Asa Daniels, senior staff writer
We all have those cultural figures we obsess over, perhaps a little too much, because we feel that they relate to us in a deep, meaningful way. If you know me well, then you know that Bob Dylan has fulfilled that role for me for much of the last seven years. However, I’m going to discuss a more recent singer-songwriter I’ve been enjoying.
His name is Townes Van Zandt, a Texas singer born on March 7, 1944. He first learned to play the song “Fräulein” by Colter Wall in an agreement with his dad to get him his first guitar. He learned it in about a week and continued to play it for the rest of his life.
Van Zandt’s songs often consist of deeply provoking lyrics, such as his most popular song, “Pancho and Lefty” or “Waiting Around to Die.” He also has his fair share of silly tunes, perhaps best seen in “Talkin’ Karate Blues” and “Heavenly Houseboat Blues.” His discography also includes some of the best love songs ever written in the American canon, including “I’ll Be Here in the Morning” and “No Place to Fall.”
The only thing more popular than Van Zandt’s music are his troubles with addiction. He was an alcoholic and heroin-addict for the vast majority of his adult life, trying again and again to detox and undergo treatment. No matter how hard Van Zandt and his family tried, he was unable to ever fully overcome his addictions and their negative consequences on his life c o n t i n u e d to multiply. Eventually, he was unable to play the finger-picking style that had made him so popular and gave his music a unique sound. He died at the age of 52 on New Years Day in 1997 due to unclear causes likely related to his heart.
His struggle with addiction was, ultimately, a struggle between the “good” and the “bad” in a person. As author Robert Earl Hardy states in “A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt,” a number of Van Zandt’s songs deal with two, opposing sides. Hardy explores this most deeply in an analysis of Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty.” Ultimately, the opposing sides are within a single person, two contesting ideas of what one should be and who they are in reality. This is a familiar issue with many people.
In psychology, it is often a conflict between the “ought-self” and the “real-self.” It is essentially the issue of reality versus expectation within a single person. We expect to be a good person, simply because it is a good thing, and become disappointed in ourselves when we fail to live up to that expectation. Listening to the lyrics of “Pancho and Lefty,” we can see how Van Zandt thinks about and deals with his own inability to live up to expectations of who he thinks he ought to be.
Of course, not everyone is going to go through these challenges the way Van Zandt did. Nor do I think anyone should, as addiction is a severely debilitating and challenging illness, but it is important to appreciate the fact that everyone can relate to and recognize this internal conflict of ideal versus reality.
With this realization, perhaps we can learn to be more appreciative of others and ourselves. We can be thankful for how we have grown as individuals and how the people around us have also grown in mind and spirit. It is important to know that you are not alone in your challenges and that others have been through some of what you’ve been through. After all, it is only with this mindset that you can really appreciate artists.