Discover the story of the song > Waiting Around to Die – Townes Van Zandt

The protagonist sings about his life and how he doesn't know where he's going or why, but he keeps drinking and wandering instead of waiting to die. He had a tough childhood with an abusive father and a mother who left him. He ran away and fell in love with a girl who stole from him, which made him turn to drinking. He even got involved in robbing someone and spent two long years in prison. Now that he's out, he found a friend named Codeine who doesn't do bad things and they plan to wait around and die together.