To Live Is to Fly Lyrics

Lyric discussion by smtown 

Cover art for To Live Is to Fly lyrics by Townes Van Zandt

What a great song! It's full of "life quotes" that you can hang on your wall or quote on some social network page or whatever floats your boat. In that sense, it reminds me of Jimmy Buffett's "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes." I don't mean that the two songs are similar in their subject matter or anything; I mean that they are alike in that they are both full of great quotes that have to do with life and are worded just right. And, I mean that as a complement to both songs because I believe that both songs are great and are classics and excellently written. A person could spend pages upon pages writing on the meanings of this song, as it's so much about life, and life is pretty complex and different for everyone. Instead, I'll just point out one of my favorite parts of the song: The second part of this song - : "Days up and down they come Like rain on a conga drum Forget most, remember some But don't turn none of way"

  • This part reminds me of lyrics from Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry": "Good friends we have Oh, good friends we've lost along the way In this bright future You can't forget your past So, dry your tears, I say"

To me, both songs speak about a person's past. Both are saying that everyone's past is full of some pain and heartbreak and misery, but we cannot allow our past to control us or negatively affect our future. Instead, we must learn from our mistakes and move on from them, to become more experienced, wiser souls, who won't make the same mistakes, again. We should forgive ourselves for our past, but we should never forget it because we can learn a great deal from those good and bad experiences.

I agree that the song is about learning from the past. I also think it's about not holding on to the best parts of your past.

Goodbye to all my friends Its time to go again Think of all the poetry And the pickin down the line Ill miss the system here The bottoms low And the trebles clear But it dont pay to think to much On things you leave behind. I will be gone But it wont be long I will be abringin back the melodies And rhythm that I find.

In this paragraph he is saying that...