I come from a long line
High and low and in between
Same as you
Hills of golden
Piles of poison
Time’s thrown me through
And I believe I’ve come to learn
That turning 'round is to become confusion
And the gold’s no good for spending
And the poison’s hungry waiting
What can you leave behind
When you’re flying lightning fast
And all alone?
Only a trace, my friend
Spirit of motion born and direction grown
A trace that will not fade in frozen skies
And your journey will be
And if her shadow don’t seem much company
But who said it would be?
There is the highway
And the home-made loving kind
And the highway’s mine
And us ramblers are getting the travelling done
You fathers build with stones that stand and shine
Heaven’s where you find it
And you can’t take too much with you
Ah but daddy, don’t you listen
It’s just this highway talking
All things that are alive
Are brothers in the soil
And in the sky
And I believe it with my blood
If not my eyes
I don’t know why we can’t be brothers here
I know we should be
Answers don’t seem easy
And I’m wondering if they could be
I was fortunate enough to meet Townes back in his early days and we stayed in contact until about ‘75 or ‘76. Always knew he was a great songwriter. My favorite line of any of his songs is in To Lives to Fly. And it kind of sums up the itinerant folk singer’s life; Where ya been is good and gone, all ya keep’s the gettin’ there.