The World's Lullabies

This 'Prairie Lullaby' was passed down from my great grandmother to grandmother to mother to me, now to my daughter. As the story goes, this was sung to babies in our family back to the time we lived in a sod house in Western Nebraska. My Aunt also sung this quietly to my Mom the day before she passed away.

Our daughter was born 13 weeks early.  She weighed 2 lbs, 2 oz.  And we didn't know from one day to the next,  whether she would survive.  Whether she would thrive or come home with medical issues.  She was kept in an isolete in the NICU, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, one of the largest and best in Boston. 

We were told by the doctors that reading, talking and singing to her would go a long way to her recovery. 

So every night, my husband would...

Marta Gómez first started singing her the church choir in her native Cali, Colombia. She often writes her own songs, but this one, "Heavenly One" is a famous classic song from Mexico. The song translates, roughly to "Ay, ay, ay, ay / Sing and don't cry / Because singing makes the heart happy, my heavenly one." It's often played faster, by mariachi bands, but Gómez has turned it into a lullaby. This song is courtesy of...

My friend Maddie Welch used to sing this song to her children, just as her mother sang it to her when she was growing up in Puerto Rico. The lyrics are about a cute little seashell hiding in the sand, and if the sea sweeps it away, "I'll never be able to find you again!" The first phrase, "Who made you?" reminds me of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, both "Tiger Tiger Burning Bright" and "Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?" Maddie gave me permission...

As far as my personal experiences with lullabies, I remember my Mom singing My Grandfather's Clock to me to get me to sleep as a child.  I also remember hearing her sing Daddy's Little Girl to my sister in the other room.A few years ago, I had the idea to record a lullaby album as a gift to my family and friends. I'd previously...

Lalayee, a lullaby in Farsi, by Mahsa Vahdat

See, even PRI's "Type" choice does not have one for this lullaby, cleverly tuned by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, the musical legend from the southern state of Tamil Nadu in Madras, India.The situation for this lullaby goes like this. The hero is a mentally immature, yet, innocent man. He composes an epistolary lullaby -- in the form of a written letter that he wants to write for his own love. The only problem is that, he doesn't know how to read and write. So, he...

Señora Santana is a lullaby that's popular throughout Latin America.  I know it as a traditional song from Mexico, but people sing it in other countries too.  My wife and I sang this every night to both my kids when they were little, hoping to start them on their way to speaking Spanish.

This traditional Japanese folk lullaby comes to us by way of Akaniji at Wikimedia Commons.

Beautiful lullaby by Mary C. Carpenter that I sing to my kids & enjoy myself.

Famoro Dioubaté hails from Conakry, the capital of the African nation of Guinea. He grew up in a family of musicians and learned to play the balafón — a sort-of African xylophone. Douyoré is a tradition Mandingo song that translates roughly to "My child is crying for something. What siw rong? Is she hurt, or hungry? Did she have a bad dream? I don't want you to be upset." The song is played on the balafón, as well as the bolon, a three-string African bass, and...

Lullabies are often sung by the child's big sister or by an old woman who stays behind at the house whilst the mother is working in the garden. If two girls or women stay home they can sing the lullaby in two parts.  In this lullaby the singer asks the baby to stop crying and sleep quietly as the mother has gone to work in the garden.  The same short phrases are sung in two parts to another melody in the second lullaby.  Recorded in Malaita, Solomon Islands in...

This is one of the fantastic lullabies scored by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, in the mid 1980s. This particular link I have posited above is from the Telugu original. It is from the movie Swathi Muthyam. This movie went on to win several awards. This song is also sung by one of the legendary singers of Indian cinema, Ms. P. Susheela. This song has been tuned in other regional languages, including Tamil and has been one of the meed of...

This is Johannes Brahms' Wiegenlied, performed by Ernestine Schumann-Heink in 1915, as shared at Wikimedia Commons.

This song was written about my little brother when he was just a baby- here are the lyrics: Close your eyes and let sand sprinkle inDrift away let your dreams beginTake a ride and journey inside your imaginationand I'll be by your sideyes I'll be by your sideso sleep little child Close your eyes and count floating sheepLose conscious though 'til you fall fast asleepDon't make a sound and don't move around 'til you're dreaming deepTomorrow's far awaySo far...

