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Bring tea for the tillerman

Posted by Pamela on December 28, 2006

In Reply to: Bring tea for the tillerman posted by Allise on December 27, 2006

: what does the phrase "bring tea for the tillerman" mean and where does it originate?

There is a Cat Steven song with this name (from the 1970 album with the same name). The lyrics are:

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

The cover of the album has a man (a tillerman, I suppose) drinking tea. There's a picture here:
rlg.peircecentral.com/ tea.html

I don't know if Cat Stevens was the first to use the phrase. The meaning? I'm guessing that it reflects the hippie hankering for a simple, rural, semi-mystical life away from the corruption and war that dominated politics at the time (but do remember to pack your own penicillin before you drop out). Or, you can visit www.cat.stevens.com where there is, no doubt, a page to discuss the meaning of the lyrics (I couldn't get the page to load so I didn't check). Be aware that there is a correlation between people who like Cat Stevens and people who smoke drugs, so take that into account when considering the sense of the answers. Pamela

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