Background
This rendition of “The Tavern” by Jim Meyer is presented in conjunction with a video created in Final Cut Pro. The song’s lyrics put forth an intriguing, first person account of finding Meher Baba and becoming intoxicated through an outpouring of His Divine Love. They describe the fateful, initial encounter and the ensuing process of becoming desperate to receive more and more of this Love.
Repeated throughout “The Tavern” by Jim Meyer are the words on a sign, the meaning of which is basic to acquiring a mental grasp of what is entailed in the process of unfoldment. In order to become emancipated from the ignorance welding us to the false, we must gratefully deal with the conflicts that confront us which eventually lead to lasting happiness and our ultimate destiny.
Lyrics
(Chorus) We’re all living the New Life, though few have come to guess, that the nature of all new strife holds the key to happiness.
1) I took a walk one moonlit night down paths I’d often tread. The stars were shining brightly in the heavens overhead. My thoughts were filled with only me as often was the case, Until I saw the tavern and the Keeper’s smiling face.
2) There was something in his gestures that drew me to the door. I took a careful look inside and then I looked some more. The tavern had a cheery air, a feeling very fine. Then I noticed in a window, these words upon a sign.
3) You know I felt so puzzled by the meaning of that poem, Still I went inside the tavern cause I felt so much at home. I sat down on a tall chair and ordered up some brew, The Keeper came with warm brown eyes and a smile that pierced me through.
4) He said good evening to me in a voice of gentle tone. He poured me out a scarlet drink that in the moonlight shown. This Wine is all we serve, He said most lovingly. As I looked within the chalice cup at reflections which were me.
5) I placed the cup up to my lips and drank a hearty round. Its sweetness overcame me and I felt that I would drown. A mellow glow engulfed me from my head down to my feet. Yet the flavor that did linger was a taste most bitter sweet.
6) The Keeper of the Tavern, He pored another cup of Wine. I felt this world dissolve away as if by some design. All burdens left me as I gazed into His face. Yet I sensed somehow my life was bound to the sign that hung in that place.
7) You know my friends I’ve often heard of seekers after Truth, Of how they left this world behind and how they spoiled their youth. Many times I’ve laughed out loud at the folly of their days, But since I’ve left the tavern, I’ve taken up their ways.
8) Now my life hangs strangely on the scales of joy and pain. My only wish is to find the tavern and enter there again. Within me burns an awful thirst whose only cure is Wine, The drink procured by realizing those words that were on that sign.
Arranged using Garage Band with tracks for:
- Lead Vocal and Piano recorded at Park Hill Recording Studio
- Male Chamber Choir
- Flute
- Bongos
- Congas
- Drum Kit
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