Introduction Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
[G]Rabindranath Tagore
was born in 1861.
Rarely has [D]the observance
[Bb]of a centenary
served a more timely pur[Gm]pose.[G]
[F]In a world of infinite [G]complexity,
straining towards universality,
its jagged disparities
confronting each other at close quarters,
while concurrently its frontiers in space recede to new worlds,
individuals, individual man tends to seek reassurance and stability
in conforming to one or another
restrictive cult or method.
[Eb]The artist, [G]the scientist,
the politician, the business manager,
rebellious youth, the priest,
or the professor,
each enter[Bb]tain a par[G]ticular and
mutually exclusive vision
of a well -integrated world,
each embodying some particular uniformity,
whether votes for all or food for all,
art or science [A]or cars [G]for all,
each time true up to a point,
but in[Bb]valid as [G]an exclusive principle.
In Tagore, we find that rare
human being,
a whole man, part artist,
[C]part [G]teacher, part God,
and mainly a very [G]great warm
human being.
Tagore, as other great men,
cannot be conveniently reduced
to some slogan or cult.
He, as Beethoven or Da Vinci,
proves that the poet in his ivory tower,
the educator sharing
and [C]thereby multiply[G]ing his
knowledge and experience,
the painter transferring his visions
to us in color and shape,
the philosopher who
[C]interprets
life's phenomena an[G]d mysteries,
the musician in touch with infinity
and the depths of heart and soul,
the humanist compassionate
and deeply understanding
of his fellow men and women.
Tagore proves that these many attributes,
rather than being mutually exclusive,
are in truth mutually strengthening
and can and do indeed dwell
in the same breast.
One of his greatest achievements
was to revive in the people of India
a sense of their own culture in song,
in po[G]etry, and painting.
His poems, however, were mostly composed
in the language we share in common,
in English.
The present recording of
songs from the opera Shyama
can illustrate but a frac
[Am]tion of Tagore's vast output.
[G]It must remain inconceivable,
not only to the wage earner,
but [Bb]to an artist as [Eb]well,
[G]that men like [Bb]Bach, Mozart,
[A]and Tagore
[G]each created works
which [F]it would take [G]more than one
lifetime only to copy.
His musical activity alone
has bequeathed us some 3 ,000 songs,
and he is said to have written a [C]poem
every [Am]day of his life.[G]
Certainly,
contrary to popular be[G]lief,
quality is intimately allied to quantity,
both by volume of experience
[G]an d by compet[G]itive standards.
Perhaps in listening to these songs,
Tagore may communicate to us something
of the humanist inspiration
which led him to such [G]vast works
and [G]great deeds.