"It's always easier to leave, than to be left."

If I go

Before I'm old

Oh, brother of mine,

Please don't' forget me if I go

Bartender, please

Fill my glass for me

With the wine you gave Jesus

That set him free after three days in the ground

Oh, and if I die

Before my time

Oh, sweet sister of mine,

Please don't regret me if I die.

Bartender, please

Fill my glass for me

With the wine you gave Jesus

That set him free after three days in the ground.

I'm on bended knees

I pray, Bartender please

When I was young I didn't think about it

Now I can't get it out of my mind.

Oh, and if all this gold

Should steal my soul away

Oh, dear mother of mine,

Please redirect me if this gold...

Bartender, you see

The wine that's drinking me

Came from the vine that strung Judas

From the Devil's tree

It's roots deep, deep in the ground

I'm on bended knees,

I pray,

Bartender please

Death is a topic that is obviously talked about a lot. I feel like too many people are afraid to die, to the point that it almost becomes cliche. I think that it is not death itself that most fear, it is the idea of being forgotten about, or being regretted. In this Dave Matthews Band song, Dave expresses the same idea.

Dave wants to live eternally, both in heaven, and here on earth, hopefully via a good legacy. That is why he requests the same wine that Jesus drank before rising from death to live forever. He also feels like he has sold his soul for more earthly, material possessions, which is similar to Judas selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas later hung himself. Dave makes a reference to Judas being hung by the Devil's tree because the Devil caused Judas to sell out the lord for money, similar to most of us with our material things that matter so much to us. Most of all, Dave refers to Jesus as the Bartender. He is praying and begging for forgiveness on his knees, so that he will be able to live forever and not be forgotten.

This is regarded as one of the Band's deepest, most biblical songs. It was written by Dave when he was at a low point in life, as is most of everything else from the Lillywhite Sessions/Busted Stuff.

I think sometimes we all go through a little period of time that we freak out about dying and what will happen when we do. Personally, I feel like it's all about legacy-The little bits and pieces of us that are stored here on earth even after we've left it, as if in a time capsule. I want to live a long, healthy life filled with great times and memories; hopefully with a wife and kids, a good job writing something in an office all day that pays a lot, and I want go golf every weekend when I get older. But when all of that is done, I don't want it to go on anymore. I won't be afraid to die. Hopefully, I can just understand that it'll be my time to go at that point. And, hopefully, by then I will have left enough of an impression on others that I'll live on down here eternally.

If I should make a fuss about dying one day, I hope I'll feel selfish doing it. Because, as Dave Matthews said last night at the band's show at the Staples Center in LA, "It's always easier to leave, than to be left." Dave wasn't talking about Bartender though. Unfortunately, he was referring to the unexpected death of saxophonist and founding member of the band, Le Roi Moore, at age 42.

Moore passed away on Tuesday afternoon, due to complications from the ATV accident he had suffered in late June. After the accident, he was released to his home where he would participate in physical therapy, only to be re-admitted to the hospital a few days ago due to the complications that eventually caused his death.

The death of the vital part of the band leaves an impression of uncertainty among Dave fans. The band could go in any number of directions at this point. Years from now, we may all look back and see this point in time from a better perspective and realize what a crossroads it was for the band we all love. Luckily for Le Roi, 42 years was more than enough to leave a brighter legacy than most of us could wish for, as his jazz-inspired sound is on millions of compact disks today.