Coal Dust and Lungs

Carnegie Hall 1969. Townes Van Zandt was the new Bob Dylan. It was about this time that Steve Earle stated that, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." To which Townes replied, I've met Bob Dylan's bodyguards, and if Steve Earle thinks he can stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table, he's sadly mistaken." His song writing may have matured later, certainly became darker and more personal, which I like, but it doesn't seem to be very commercial. This is probably Townes at his peak as a performer, before he had fallen and crashed so many times. The sound is excellent, his voice is strong and his guitar playing is clean and precise. Sorry, I don't have a rendition of Sanitarium Blues - my short coming and your misfortune.
Sanitarium Blues - Townes Van Zandt

The folks, they just can't take no more

Throw you in the back seat, slam the door

No stoppin' as down the road you go

Go not time to lose

Gigantic one way gate ahead

You're thinkin' man I'd as soon be dead

They decided to give you life instead

The sanitarium blues

Big ol' nurse all dressed in white

Slaps you on a table in the middle of the night

Then he straps you down real tight

You're wonderin', what'd I do?

They hose you down, make sure you're clean

Wrap you up in hospital green

Shoot you full of Thorazine

The sanitarium blues

Could be TB or maybe a tumor

Eavesdropping on the doctors, listening to the rumors

Can't see your friends, hear the hum of the wheels

Hey my man, you know how it feels

Like the sanitarium blues

Then upon some sunlit day

They figure there's no need for you to stay

They're pretty sure you can't be cured

So they send you on your merry way

You hit the pavement, hang around

Nobody's on the outside to be found

You're just tryin' to stay above the ground

You start to thinkin', what's the use?

The sanitarium blues