Marie she didn’t wake up this morning
She didn’t even try
She just rolled over and went to Heaven
My little boy safe inside

Townes Van Zandt’s Marie from his album, No Deeper Blue

Marie is one of the most harrowing but touching songs ever written; if you’re not affected in some way by this tune upon hearing it, then you have no soul!  I’m kind of joking (but not much…)
No other songwriter brings out emotions the way Townes do, and that’s why his songs stand the test of time. It is a late career masterpiece. Townes Van Zandt said the song was inspired by Meryl Streep’s character in the film Ironweed and describes the harrowing plight of a homeless couple who wind up living under a bridge until the woman dies with the protagonist’s unborn child “safe inside her.” Townes Van Zandt performed the song years before he recorded it.

Continue reading “The Saddest Songs: Marie by Townes Van Zandt” →