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Track 6. All God's Children

The three characters in this song are all real; only the names have been changed. Albert was Fred, and attended the Hawthorne Avenue Salvation Army Goodwill Centre in the mid 1970s. There is a value in musical excellence, but in the end it all falls short. A Festival where 20,000 applaud the superhero on Main Stage; or one where there are 1,000 groups of 20 taking it in turns to each make their own faltering offering. Which one does God turn up at?

In the Salvation Army on the road to Kingdom Come
Albert couldn’t play a trumpet so they issued him a drum
Sunday night meeting he gets in the Holy Ghost
Though he’s eighty years old and as deaf as a post
Let the mockers mock and the scoffers scoff
As he beats on the on and he beats on the off
But Merciful Providence up above the roof
Is smiling down on him, he’s the living proof

All God’s children, all God’s children, all God’s children
Joining in and lending a hand
All God’s children,. All God’s children, all God’s children,
Are going to get to play in the band

Alli’s going to be a star, now the day is getting near
Got an 89 Strat copy that was made in South Korea
Learned half a dozen chords and a couple of breaks
Learned to pose, so he's got what it takes
He’ll be up there on the stage, just taking the applause
Got faith, hope charity (and he’s the good cause)
Believes if he practises with vigour and vim
When Clapton's clapped out they'll clap him

Mr Phelps is the organist at Holy Trinity
Been up there on the keys since 1963
He slows a bit more with every verse
Going down through the gears, will he finds reverse?
Cobwebs in his pipes and his pedals are seized
(and the organ too is beginning to wheeze)
Forty days and forty nights, when he hits the brakes
That’s the name of the hymn, that's how long it takes

Well come along Granny come along Kids
Bring your flute bring your oboe and your dustbin lids
You can never say can’t, you can only say won’t
Bring your digeridoo, no-one says don’t
Now there's no-one first and no one last
The Celestial Jam is the Master Class
No one gets set aside, no one goes to waste
Only love is going to be the final arbiter of taste

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