The keeper of that inn in Bethlehem had no extra room to offer; his inn
was full and he could not ask another guest to give up his room. Rather than turn Joseph
and Mary away, he did the best he could to provide shelter to a woman about to give birth.
Rather than defame him, as preachers have done since I was a child, I wrote this song to
honor the innkeeper as a thoughtful, caring man, just as we honor Joseph for providing for
a woman pregnant with a child not his own.
SHEET MUSIC
Since you are reading this on line, I assume the e-mail contact above will suffice for now.
The song is quite versatile and lends to expansion into Christmas presentations of various
length or can even be the backbone of an entire Christmas program. In my mind's ear I can
hear, before the second verse, a violin solo or a boy soprano rendering
Silent Night. A reading of the Christmas story may be interspersed. Or shepherds
and wise men may visit the stable during the third verse and perhaps end their visit before
"Recall the dream" of that verse by singing Angels We Have Heard On High or
other appropriate songs. The Drummer Boy would be appropriate after departure
of the shepherds. Turn your imagination loose to incorporate The Innkeeper into
your Christmas program; the only limitation I would suggest is correlating the time sequence
of events in the program with the time sequence as events unfolded during that first
Christmas season.
I will welcome a description of how you fitted the song into your Christmas program, and
the audience response, and wish to add comments at the blog
http://songtheinnkeeper.blogspot.com as an aid to others in designing their presentations.
As the years unfold, I hope there will always be a verbal
introduction, perhaps pointing out that the story line was inspired by the Biblical
Christmas story starting with the 'clop, clop' of the donkey's hoofs as Mary and Joseph
approach the inn and suggesting the audience visualize the events of the story as seen
through the eyes of the kindly businessman, The Innkeeper."
I (or my heirs) may be contacted by e-mail by
clicking here. This song is my gift to those who celebrate Christmas.
You may make a single copy for your personal use or copies to aid your committee in
selecting music. I am presently (3-08) seeking a music publisher to make
The Innkeeper available in quantities. Anyone using the song for monetary gain
should be diligent in honoring my copyright.
There is such competition for music publishers' attention that I have
reworked the presentation for use by a choir or chorus and prepared cover art. Until a
publisher agrees to publish and promote this music, I offer it in booklet form on heavy
stock, folded to 8-1/2x11, stapled and punched for a 3-ring binder. Priced at $3 each
(with quantity discounts) plus $5 P&H per order
My apologies. The first effort at producing sheet music did not
capture the song as I intended. I retained the remnant of the first printing (for anyone
who had committed to using the music this Christmas season). The revised score and
lyrics present the Innkeeper and Joseph in a musical dialogue and will be posted (10/8/08)
in a day or two.
Initial poem appears below with a link to the score and to cover art (that you may use in
your program for the occasion).
bassThis tax is good for my business
My inn is full; they pay and sleep and go
-----Your wife looks full; tenorThe child is due bassWe must find room
The night is chill, but my stable's warm tenorMay God be praised
bassIs this a dream?
As a historical note, the original verses 1 and 2 are available by clicking here.
This ballad satisfies a long-felt need on my part to be fair to the innkeeper, who did the best he could with an over-booked inn and a pregnant woman nearing delivery.
In our initial season the song was sung before live audiences in assisted living homes and churches. My hope had been that the soloist would be a bass or baritone -- I'm a 'sort-of' tenor and appreciate the sonorous depth of a bass -- wearing a Jewish skull cap and behind a music stand, horizontal at about waist height and turned around with lip toward the audience to make a crude desk, possibly with quill in hand for record keeping. An announcer introduced the ballad. The change to a dialogue between innkeeper and Joseph came later.
During the fall of 2006 sheet music included melody only -- no harmony -- and was generated with inadequate understanding of the computer program -- which I still have not mastered. I added (early 2008) an introduction (including the donkey with its burden approaching the inn) and harmony.
A fourth verse was added January 2007 and was not included in initial peformances or in my application for copyright registration. At director's option, it may be ignored or sung by all men or by the entire group. Of course the alternate ending would follow the fourth rendition of the chorus rather than the third.
