Lyrics Page
Steal Away
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Oct 31, 2026 updated
The Land Of Many Churches album
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
A funeral in Savannah frames the story. The narrator wanders past a decayed church, hears “a plaintive funeral hymn” through the window, and ends up in a back pew while a preacher stands over a child’s coffin and a grieving young couple sits at the front. The refrain, “Steal away to Jesus… I ain’t got long to stay here,” wraps the narrative at both ends, borrowing the old spiritual’s homesickness for heaven.
The preacher’s words carry the comfort. The boy “done gone and run away” home, because the Father wanted him “in the large house up above.” The child was a loan, lent until the parents’ hearts “were bigger grown,” and their tears are “just interest on the loan.” He closes by telling the mourners to let their hearts “with Jesus rest” and to trust the one who “knows the best.”
The last lines return to the spiritual, “My Lord calls me, He calls me by the thunder / The trumpet sounds within my soul.” Scripture touches the song at 2 Samuel 12:23, where David speaks of the child he lost, at Job 1:21 on the Lord giving and taking away, and at 1 Thessalonians 4:13 on grieving with hope. The song stays with sorrow and does not hurry past it.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
Steal away, steal away
Steal away to Jesus
Steal away, steal away home
I ain't got long to stay here
[Verse 1]
I was walkin' in Savannah, passed the church decayed and dimed
When there's slowly through the window came a plaintive funeral hymn
And a sympathy awakened an' a wonder quickly grew
Till I found myself seat in a little negro pew
[Verse 2]
Out at front a young couple sat in sorrow, nearly wild
And on the altar was a coffin and in the coffin lay a child
Rows of sad old negro preacher at his little wooden desk
With a manner grandly awkward with the countless grotesque
[Verse 3]
And he said now don't be weepin' for this little bit of clay
For the little boy who lived there he done gone and run away
He's was doin' very finely and he appreaciated your love
But it's sure enough father want him in the large house up above
[Verse 4]
Now he didn't give you that baby by a hundred thousand miles
He just think you need some sunshine and he lend it for awhile
He let you keep and love it till your hearts were bigger grown
And these silver tears you have shed that's just interest on the loan
[Verse 5]
So my poor dejected mourners let your hearts with Jesus rest
And don't go criticizein' no one the one that knows the best
He gives us many comforts he's ever right to take away
To the Lord be praised in glory now and ever, let us pray
[Outro]
My Lord calls me, He calls me by the thunder
The trumpet sounds within my soul
I ain't got long to stay here