genre. AllMusic has called him "one of the greatest country and folk artists of his generation."

While alive, Van Zandt was labeled as a cult musician: though he had a small and devoted fanbase, he never had a successful album or single, and even had difficulty keeping his recordings in print. In 1983, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song "Pancho and Lefty", scoring a number one hit on the Billboard country music charts. Despite achievements like these, the bulk of his life was spent touring various dive bars, often living in cheap motel rooms, backwoods cabins and on friends' couches. Van Zandt was notorious for his drug addictions, alcoholism, and his tendency to tell tall tales. He suffered from manic depression, and attempts to treat it with insulin shock therapy erased much of his long-term memory.

Van Zandt died on New Years Day 1997 from health problems stemming from years of substance abuse. The 2000s saw a resurgence of interest in Van Zandt. During the decade, two books, a documentary film and a number of magazine articles about the singer were created. Van Zandt's music has been covered by such notable and varied musicians as Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Norah Jones, Steve Earle and The Meat Puppets.