Harmony in the chorus (a melody in its own right) was added in March 2007 and later meshed with primary melody. In my mind's ear I can hear the chorus rendered with varied emphases, thus: (1) emphasize male voices first time on the chorus (all sing but with female voices softened), (2) emphasize female voices second time, (3) emphasize soprano and tenor parts, and (4) all sing with equal loudness: selective emphasis at director's option.
Further refinement was encouraged by traffic to this web page during the fall of 2007 and include an introduction using piano accompaniment and jam blocks to suggest the donkey's hoof beats, with the donkey continuing into the first verse to suggest arrival of the donkey's burden in front of the inn. (It would be well in an introduction to the presentation to mention the donkey hoof beats lest the audience overlook the suggestion.)
Publication of sheet music was undertaken in the spring after it became evident that competition for the attention of music publishers is so keen that it may take months of search to secure a publisher. In consequence, since the season for selection of Christmas music was approaching, I asked my artist to design the cover and asked a printer to prepare copies for sale in quantity.
I had not been content with what seemed a choppiness in the verses and, in the fall of 2008, undertook preparation of the first two verses as a duet, along with slight changes in the wording and presentation.
It is my expectation that The Innkeeper will become a standard of the Christmas season. The secularization of the season is profane, little short of blasphemy; hopefully music such as this will help stem the tide and restore Christmas as a religious festival.
Possible introduction: "The keeper of that inn in Bethlehem has been defamed by preachers for generations. But the tax had forced many citizens to travel to the place of their family’s origin, so there was unaccustomed demand for lodging. The innkeeper had no extra room to offer; his inn was full and it would have been difficult to ask another guest to give up his room. Rather than turn Mary and Joseph away he did the best he could to provide shelter to a woman about to give birth. This song honors the innkeeper as a thoughtful, caring man, just as we honor Joseph for providing for a woman pregnant with a child not his own.
Mary gave birth. In those days a woman needed to avoid excessive movement until she healed. So Mary and the infant remained in the shelter for some days in the watch care of the innkeeper, and during that time shepherds visited the humble setting for the birth of the Christ child. And wise men came with their gifts.
This season we celebrate the life that entered the world in that humble setting and who, during His life, contributed so much to our world."
Comments to the music director: A brief introduction may
be appropriate, perhaps as above.
To add an element of drama to your rendition of The Innkeeper:
1) Percussion may commence hoof beats 4-6 measures before the pianist begins.
2) While the introduction is played, the Innkeeper may stand before some form of
desk and quietly, with quill in hand, attend to his record keeping. (I had visualized a music
stand, horizontal about waist height and turned with lip toward the audience.) Then, he
would look up to sing his first two lines and return to his record keeping while the pianist
played the next three measures.
3) He would look up to greet Joseph. “Your wife looks full." Joseph responds. Then, with
hand on chin in a thinking pose, “We must find room.” Piano run. Hand up as with
inspiration: “The night is chill but my stable's warm.” Then, with hands
to tilted chin to suggest sleep: “God rest you well.” Piano. Then “Is this a dream?”
4) After the chorus, the Innkeeper (2d verse) would address the audience with pride and awe,
but Joseph speaks to the air; then the Innkeeper (still in awe) "May heavn'n be praised."
5) All men or all voices may sing the 3rd (and 4th) verses.
If the presentation is expanded to include a manger scene, the manger with Mary and babe would remain unlighted until partway through the first rendition of the chorus. Shepherds and wise men may appear during the third verse (hoof beats optional) and sing selected songs (with or without choral support), followed by music (choral or congregational) as seems appropriate to plans for the occasion, including a sermon, lecture, recitation, reading, . . ., if . . . If integrated with reading of the Biblical Christmas story, then Luke 2:1-5 may precede the ballad, 2:6-7 before the 2nd verse, 2:8-16 and Matthew 2:1-2 before the 3rd verse. Evidently the 4th verse would then end the program.
To heighten the drama, since the harmony in the ‘all voices’ part of chorus is a melody in its own right, the chorus may be sung with varying loudness on the part of the different voices. As, 1st time women louder than men, 2nd time men louder than women, or altos paired with bases in loudness, etc.
.