Are All the Children In? - chords, tab and comments
Lyrics without distraction HERE
I captured this one from "Hymns by Johnny Cash": recorded 1958, released the following year as his 2nd gospel album on Columbia, accepting Johnny's demand to do more than charting the lists. Sun Company did not.
The author is hazy. Only this one is ever credited the name appearing on the label. It MAY be Gordon Craig Starrett (1932 – 2008), but this is a guess, NOT a fact. At least, GCS was a musician, playing violin, "fiddle" in terms of country music, and ending up having strong interest in celtic music.
This "song" is meant for recitation, but I still give it a tab : my own. The original recording has a simple background melody 3/4 rythm. I give it a personal finger-picking instead, with the following harmonies. Nobody's alive to trash me for this.
G Am Bm D7/9 D7 G Em
when I'm alone I often think of an old house on the hill
Am D7 G Am Bm D7/9 D7
of a big yard hedged in roses where we ran and played at will
G Am Bm D7/9 D7 G Em
and when the night time brought us home hushing our merry din
Am Bm D7/9 D7 G
mother would look around and ask "are all the children in?"
I've hardly ever performed this one in public. It gives me flashback to my own blessed childhood and THE mama. So I always get sentimental, and these bloody tears start making me a fool. But Mr. Starrett, whoever he was, hit my heart ...
... where South-african country singer "Alan Ladd" [Louw Wessels] tries to SING it, and hit my butt.