I was walking in Savannah, past a church decayed and dim

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 4:56 pm

I also hard this song when I was young. My oldest sister knows it by heart. You can find it on YouTube under Hank Williams Sr. or Hank The Drifter. The song is called "The Funeral"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 11:42 pm

I had a 45 with Pat Boone singing Steal Away and reciting this poem (edited) in the midst. It's beautiful! Must be from the 50s or 60s. Peace in the Valley was on the other side.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 08, 2017 1:11 pm

I'm also looking for this song
Hubby wants it on his funeral. Was he said sounded like a African American was singing
With real trompet sons where it said when the trompet ...s

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Feb 18, 2017 9:14 pm

Although it was sung by Hank Williams, it was at a period when he sang as Luke the Drifter.
Play his recording of "The Prayer" and I defy you not to shed a tear!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:37 pm

George Younce and the Cathedral Quartet also did a great version of it.

phanlin47 · Post by **phanlin47** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:51 pm

The version I know was sung by Pat Boone in the mid 50"s. "Steal Away to Jesus. I memorized the poem " I was walking in Savannah, past a church decayed and dim." Although some of the verses in the poem were left out of the Pat Boone version. I was ten years old when I learned it singing in front of a mirror. i"m now 71 and can still recite it.

From-Africa · Post by **From-Africa** » Sat May 15, 2021 11:40 am

Hi folks! I came across your posts and was intrigued because I learned this as a poem when I was in school in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in the 1950’s. I have never heard it as a song, nor did we associate it with the town of Savannah nor America. Savannah, as you will know, is also the name given to a sparsely wooded grassland landscape common in east and south-central Africa, and my school was in a savannah landscape. A previous commenter, Phanlin47, talks of some of the verses being left out. The version I learned was also minus some of the verses quoted above. For what it is worth, I give you the version I learned all those years ago. Alas, I cannot remember who it was by.

I was walking in savannah
Past a church, decayed and dim
When softly through a window
Came a plaintive funeral hymn.

A sympathy awakened
A wonder quickly grew
Till I found myself environed
In a little Negro pew.

Out in front was a young couple
Sad and sorrowing and nearly wild
On the alter was a coffin
In the coffin was a child.

Rose a sad old Negro preacher
From a little wooden desk
With a manner grandly awkward
A countenance grotesque.

And he sad “Now don’t be weepin’
For this pretty bit of clay
For the little boy who lived there
He done gone and run away.

He’s doin’ mighty finely
And he ‘preciates your love
But his sure-enough Father
Want him in the large house up above.

Now, He didn’t give you that child
By a hundred thousand miles
He just think you need some sunshine
So He loaned him for awhile.

And He let you love and keep him
Till your hearts were bigger grown
And these silver tears you’re sheddin’
They’re just interest on the loan.

So my poor dejected mourners
Let your hearts with Jesus rest
And don’t go criticisin’
the One who knows the best.

He gives us many comforts
He’s a right to take away
To The Lord be praise and glory
Now and ever, let us pray”.

Scotty Searan · Post by **Scotty Searan** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:15 am

Guest wrote: ↑Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:31 pm 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
til I found myself envired in a little colored pew.

Out front a colored couple sat in sorrow, nearly wild
On the altar was a casket and in the casket was a child
I could picture him while livin, curly hair, protuding lips
Id seen perhaps a thousand in my hurried southern trips.

Rose a sad, old colored preacher from his little wooden desk
With a manner sorta awkward, and countenance grotesque
The simplicity and shrewdness in his eithopian face
Showed the wisdom and ignorance of a crushed, undying race.

And he said, now dont be weepin for this pretty bit of clay
For the little boy who lived there has done gone and run away
He was doin very finely and he appreciates your love
But his shore nuff father wanted him in the big house up above.

The lord didnt give you that baby, by no hundred thousand miles
He just thought you need some sunshine, and he lent it for awhile
And he let you keep and love it til your hearts were bigger grown
And these silver tears youre sheddin now is just interest on the loan.

Just think, my poor dear mourners, creepin long on sorrows lifes way
What a blessed picnic this here baby got today
Your good fathers and good mothers crowd the little fellow round
In the angels tender garden of the big plantation ground.

And his eyes they brightly sparkle at the pretty things he viewed
But a tear came, and he whispered, i want my parents , too
But then the angels chief musicians teach that little boy a song
Says if only they be faithful theyll soon be comin long.

So, my poor detached mourners, let your hearts with jesus rest
And dont go to criticizin the one what knows the best
He has give us many comforts, hes got the right to take away
To the lord be praised in glory, forever, let us pray.

This version was recorded in 1952 by Hank Williams Sr.
Hank Williams Sr. Died on January 1, 1953

Chardin · Post by **Chardin** » Wed Sep 07, 2022 1:23 pm

Back around 1957 or so when I was a child, I had a record of Pat Boone's version with "Steal Away" also sung. I loved it and played it over and over until I memorized it. He omitted the last two lines of verse 3 and also verses 7 and 8, and a few other words were changed, but it was really beautiful. After the last line, he went to "My Lord calls me," from 'Steal Away' and went on with the rest of the song.