The World's Lullabies

This is in response to @PRI's tweet to me. Here is a lullaby from Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, from the Tamil movie titled "Thalapathy" (Commander), released in 1991. This song is a lullaby for a teen-mom, whose child was abandoned due to a mishap beyond her control. Maestro Ilaiyaraaja's tune captures not only the birth pangs of this Mom reminising her loss at a later age, constantly in search...

This is a French lullaby every parent -- and kid -- knows. ("Il etait un petit navire" or "There was a little ship.") My kids, who are half-French, grew up hearing it all the time. But here's the wild part: the lullaby itself sounds soft and soothing, but if you listen closely the lyrics are actually about a young shipwrecked sailor who is about to be eaten by his fellow sailors!  (You can read the English lyrics...

Lalayee, a lullaby in Farsi, by Mahsa Vahdat

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...

An absolutely beautiful lullaby from an artist who appears to be completely hidden from the Internet. I can't find out anything about him online. The song is from a 1999 CD called African Lullaby. The whole album is great, actually.

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...

My father played his guitar and sang a very politically incorrect drinking song to my brothers and me as a lullaby. It begins (and you have to imagine this sung in a soft, loving tone) "Oh, the night that Paddy Murphy died, I never will forget. We all got stinkin' drunk that night and some ain't sober yet" -- and it gets worse from there! But Daddy's soothing voice sent us off to dreamland every time.

I sang the same song to my children when they were...

So serene and beautiful.

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.

Spencer the Rover, a song by the Copper Family from Rottingdean, Sussex, England was a popular song of the folk circuit in the 1960s and 70's, popularized in the US by the duo John Roberts and Tony Barrand.  In a previous life as a folksinger I sang it on stage, full voice.  When my kids were screaming infants, I would sing the song slowly and softly to calm them at bedtime.  At a slow gentle pace, it takes 5 minutes to sing all 7 verses.  It helped to have...

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

This type of lullaby is often sung not by the mother but by the child's elder sister.  The words refer to such a situation: the elder sister asks the baby not to cry because its parents are dead and there is no one else to hear it.  This lullaby was used by the group Deep Forest in a mashup.

Quoting from the liner notes

There are innumerable songs mothers hum toput their children to sleep.  While lullaby melodies are part of the community's musical heritage, their texts, which are greatly varied and voluntarily influenced by poetry, are open to broad individual improvisation. To lull her child to sleep, this mother compares him to the moon of the winged termites and beseeches him not to leave her later on once he has grown up.

...

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...

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 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...

Chukie Tethong, one of the most respected folks singers from Tibet, spent 11 years with Tibetan singers, learning traditional songs of live, faith and nature. This song (the title translates to The Jewel of the Land of Snows) is a chant. In Buddhism, practiced widely in Tibet, chants help you relax and feel calm. This song is courtesy of Putumayo's Asian Dreamland album.

A woodwind quintet performs this historic Irish lullaby, courtesy of Richard Kearns at Wikimedia Commons.

No one in my family knows when "Old Grumble" came into the family.  Over 4 generations know this song, now.  We know it is a dark song, odd, and not really suitable as a lullabye.  The very youngest children sometimes request that we NOT sing this one at nighttime.  Old Grumble is a ghost, after all, who rises up and knocks an old lady down. The last verse about "if you want any more, you can sing it your self" seems to be the perfect tired parent's response...

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...

This lullaby was recorded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1950 and is sung by Vera Hall Ward

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.

Sweet! :)

Beautifully simple & sweet! :)

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.

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 learned this from my mother-in-law after my first child was born in 1978. She was Jewish from New York, but I think it's American. She may have learned it from her involvement in the folk music revival of the 50s and 60s.I just met my twin 2 month old granddaughters for the first time - they liked this lullaby too!

This is one of two lullabies I wrote for the children I may someday have.

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.