> Martin Carthy > Songs > Indian Tea

Indian Tea

[Roger Wilson after Robert Frost]

Sung by Roger Wilson on the album Wood – Wilson – Carthy. He commented in the record's sleeve notes:

The chorus of this song was complete but homeless, until a friend lent me a copy of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. The poem, distilled down slightly, eventually became the set of four verses used here.

Lyrics

Two roads forked in a yellow wood
Being one traveller long I stood
I looked down one as far I could
To where it bent around

I took the other one just as fair
For it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them about the same

Chorus:

Give yourself a break
Your poor old head is aching
Sit down with a glass of Indian tea
Sip in the here and now
You might have a question
A decision of direction
A blinding truth might smack your eye
Along the road less travelled by

Both roads that morning equal lay
I left the first for another day
I knew how way leads on to way
I doubled I'd return

I shall relate this with a sigh
Two roads forked in a wood and I
Took the road less travelled by
A difference that has made

Chorus

Acknowledgements

Lyrics copied from the Wood – Wilson – Carthy sleeve notes.