Last week the Ant Bug and I were sorting through some music CDs when we discovered a special lullaby CD. Just prior to the birth of our first child, the Dad and I put together a CD of calming music to play for our little babies. Many of the songs are not technically lullabies, but they are songs that are soothing for us. Some of the songs we included were:
Ashokan Farewell, Fiddle Fever
Blackbird, The Beatles
Lullabye, Peter Breinholt
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel), Billy Joel
The Voice, Octapella
When You’re Alone, John Williams
But our very favorite lullabies come from Alison Krauss. Here are the words:
Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near,
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear,
Sunlight has pass’d and the twilight has gone,
Slumber, my darling, the night’s coming on.
Sweet visions attend thy sleep,
Fondest, dearest to me,
While others their revels keep,
I will watch over thee.
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow’rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I’ll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.
Slumber, my darling, till morn’s blushing ray
Brings to the world the glad tidings of day;
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy delight—
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee tonight,
Thy pillow shall sacred be
From all outward alarms;
Thou, thou are the world to me
In thine innocent charms.
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow’rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I’ll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.
Oddly enough, we didn’t end up playing the CD very much for our little baby. But the Ant Bug is loving it now, and has fallen asleep listening to it every night for the past week. This morning she came in to our room laughing and talking about the “back back lie” song. Translation? “Blackbird fly”. The Dad and I told her what the song was really saying, but she still insisted on her version. It’s much more fun.