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Tea for the Tillerman Lyrics
Bring tea for the Tillerman
Steak for the sun
Wine for the women who made the rain come
Seagulls sing your hearts away
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play
Oh Lord how they play and play
For that happy day, for that happy day
Steak for the sun
Wine for the women who made the rain come
Seagulls sing your hearts away
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play
For that happy day, for that happy day
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Since this song is the last track on the album "tea for the tillerman", I think it references other tracks
Like the first line (tea for the tillerman), might reference "Longer Boats" (since a tillerman means a boatman), "steak for the son" (is how I think it is spelled) might mean "Father and Son", "Wine for the woman who made the rain come" I'm assuming might be for the song "Sad Lisa", "while the sinners sin, the children play" might be "Where do the children play".
Thats what I think the song is about.
[Edit: hmmm]
Cat Steven is not of East Asian lineage. (I think you meant "descent".) His parent were Swedish and Greek. And i don't see who else's business it is if he no longer plays or discusses his past work.
Cat Steven is not of East Asian lineage. (I think you meant "descent".) His parent were Swedish and Greek. And i don't see who else's business it is if he no longer plays or discusses his past work.
I agree with you, azkm, on your latter sentence.
I agree with you, azkm, on your latter sentence.
Once a brilliant songwriter and performer, it's his prerogative to do as he pleases with his life. I don't see why he is being constantly condemned for refusing to revel in his success. Isn't the music enough? Can't you just enjoy what he left and accept that he has chosen a different life path (one which most probably disagree with)?
Once a brilliant songwriter and performer, it's his prerogative to do as he pleases with his life. I don't see why he is being constantly condemned for refusing to revel in his success. Isn't the music enough? Can't you just enjoy what he left and accept that he has chosen a different life path (one which most probably disagree with)?
Point is, current religion and nationalism should have absolutely nothing to do with the songs of his past. Just shut up and listen to them.
Point is, current religion and nationalism should have absolutely nothing to do with the songs of his past. Just shut up and listen to them.
Where did you get your info JAYCeezy, I have seen Yusef/ Cat play just last year in London actually. It was amazing he played old songs new songs, and like one cover. Just wanted to clear things up a bunch of people think since he a now a Muslim he is out to get the western world. These are false accusations. He was however not allowed into the united states because they though he was involved with terrorists(which is preposterous) The secretary of state at the time Colin Powel had to make a personal phone call to let him in....
Where did you get your info JAYCeezy, I have seen Yusef/ Cat play just last year in London actually. It was amazing he played old songs new songs, and like one cover. Just wanted to clear things up a bunch of people think since he a now a Muslim he is out to get the western world. These are false accusations. He was however not allowed into the united states because they though he was involved with terrorists(which is preposterous) The secretary of state at the time Colin Powel had to make a personal phone call to let him in. He and Dolly Parton where being held in an airport for involvement with terrorists. Once there is a Muslim in the spotlight our mass-media tries oh so hard to shut them down and label them as a free people hater and who only wants to cause destruction
Last track of the album is crucial. The album cover is crucial.
It is all for the tillerman (the farmer who tills the field all day--a long arduous task). Bring him tea, steak (hearty food: for he worked/will work out in the sun) and finally bring him wine, to drown his sorrows, when he thinks of the women who made the rain come (brought him sadness).
Although the album art shows among other things, a woman (silhouetted) performing a rain dance that is bringing in the literal clouds, I think it's a double meaning, bringing the rain meaning tears of sadness but also the water of life.
I think the song is a farewell to the heavy contemplations of the album, a sunset on that hard day's work. It puts all that stuff behind it, even though all that stuff is... Everything! Work. Love. Play. Music. Sinning. It is saying finally that after all this earthliness, even after the sun has set on life itself, there is still spirituality.
That's why the song is infused with double meaning. The tillerman is not only the ploughman but also the steersman of the vessel. Or God directing the fate of men. The homophone son/sun is obviously referencing 'The Son', while wine is considered the blood of Christ in the same theology. Seagulls (who track boats and ploughs alike) are followers who sing their hearts out: disciples perhaps. Sin and innocence in the last couplet goes without saying. O Lord! For that happy day. The last words of the album are 'that happy day', that is without doubt referring to a rapture or day of salvation.
The alpha and omega. The song begins with a command. (in the beginning there was the word). And it ends with that happy day. Salvation.
The song never overtly says it is about spirituality, but it creates a room and fills it with all kinds of life, except for one elephant shaped hole in the middle. That elephant in the room is religion.
It's nonsense, imo, you get one chance and wasting it toiling away in the field under the hot sun in anticipation of a paradise in the next life is the way to miss out. Nevertheless, that's what the song is about.
Excellent! Thankyou.
Excellent! Thankyou.
You are not a farmer. Because if you were you would know that farmers need the rain. Rain brings relief after the sun. best! Rosa speir
You are not a farmer. Because if you were you would know that farmers need the rain. Rain brings relief after the sun. best! Rosa speir
appreciate what IS with all you have. appreciate every effort a person makes for another; every song a bird sings; nail a carpenter drives, egg a creature lays. dont waste your breath on the irrelevant, on negativity, on ill feelings, on a quest for money. appreciate that which has real value, that which is important, for it is all there really is and needs to be.
that is what this song means to me.
Dan Fitz, that could be a song in and of itself. I agree with you, that people should be happy with what they have, and only take what they need. BUt why does the sun want steak?
Extras!
it definitely does not mean “son” but “sun”. just take a look at the cover of the album, drawn by cat stevens himself: you see a heavy, red-bearded, tired man drinking tea and behind him a (judging by colour and size) setting sun. (as well as some children playing in a tree. and a mysterious shadowy figure in the background which seems to be calling lightning from the sky…?)
“Wine for the women who made the rain come” rain being tears, this could mean he brings out a toast to all the women he once knew, who made him sad, probably by leaving him. but there is no bitterness in this song, everything seems fine (it’s a “happy day”), so perhaps they are even there with him (choir!) and they have long since forgiven each other.
@ fish_monster: it’s the last track of the album, so it may well be meant to round off the listening experience. musically it comes with a last big climax, followed by some seconds of piano epilogue, depicting a brilliant sunset after a long and glorious day full of thinking (“where do the children play”, “but I might die tonight”), loving and worrying (“sad lisa”, “wild world”), searching for enlightenment (“miles from nowhere”). then the sun sets, the day is over, the music is over, time to go to bed and rest, for the next day awaits.
Ledaeth is right, it's definitely 'sun' (says so in the notes along with the cd). Anyway, gorgeous, gorgeous song and such a perfectly conclusive end to the album. I think the line ''cause while the sinners sin, the children play' sums the song up in terms of meaning. It's a nice way to look at things...
that is a very good question myeh_man
Surely it's possible that it should read 'son', and thus make more sense.