SIXTEEN SUMMERS FIFTEEN FALLS
(Townes Van Zandt)


Townes Van Zandt - 1968





Let me tell you a story 'bout a girl I knew
Fairest skin with eyes of blue
I swear to the Lord that I loved her true
It's a year now she's been gone

Well her spirit was as bright as the soft sunshine
Lips the colour of strawberry wine
I wish to God she still was mine
But the chance won't come again

Af first we lay in love's sweet bed
With one look at her eyes I might have read
All the pain that was flyin' through her head
Through my guilt I could not see

Oh, I turned to her when the morning came
Hungry thoughts racin' through my brain
But the knife in her heart screamed herself she'd slain
And a note whispered love too soon

Her old man screamed and her mother cried
All I could do was to wonder why
A girl in her youth was forced to die
Is lovin' such a crime

She died few in years with breasts still small
Seein' sixteens summers and fifteen falls
Me and my blindness never realized all
The fear she kept inside

Let me tell you a story 'bout a girl I knew
Fairest skin with eyes of blue
I swear to the Lord that I loved her true ........ FADE






(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - November 2013)