Small Voice Calling > The Call > Echoes From Sunday School
Echoes from Sunday School in the Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell
Mirror held to mirror
As far as I can tell
At this glimpse of eternity
I fumbled and they fell
Between these shards restored
Lies truth in splintered cracks
As far as I can tell
Remembered light refracts
From ‘As Far As I Can Tell’ by Ralph McTell
Full lyrics in ‘Time’s Poems’ p 339 / ‘As Far As I Can Tell’, p viii
In his autobiography, Ralph McTell recounts his childhood memories of attending Sunday School at the Mint Walk Mission in Croydon. Although he professes to have lost his childhood faith, shards of remembered Bible stories and hymns – echoes from Sunday School – have frequently graced Ralph’s song lyrics during his subsequent career.
This page records all the ‘shards’ I have detected in Ralph McTell’s lyrics, and their likely biblical sources. Songs with their own entries in The Call are linked to them, and the sources’ Bible references are linked to an on-line Bible.
Songs
Lyrics from
Shards
Echoes from Sunday School
Sources
Bible or other reference
A Bird off the Mountain
‘Time’s Poems’ p 364
(The Lord) helps them that help themselves
A saying that sounds scriptural but isn’t (see also Reverend Thunder)
Walking the valley of death arm in arm
Psalm 23: 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… you are with me
Barred from the garden and couldn’t get in
Genesis 3: 23 – 24 A flaming sword guards the way to the tree of life
Camilla the Camel
Audio recording
Lead the three wise men to Bethlehem
Matthew 2: 1 – 12 The Epiphany
‘The Unknown Soldier’ CD booklet
Returned to earth and mud
Genesis 3: 19 For you are dust, and to dust you shall return
Chalk Dust
‘Time’s Poems’ p 146
She reads the words scrawled on the blackboard
Daniel 5 Belshazzar’s feast: The writing on the wall (see also Rosalinda and Teacher Teacher)
First and Last Man
‘Time’s Poems’ p 334
I am the first and last man
Revelation 22: 13 I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last
Gold in California
‘Time’s Poems’ p 98
Like Paul on the Damascus road
Acts 9: 1 – 9 Saul’s conversion
I Met Jesus at the Crossroads
‘Time’s Poems’ p 384
I met Jesus at the crossroads…
Elim Choruses, No 457
I’ve Thought About It
‘Time’s Poems’ p 100
And if Jesus came back to lead us again
1 Thessalonians 4: 16 – 17 The Second Coming of Jesus
‘Time’s Poems’ p 353
15 verses reflecting on the Passion of Jesus
John 11:35 Jesus wept (Title and last line of each verse)
1. The Day that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem
John 12: 12 – 19 Palm Sunday
9. …water into wine, sight to the blind… even raised the dead
John 2: 1 – 12 The wedding at Cana: Water into wine (see also Somewhere Down the Road)
Mark 10: 46 – 52 Blind Bartimaeus
John 11 The raising of Lazarus
10. Where were the five thousand he fed with loaves and fishes
Luke 9: 10 – 17 Feeding the five thousand
11. In his dream he saw a garden with all his friends asleep
Mark 14: 32 – 52 The garden of Gethsemane
15. Then the scent of pine trees made him think of dear old Joseph
Matthew 13: 53 – 58 The carpenter’s son
Lantern Slides
‘Somewhere Down the Road’ CD booklet
Jesus bids us shine…
A children’s hymn
Lunar Lullaby
‘Time’s Poems’ p 330
Who scattered the stars in the field of night
Psalm 8: 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place
It was all right, it is all right, it’ll be all right
Revelation 4: 8 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come
‘Time’s Poems’ p 394
I wonder if her angels have their arms around her curled
Matthew 18: 10 Guardian angels
My Father’s House
‘Time’s Poems’ p 173
My father’s house I have outgrown
John 14: 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions
No Grown Man’s Land
‘Time’s Poems’ p 120
Like the hand of God breaking through the clouds surface to roll away the stone
Matthew 28: 2 The Resurrection
Peppers and Tomatoes
‘Time’s Poems’ p 185
We will reap what we have sown
Galatians 6: 7 A man reaps what he sows
Pick Up a Gun
‘Time’s Poems’ p 148
Thy will be done
Matthew 6: 10 The Lord’s Prayer (see also Reverend Thunder)
Praise the Lord
You can wait till kingdom come
Psalm 106: 1 Hallelujah!
Acts 1: 6 – 11 The Ascension
Promises
‘Time’s Poems’ p 400
Till the desert brings forth fruit
Joel 2: 22 Pastures in the wilderness
Reverend Thunder
‘Time’s Poems’ p 188
”Somewhere Down the Road’ CD booklet
God moves in most mysterious ways
God moves, His wonders to perform, In most peculiar ways
Redemption Hymnal No 117 ‘God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform’
The Lord helps them who help themselves
A saying that sounds scriptural but isn’t (see also A Bird off the Mountain)
Rosalinda
‘Somewhere Down the Road’ CD booklet
Having written on the wall, the moving finger…
Daniel 5 Belshazzar’s feast: The writing on the wall (see also Chalk Dust and Teacher Teacher)
…meek… Inherit the earth
Matthew 5: 5 The Beatitudes
To believe there’s a home way up in the sky
John 14: 2 – 4 I am going to prepare a place for you
To believe everything has been planned in advance
Jeremiah 29: 11 I know the plans I have for you
Somewhere Down the Road
‘Somewhere Down the Road’ CD booklet
The water tastes like wine
John 2: 1 – 12 The wedding at Cana: Water into wine (see also Jesus Wept #9)
Teacher Teacher
‘Time’s Poems’ p 410
The writing on the outside wall
Daniel 5 Belshazzar’s feast: The writing on the wall (see also Chalk Dust and Rosalinda)
The Shepherd’s Song
‘Time’s Poems’ p 298
The angel said you must go to Bethlehem
Luke 2: 1 – 20 The Nativity
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