Skip to content
FreeGuitarTabs

You Are Not Needed Now

Townes Van Zandt
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
Well  the birds were talkin’ all at once
 And the old man mowin’  down his lawn
He  didn’t look like much too bad a guy
 And I was thinkin’ “Hang on, man, somethin’s wrong
 Your blues they do seem to be gone,”
 Heaven ain’t bad but you don’t get nothin’ done
Lay  down your head awhile
You  are not needed  now
 You are not needed now
 Well Allison laid an egg on me
 And every time I turn around
 It’s swimmin’ through the air above my bed
 And I told Miss Hicks and she said fine
 Long as you’re back in your room on time
 I’ll keep you clean the girls will keep you fed
 Lay down your head with mine
 You are not needed now
 And we got things to do
 Well between the blankets made of wool
 The trains go by every half an hour
 And a body can’t get no restin’ done it’s true
 So I spend my time as best I can
 Thinkin’ big and makin’ plans
 And wonderin’ where them trains are rollin’ to
 Lay down your head poor boy
 Feel how the ground does move
 And hear how them drivers sing
 Well goodbye friends it’s time to close
 Everybody knows that’s the way it goes
 Where was it you lived in case I’m ever there?
 Well three doors down and two behind
 And it gets a little bit out of hand sometimes
 Don’t let it fool you into thinkin’ you don’t care
 Lay down your head and fly
 And I’ll quietly pass you by
 You won’t even see me go
 Well if I thought about it long enough
 I just might make some kind of move
 Watchful eyes are too hard on the soul
 With the smokehouse just across the way
 And this fog upon the light of day
 I’d be hard pressed comin’ up with where to go
 Lay down your head poor boy
 Feel how the ground does move
 And hear how them drivers sing
 And what now my darling one?
 We’ll go find a little fun
 You are not needed now.
 NOTES:
 -Chord Shapes: I play standard shapes usually when doing this but I have the “Private
 DVD of his and when doing this song, I noticed he uses exclusively partial barre shapes
 only makes sparing use of the bass strings, both formations are listed below.
 -The last D in the chorus is a very sudden transition, took me a while to get it just
 Listen to the song and you’ll see what I mean, also listen to get the chord changes/lyric
 just right. This was transcribed from the album version of the song which contains only
 and drums so have some fun with it, use whatever shapes you like, there really
 a wrong way to go about it. Try throwing a Gsus instead of a G for a nice subtle variation.
:  xx0232 -or- xx0775
:  x02220 -or- xx7655
:  320003 -or- xx5433
:  244322 -or- xx4322

Source: Songsterr · Rights holder? Request removal.

Readable chord sheet for You Are Not Needed Now by Townes Van Zandt

[D]Well the birds were talkin’ all at [A]once
And the old man [G]mowin’ down his lawn
[A]He didn’t look like much too bad a [D]guy

And I was thinkin’ “Hang on, man, somethin’s wrong
Your blues they do seem to be gone,”
Heaven ain’t bad but you don’t get nothin’ done

[F#]Lay down your head awhil[G]e
[D]You are not [A]needed now
You are not needed now[D]

Well Allison laid an egg on me
And every time I turn around
It’s swimmin’ through the air above my bed

And I told Miss Hicks and she said fine
Long as you’re back in your room on time
I’ll keep you clean the girls will keep you fed

Lay down your head with mine
You are not needed now
And we got things to do

Well between the blankets made of wool
The trains go by every half an hour
And a body can’t get no restin’ done it’s true

So I spend my time as best I can
Thinkin’ big and makin’ plans
And wonderin’ where them trains are rollin’ to

Lay down your head poor boy
Feel how the ground does move
And hear how them drivers sing

Well goodbye friends it’s time to close
Everybody knows that’s the way it goes
Where was it you lived in case I’m ever there?

Well three doors down and two behind
And it gets a little bit out of hand sometimes
Don’t let it fool you into thinkin’ you don’t care

Lay down your head and fly
And I’ll quietly pass you by
You won’t even see me go

Well if I thought about it long enough
I just might make some kind of move
Watchful eyes are too hard on the soul

With the smokehouse just across the way
And this fog upon the light of day
I’d be hard pressed comin’ up with where to go

Lay down your head poor boy
Feel how the ground does move
And hear how them drivers sing

And what now my darling one?
We’ll go find a little fun
You are not needed now.

NOTES:
-Chord Shapes:  I play standard shapes usually when doing this but I have the “Private
DVD of his and when doing this song, I noticed he uses exclusively partial barre shapes
only makes sparing use of the bass strings, both formations are listed below.
-The last D in the chorus is a very sudden transition, took me a while to get it just
Listen to the song and you’ll see what I mean, also listen to get the chord changes/lyric
just right.  This was transcribed from the album version of the song which contains only
and drums so have some fun with it, use whatever shapes you like, there really
a wrong way to go about it.  Try throwing a Gsus instead of a G for a nice subtle variation.

[D]: xx0232   -or-   xx0775
[A]: x02220   -or-   xx7655
[G]:  320003  -or-   xx5433
[F#]:  244322  -or-  xx4322

More songs by Townes Van Zandt

Browse more →