Existentialism in Townes Van Zandt's "Waiting Around to Die"

In this song off his debut album, Van Zandt recounts the story of a fictitious drifter struggling to find purpose while also acknowledging the absurdity of life in the face of death. Van Zandt sings:

 "Sometimes I don't know where this dirty rode is taking me
 Sometimes I don't even know the reason why
 I guess I keep on gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
 It's easier than just waiting around to die"

The drifter understands that life is without intrinsic meaning and therefore abandons any illusion of control over his fate. His conclusion is that he must continue pleasing himself as much as he can because society's constructs exhaust too much pain and concern.

"One-time friends I had a ma, I even had a pa
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me, she headed down to Tennessee
It's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die"

This existential philosophy was instilled in the drifter early with his family. His abusive father inflicted senseless pain and suffering upon him, establishing early on that pain is distributed in arbitrarily and there is no sense of justice in it. His mother's departure also inspires the idea that the societal expectations of a mother's responsibility to her child do not surpass one's duty to themselves to avoid pain of any kind.

I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, I bought some wine and hopped a train
Seemed easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

A friend said he knew where some easy money was
We robbed a man and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me, drug me back to Muskogee
It's two long years, just a-waitin' 'round to die

In these two stanzas the character once again realizes the futility of participating in constructs such as love and money, both inevitably lead to pain of some sort. His time in prison forces him to confront his mortality head on without the numbing aid of drugs of alcohol. These transformative years in prison help him realize that he can find no solace pursuing anything other than his own will.

Now I'm out of prison, I got me a friend at last
He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie
His name's codeine, he's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die

Thus, his existential transformation is complete. He has finally rejected the constructs that have brought him pain and uncertainty, and decides that his life will be happiest distorted through, the saintly portrayed, codeine.