The song "Jonah and the Whale" is much beloved
at Sunday Schools. It's jolly but (like lots of Sunday School versions of the Jonah story) ends when Jonah came out of the fish, and misses out most of the interesting parts of the book of Jonah. In particular, there's no mention of the
tree that Jonah shades under and is subsequently eaten by a worm, a strange little parable wrapped inside the whole strange parable that is the
book of Jonah.
Here's the original song (written by
Hugh Mitchell in 1957 - it's often uncredited but is listed by the Churches Copyright Licensing Authority). The tune can be found in various places online and in
an organ version by Canon Quentin Bellamy:
Come listen to
my tale
Of Jonah and the
whale
Way down in the
middle of the ocean.
Now how did he
get there
Whatever did he
wear
Way down in the
middle of the ocean
A-preaching he
should be
At Nineveh, you
see -
To disobey’s
a very foolish notion.
But God forgave
his sin
Salvation
entered in
Way down in the
middle of the ocean.
And here's our second verse (written by myself and my daughter):
God sent Jonah a
tree
He said hip-hip-hooree
He sheltered ‘neath
its broad and shady branches.
But God sent
down a worm
It wriggled and
it squirmed
Deep down in the
middle of the desert.
The worm ate up
the tree
Near Nineveh you
see
And Jonah got
all hot and tired and bothered.
But God said to
Jonah,
Don’t
you be a moaner,
Deep down in the
middle of the desert.
Original - copyright Hugh Mitchell, 1957; second verse copyright Magnus Ramage & Alice Calcraft, 2014. (Images:
Jonah Journal by Rabbi David Paskin)
