Hank Williams — The Funeral/Steal Away

Steal away, steal way Steal away to Jesus I ain't got long to stay here You know I was walking in Savannah past a church, decayed and dim When slowly through the window came a plaintive funeral hymn And my sympathy awakened and a wonder quickly grew Until I found myself environed in a little colored pew Where out front a young couple sat in sorrow nearly wild On the altar was a casket and in the casket was a child But I could picture him while living, curly hair protruding lips For I'd seen perhaps a thousand in my hurried southern trips There rose a sad, old colored preacher from his little wooden desk With a manner sort of awkward and countenance grotesque The simplicity and shrewdness on his dark worried face Showed the wisdom and the ignorance of a crushed, undying race And he said, "Now don't be weepin' for this pretty bit of clay For the little boy who lived there has done gone and run away He 'ppreciates your kindness, he's been with us for a while But his sure 'nough father wanted him in that large house, up in the sky The Lord didn't give you that baby, by no hundred thousand miles He just think you need some sunshine and so he lent it for a while And he let you keep and love it 'til your hearts was bigger grown And these silver tears you're shedding now, is just interest on the loan Just think my poor dear mourners creeping long on sorrows way What a blessed picnic this here baby got today Your good fathers and good mothers crowd the little fella 'round In the angels' tender garden of the big plantation ground And his eyes they brightly sparkle at all the pretty things he view But then a tear came and he whispered, "I want my parents too" But then the angel's chief musician teach that little boy a song Says if only they be faithful, they'll soon be comin' 'long So my poor dejected mourners, let your hearts with Jesus rest And don't go to criticizin' the one what knows the best He have give us many comforts, He's got the right to take away To the Lord be praised in glory, forever and ever, let us pray Steal away, steal way Steal away to Jesus I ain't got long to stay here Thank you Hank, that's mghty fine Well, you boys, that was good music there too