The Tea Song

Is this about drugs? Either way, it's a very good folk song.

To me, Michael Hurley's "The Tea Song" is about a (young) adult who remains in denial of loosing a meaningful person in his life, quite possibly his lover. In an attempt to stay distracted from his unpleasant feelings, he occuppies himself with a ritual of preparing and drinking tea all day long. While doing so, he contemplates about his feelings and his loss, letting his thoughts drift off towards existential questions and spiritual considerations. Throughout the song, the lyrical I appears to have reached his goal of remaining emotionally controlled at the cost of being unable to participate in a healthy daily routine. From an outside perspective, it is safe to say that the lyrical I effectively fails to overcome his loss. Instead, he appears to be struggling with a mix of overwhelming sadness and possibly anger and frustration.

Throughout the song, the lyrical I does not address the root cause of his loss at all, nor does he appear accept his faith, sending him into a spiral of despair, drinking more tea than is considered healthy by most people's standards. The ritual of excessive tea consumption described in the 1964 song may of course be interpreted as a metaphor for substance abuse in general, and its detriminal effect on the abuser's (mental) health.

"Turn on the tea and let it brew - I like six cups not one or two"

The song opens with an imperative in which the lyrical I commands himself to brew a kettle of tea. The imperative may be interpreted as an expression for the sheer amount of willpower the man requires to execute such a trivial task, already hinting at his troubled state of mind. Speaking to oneself is also a common behavior of people who suffer from lack of social contact or who are trying to cope with loneliness. A long moaning follows the first words in the song, undermining the mental and physical exhaustion of the lyrical I.

"Break out the cups and the honey too - and turn on the tea and let it brew"

The lyrical I goes on to tell (himself) about his love for excessive amounts of tea and his favorite ingredients - an indication of the fact, that the ritual is effective in bringing the man a limited amount of joy and keeping him occupied. What follows is a repetition of commanding and moaning about the same task, a stylistic device to express the repetitive nature of the act of making multiple kettles of tea a day. It is also a strong hint at the perpetuity of the man's troubles.

"I don't care that she's left me - just so long as the cupboard's full of tea"

The second verse opens with the man making a bold statement about his apparent indifference to the fact that his lover (or close friend or relative) has left him. The statement is surprising since nothing in the song so far had hinted on a negative experience in the man's life. The nature of Michael Hurley's songs and the personal and simple touch of the melody and lyrics in "The Tea Song" give the impression, that the man and the artist are one (which is of course not the case), hinting at an autobiographic reference. Since it is hard to believe that a renowned artist like Michael Hurley would fill a song with things he seemingly doesn't care about, the listener is left with the impression that the lyrical I is simply in denial about his loss. Strictly speaking, the slow-paced nature of the song makes it unclear if the first sentence of the second verse is spoken in a single breath, making the statement appear cynical, or if the man reconsiders his initial thought right after he has outspoken it. Both give the song a comic smack.

"My nerves are shaking and my heart is breaking - that's just because of all the tea I've taken"

The song continuous with a description of the nervous and anxious physical state the lyrical I is in, which he immediately attributes to the high dosage of caffeine he had consumed. Of course, the listener is likely to develop strong doubts about this hypothesis, which is anticipated by the ironic undertone of Michael Hurley's voice and the cynic formulation "just because".

The act of drinking excessive amounts of serves the lyrical I as a means of outsmarting himself when it comes to addressing the true nature of his problems: By making himself unable to differentiate the stress and anxiety he feels from the perfectly normal physical reaction to high doses of caffeine, he cannot take immediate responsibility for his condition, allowing him to stay in denial, while at the same time maintaining a certain degree of rationality in his argumentation. At this point in the song, the moaning between the individual lines of the verse has almost turned into a calm humming, which I interpret as an expression of pride and gratitude towards managing to not let the unpleasant truth sink in.

"Poor old Buddha turned into stone - that's why I drink tea alone"

After a longer, calmer phase of guitar playing and humming, the song takes a turn on the spiritual side when the lyrical I starts to contemplate about Gautama Buddha, the primary figure of Buddhism. The lyrical I pities him for turning into stone, only to exhale a loud expressive moan again directly after the statement was made. This may be interpreted as an attempt to transfer his self pity into an abstract figure, allowing the man to partially live through is emotions without openly addressing them.

The comic and cynical climax of the song is reached, when the lyrical I states the inability of Buddah himself to accompany him as the main reason for his loneliness. Many people, who might have pitied the man portrayed in the song, will reconsider their empathy in the face of such barefaced arrogance. This gives a hint at one of possibly many underlying reasons for the man's loneliness in the first place.

"Buddha's made of stone and his eyes are ruby - but his thoughts and dreams are distilled in the tea"

The lyrical I continues to contemplate about Buddha, but the words become more metaphorical and the moans and sighs appear more intimate at calm. Interpreting the song over fifty years after it was written - and being a non native speaker most likely lets me miss important references to the (popular) culture of that time. Consequently, I am focusing on the overall image conveyed rather then discussing individual symbols.

What appears to be in the foreground is the fact that (the historical figure of) Buddha is long since dead. However, commonly cited written records fail to describe Buddha as either cast into stone or with eyes made out of rubies. The question thus suggests itself, if the images are actually meant to be metaphorical, or if the situation described is in fact a simple description of what the man is seeing and experiencing while drinking his tea. An obvious interpretation would be, that the man has a Buddha statue standing somewhere in his tea shelf across the room or that the tea he prepares for this "special occasion" is taken out of out a Buddha-shaped box. In the delusional state the man is in - which is hinted in the next verse - this appears to me as the most likely scenario.

"I'll drink my tea and sit and dream - I'll conjure up a leprechaun to dance upon the steam"

Towards the end of the song, the lyrical I becomes aware of the fact that his thoughts are indeed drifting off. As opposed to fighting it, the state of delusion appears to give the man freedom and joy and a sense of control over his world, in which he imagines a leprechaun to dance right in front of his eyes. Leprechauns are an Irish folk interpretation of the common trickster figure. Many tales warn against greed and the pitfalls of trying to get too rich too quick. I can only assume that Michael Hurley has chosen the symbol of the leprechaun to point out that not only the reckless pursuit of material wealth bears its consequences.

"I'm drinking my tea and it's getting late - thought I heard somebody pass my gate"

The last verse of the song is marked by a return of the lyrical I to (limited) mental clarity. He looks on the clock and realizes that he has been spending his whole day wasting away. The lyrical I's waking up is possibly triggered by a familiar sound the resembled e.g. the rattling of a key-chain or the distinct clapping of a certain type of shoe that his former lover used to own. It becomes very clear, that the lyrical I is not over his loss yet.

Throughout the whole song, it is left to the listener's speculation if the man only finds himself in a transient phase of despair after an unexpected - and maybe even temporal - loss or if he is struggling with a mental illness, having repeatedly been unable to overcome repeated stunning waves of anxiety and depression. The sheer length of the song present a support for the latter thesis, while the hint at substance abuse and the comical elements convey a feeling of lightness and control, and thus support the former thesis. I console myself with the interpretation that the situation portrayed is just the first day after a horrible fight that ended in a temporal break-up, and that the (young) man will have enough time and energy to overcome his loss and turn into a better version of himself in the time to come.