Folksinger. Humdinger

Townes Van Zandt.

If I needed you would you come to me,
Would you come to me, and ease my pain?
If you needed me
I would come to you
I’d swim the seas for to ease your pain

In the night forlorn the morning’s born
And the morning shines with the lights of love
You will miss sunrise if you close your eyes
That would break my heart in two

The lady’s with me now since I showed her how
To lay her lily hand in mine
Loop and Lil agree she’s a sight to see
And a treasure for the poor to find

Writing a folk song’s easy. You just have to shoehorn Romeo and Juliet into a nursery rhyme. Or, in Townes Van Zandt’s case, he said it was Robert Frost and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Loop and Lil were his parakeets, by the way.

When asked for a quote to plug
Townes’ record, Steve [ Earle] said: “Townes Van Zandt’s the best songwriter in
the world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots
and say that.” After the record came out, Townes said that was nice but
that he’d met Bob Dylan’s bodyguards and he didn’t think that was a very
good idea. (link)