Reply #29: "Bad news from Houston, half my friends are dyin'" [View All]

From "White Freight Liner Blues" by Townes van Zandt (1944-1997). His death was not the direct result of an OD--but his body was worn out by years of hard living. "The Late, Great Townes Van Zandt" was released in 1972. The title was a joke, sort of...

OD's, heroin and/or coke? Several. (Would getting shot by a bigger dealer count? Not counting the other gun deaths--self-inflicted & otherwise.)

Crashing your car/bike while drunk/stoned? Several.

Lung cancer from cigarettes? Two.

And I'm wondering at the "natural" deaths (mostly cancer) occurring in friends who'd wrestled with demons in early years. And uncles who returned from the Good War to spend too much time drinking & smoking at the NCO Club, Officers' Club or corner bar. Everybody goes sometime, but some of these seemed a bit too early.