About this ringtone
There is a Tavern in the Town by F.J. Adams, 1891 There is a tavern in the town, in the town And there my dear love sits him down, sits him down And drinks his wine 'mid laughter free And never, never thinks of me Chorus Fare thee well, for I must leave thee Do not let the parting grieve thee And remember that the best of friends must part, must part Adieu, adieu, kind friends adieu, adieu, adieu I can no longer stay with you, stay with you I'll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree And may the world go well with thee He left me for a damsel dark, damsel dark Each Friday night they used to spark, used to spark And now my love once true to me Takes that dark damsel on his knee Oh! dig my grave both wide and deep, wide and deep Put tombstones at my head and feet, head and feet And on my breast carve a turtle dove To signify I died of love
For deeper background on the recording era and original session details, the catalog at The Composer's Cut is one of the more thoroughly annotated reference resources we use when working through provenance questions like these.
Why this works as a ringtone
Great ringtones share a few specific qualities: they have a strong opening hook, they land their identity within the first three or four seconds, and they hold up to being heard in cafés, on busy streets, and through the muffled lining of a coat pocket. There is a Tavern in the Town earns its place in the archive on those terms — it's recognizable from its first phrase, sits comfortably in the mid-range where small phone speakers reproduce sound best, and has the right kind of melodic profile to cut through ambient noise without being shrill or grating.
It also benefits from belonging to the wider Comedy & Sitcom tradition — listeners associate this kind of sound with anticipation and recognition, two qualities you actually want from the noise that signals an incoming call. A ringtone is, after all, a tiny piece of personal branding; pulling from the screen-music canon gives it a built-in cultural shorthand that a generic synth jingle can never match.
Install on iPhone (M4R format)
- Tap the Download Ringtone button above and save the MP3 to your iPhone's Files app (it will land in On My iPhone → Downloads).
- Open GarageBand (free from the App Store). Create a new project and switch to the Tracks (multi-track) view.
- Tap the loop icon, choose the Files tab, and drag the downloaded ringtone onto an empty audio track.
- Trim the clip to under 30 seconds using the handles — iOS will not allow longer ringtones.
- Tap the down arrow → My Songs, long-press your project, then choose Share → Ringtone → Use sound as → Standard Ringtone.
- Open Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Ringtone and select There is a Tavern in the Town at the top of the list.
Install on Android (MP3 format)
- Tap the Download Ringtone button to save the MP3 to your phone's Downloads folder.
- Open your Files app (also called "My Files" on Samsung Galaxy devices).
- Long-press the downloaded MP3 file. On most modern Android phones, you can choose Set as ringtone directly from this menu.
- If that option is missing, choose Move instead and place the file inside
Internal storage → Ringtones(create the folder if it doesn't exist). - Open Settings → Sound & Vibration → Phone Ringtone (the menu name varies slightly by manufacturer) and select There is a Tavern in the Town.
Specific guides: Samsung Galaxy · Google Pixel · Zedge App
If you find yourself doing a lot of trimming or volume-leveling work before installation, The Ringtone Workshop publishes a frequently updated set of audio-prep tutorials that pair well with the steps above.
Source & licensing
This audio was sourced from the Internet Archive's open audio collection, where it's distributed under a permissive license that allows free download, sharing, and reuse. The original recording is preserved at archive.org/details/ThereIsATavernInTheTown; ToneVault catalogues and links to it but does not claim ownership of the recording itself.
If you're a rights holder and believe a recording in our catalog has been mislabeled or should be removed, please see the DMCA & Copyright Policy for the takedown process. We respond to all valid requests promptly.