The Momma 'n' Daddy Collection 25

I have to tell you, from the depth and the breadth of my experience, that life is rarely simple and sometimes it can even challenge your very best efforts at categorization; because once you have set up a concept for yourself, you are as likely as not to find that you have a boundary problem. What falls within, and what falls outside, that concept? Where exactly should one draw the line? Just so, you would be naive to imagine that the category of the Momma 'n' Daddy song is self-explanatory and clear-cut. It isn't. How much Momma 'n'/or Daddy does there have to be in the song for it to count? May we include, for example, a song with only a single introductory reference to either parent or class of parent? I long ago answered this question for myself by saying 'No', and therefore I have been unable to include here one of my favourite country music songs, 'Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys'.

However, where a song has a complete verse about the parental folk, even if it is the only such verse, I feel that permits inclusion, and so I am authorizing the appearance today of a song by Townes Van Zandt of which this is true. You will see that it is rather darker than most of the other songs in the M'n'D collection. I can only present the genre in all its manifold variety. Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you the late, great Townes Van Zandt, with the opening of 'Waiting Around To Die':

Sometimes I don't know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
Aw, it's easier than just waitin' around to die

One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
But he beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
She headed down to Tennessee
Aw, it's easier than just waitin' around to die

To find out how the story ends, read the rest.

[The Momma 'n' Daddy Archive, containing all the details of the series, is here.]