In this lullaby, a mother, Wewa Miriewa sings a hypnotic repetitive lullaby to put her child to sleep.

Translation

Ao, ao, ao, your mother went there, there, there,

To collect shells, to collect shells, to collect shells,

To the garden, to the garden, to the garden,

To the creek, to the creek, to the creek,

Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep.

This song is about a girl whose boyfriend is very sick.  She sends for the doctor to save him.  His name is Vaiao.  Recorded in Samoa in 1978.

Written in the seventh century, Pais Dinogad is one oldest known pieces of Welsh verse. It was actually written in the margins of the epic poem Y Gododdin. A mother sings to her baby about Father's hunting skill, and about his two dogs Giff and Gaff. Sadly, we'll never know what it sounded like or how it was sung.Peis dinogat e vreith vreith.o grwyn balaot ban wreith.chwit chwit chwidogeith.gochanwn gochenyn wythgeith.pan elei dy dat ty e...

I don't have any children of my own, but thinking of these tender little ones inspired me to write a lullaby or two for the day that I will.

I was one of 10 children and my mother used to sing this as a way of giving comfort.  Before she died, I did a little video of her sharing a snippet of it.

Karen Matheson is the lead singer of one of Scotland' most popular bands. She's been eprfoming Gaelic musics since she was a child. This song, (pronounced in EE-jag ar-ah-gitch) is translated to mean The Silver Whistle. It was written in the 1700s originally. In it, Matheson sings "Who will play the silver whistle? Since the song of my king has come to Scotland on a great ship with masts of silver. Welcome, welcome, may you be desired and famous. May...

This lubally is typical in the provinicia of Granada, Andalucia.Federico García Lorca took it and put it on Bodas de Sangre,one of his most famous plays for theater.

The cycle of life passes from lovers, to married with children, to grandparents and then oblivion.  (You can sing the last part as sadly drawn out to the point it makes the child laugh at the ridiculousness.)My mother did not like singing this one to us, as the song kept us awake too long.  We'd anticipate the next funny sounds she might make to entertain us through the cycles.  But we pressed her for the song and she obliged enough times that I remembered it...

My mother sang this song to us at night.  We requested it often.  I loved the image of the old baboon combing his hair by the light of the moon.  And we always laughed gently about the poor monkey's mistake.  

I wrote this song in late 1998, when my kids were nearly grown. It's one of the few songs that I wrote from the guitar notes, rather than starting with a lyrical phrase as I usually do. The notes suggested a lullabye, and that's what it became. For me, it was deeply resonant with that feeling of love for my children, and brought memories of when I did, indeed, hold them and sing and rock them to sleep. I hope its a universal lullabye that brings that feeling...

One from a disc of sweet nurturing essence.Lay back into this one. Let it embrace you and your child. Feel safe and loved again....."Loveland" Julie RustBill

Last month Irish poet Micheal O'Siadhail gave a reading at my Boston-area college which included this poem on the nonsense syllables of lullabies in the world's many languages, sung to the world's many darlings.LullabyStains are in, stains are in, The instant our songs beginTo rockabye my darling baby Dreaming up worlds of maybe.Then byssa, byssa barnet Beddie byes my snowy Arne,Quieter now and slumber-bound, Rest in lulls of milky sound.Ninna nanna, ninna...

Barely a night goes by when our 4 year-old daughter doesn't ask us to sing her "Over the Rainbow" after we switch off the light. We usually comply but each often slip in something else as well. One is something I've been singing her at bedtime since almost day one--Paul McCartney's "I Will," from the Beatles' White Album, which I never realized till I had a kid is just the perfect bedtime song. But wanting to bring her lullabies/musical education more into the...

I made this up one night when I needed to calm both me and my kid down. I composed it to match the rhythm of my rocking chair. I was feeling desperate for some rest and making a plea to God for help.

While a lullaby doesn't come to mind, my Dad used to sing us kids a "waking up" song.  Could that be called a reverse lullaby? One of his favorites was the song from Singing in the Rain, also sung by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in Babes in Arms. So in tribute to Mr. Rooney, and in honor of my father's cheerful-and-often-unsuccessful attempt to rouse me and my siblings out of bed, here's my reverse lullaby.