Background
“Keep Me Near” is a poignantly beseeching Meher Baba love song by Cindy Lowe. There’s a particular quality in Jeff’s voice that nicely compliments the song’s sentiment. In India, this quality has been referred to as “dard,” which can be described as “longing anguish.” It was because Jeff’s singing voice has been described by Mehera as having this quality, that during his visits to Meherazad, on repeated occasions, she would have him sing to her along with those assembled on Baba’s porch.
Over the years, Cindy’s songs have been arranged and rearranged. This rendition features stepwise, descending lines in both the bass and in portions of the flute accompaniment.
Lyrics
1) All the tears of my uncertainty made it hard to see what You were showing me. You go down into the deep of me. You are the Mystery of my unknowing. I have tried to run and hide from You, to turn aside from you, but I was never free. You were at the very heart of me, in every part of me, the near and far of me.
Chorus: So Keep Me Near. I’ll always see You. Keep Me Near, I’ll never leave You. For I could not stand the pain of refusing You again.
2) All the years I tried to blind myself, I could not find myself. You couldn’t save me. And I never saw my own release, or even named the grief that overcame me. I have tried and I have always failed to go my way alone without You. But, every ship that I have ever sailed brought me back to where I could not doubt You.
Chorus: So Keep Me Near. I’ll always see You. Keep Me Near, I’ll never leave You. For I could not stand the pain of refusing You again.
Arranged using Garage Band with tracks for:
- Lead vocal and piano accompaniment prerecorded during the 2016 Asheville Music Sahavas
- Male and Female Chamber Choir
- Flute
- Upright Studio Bass
- Vibraphone
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