Lyrics to John McCutcheon's Song, "Calling All the Children Home"

I am so excited about the chance to hear John McCutcheon in concert tonight (Nighttown in Cleveland Heights). One of my favorite McCutcheon songs is "Calling All the Children Home." The song clearly seems autobiographical about growing up in a big Catholic family in Wisconsin. It is so evocative of childhood, including my own. And it shows the power of good parenting because good parenting can offer children a sense of security. And this security empowers them go out beyond their own family and address the needs of others. In John's song, it is the needs of other children throughout the world, many less fortunate than him. The lyrics below show John's wishes for all the children of the world. These are wishes I have for my own kids:

"Calling All the Children Home"

Song credits: 

Words and Music by John McCutcheon

"John, Mary Claire, Lulu, Jeanie
Kevin, Jeff, Patty, Nancy, Rob"

Shadows growing longer, light is growing dim
Supper's on the table everybody come in
Been playing at the river and I'm tired to the bone
She's calling all the children home

CHORUS:

Home to the table and the big, black pot
Everybody's got enough, 'though we ain't got a lot
No one is forgotten, no one is alone
When she's calling all the children home

Everybody's sittin' in everybody's place
With their fresh-scrubbed fingers and their fresh-scrubbed face
It's quiet just a minute while sister says a grace
Like she's calling all the children home

CHORUS

BRIDGE:

I could hear her voice in the middle of a crowd
It was never too late and it was never too loud
Smelled just like home by the time we hit the door
There was always just enough but there was always room for more

So, out in the desert, down by the sea
Hear the voice calling "Allee, allee in free!"
From the city to the forest where the wild beasts roam
We are calling all the children home

LAST CHORUS:

Home to the table, home to the feast
Where the last are first and the greatest are the least
Where the rich will envy what the poor have got
Everybody's got enough, 'though we ain't got a lot
No one is forgotten, no one is alone
When we're calling all the children home
Gathered 'round the table and the big, black pot
Everybody's got enough, 'though we ain't got a lot
No one is forgotten, no one is alone
From the sacks in Soweto to the ice of Nome
From Baghdad City to the streets of Rome
When we're calling all the children home

"Moishe, Isabelle, Sipho, Kim
Mohammed, Mikael, Red Hawk, Tim"

©1990 by John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP).

Album Reference: 

Live at Wolf Trap