Our Favorite Lullabies

Posted by Cyn

Well, maybe they aren’t all tech­ni­cally lul­la­bies — but they’re all songs Katie likes to hear as she falls asleep. Friends have asked me to give them the words, so here they are. I’ve given credit to the authors (where known). They aren’t in any par­tic­u­lar order, except the order in which I usu­ally sing them to her – I sel­dom get all the way to the end on any one night.

Every­thing Possible

Fred Small

We have cleared off the table, the left­overs saved,
Washed the dishes and put them away
I have told you a story and tucked you in tight
At the end of your knock­about day
As the moon sets its sails to carry you to sleep
Over the mid­night sea
I will sing you a song no one sang to me
May it keep you good company.

CHORUS:
You can be any­body that you want to be,
You can love whomever you will
You can travel any coun­try where your heart leads
And know I will love you still
You can live by your­self, you can gather friends around,
You can choose one spe­cial one
And the only mea­sure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you’re gone.

Some girls who grow up strong and bold
Some boys quiet and kind
Some race on ahead, some fol­low behind
Some go in their own way and time
Some women love women, and some men love men
Some raise chil­dren, some never do
You can dream all the day never reach­ing the end
Of every­thing pos­si­ble for you.

Don’t be rat­tled by names, by taunts or games
But seek out spir­its true
If you give your friends the best part of your­self
They will give the same back to you.

CHORUS

All Through the Night

Tra­di­tional

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee,
All through the night;
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night;
Soft the drowsy hours are creep­ing,
Hill and vale in slum­ber sleep­ing,
I my lov­ing vigil keep­ing,
All through the night.

While the moon her watch is keep­ing,
All through the night;
While the weary world is sleep­ing,
All through the night;
O’er thy spirit gen­tly steal­ing,
Visions of delight reveal­ing,
Breathes a pure and holy feel­ing,
All through the night.

Though I roam a min­strel lonely
All through the night
My true harp shall praise sing only
All through the night
Love’s young dream, alas, is over
Yet my strains of love shall hover
Near the pres­ence of my lover
All through the night

Hark, a solemn bell is ring­ing
Clear through the night
Thou, my love, art heav­en­ward wing­ing
Home through the night
Earthly dust from off thee shaken
Soul immor­tal shalt thou awaken
With thy last dim jour­ney taken
Home through the night

The Rid­dle Song

Tra­di­tional folk song, circa 15th century

I gave my love a cherry that had no stone
I gave my love a chicken that had no bone
I told my love a story that had no end
I gave my love a baby with no crying

How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a story that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying?

A cherry when it’s bloom­ing, it has no stone
A chicken when it’s pip­ing, it has no bone
The story that I love you, it has no end
A baby when it’s sleep­ing, it’s no crying

Life is Eternal

Carly Simon

I’ve been doing a lot of think­ing
About grow­ing older and mov­ing on
No one wants to be told that they’re get­ting on
And maybe going away
For a long, long time
But just how long and who knows
And how and where will my spirit go
Will it soar like jazz on a sax­o­phone
Or evap­o­rate in a breeze
Won’t you tell me please
That life is eter­nal
And love is immor­tal
And death is only a hori­zon
Life is eter­nal
As we move into the light
And a hori­zon is noth­ing
Save the limit of our sight
Save the limit of our sight

Here on earth I’m a lost soul
Ever try­ing to find my way back home
Maybe that’s why each new star is born
Expand­ing heaven’s room
Eter­nity in bloom
And will I see you up in that heaven
In all it’s light will I know you there
Will we say the things that we never dared
If wish­ing makes it so
Won’t you let me know
That life is eter­nal
And love is immor­tal
And death is only a hori­zon
Life is eter­nal
As we move into the light
And a hori­zon is noth­ing
Save the lim­its of our sight
Save the limit..of…our…sight.

Morn­ing has Broken

Cat Stevens

Morn­ing has bro­ken like the first morn­ing.
Black­bird has spo­ken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morn­ing,
Praise for them spring­ing fresh from the world.

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sun­light from heaven,
Like the first dew­fall on the first grass.
Praise for the sweet­ness of the wet gar­den,
Sprung in com­plete­ness where his feet pass.

Mine is the sun­light, mine is the morn­ing,
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with ela­tion, praise every morn­ing,
God’s recre­ation of the new day.

Shenan­doah

Tra­di­tional

Shenan­doah, I long to hear you,
Away, you rolling river,
Oh, Shenan­doah, I long to hear you,
Away, I’m bound away, ‘cross the wide Missouri.

Shenan­doah, I love your daugh­ter,
Away, you rolling river,
I’ll take her ‘cross the rolling water,
Away, I’m bound away, ‘cross the wide Missouri.

Shenan­doah, I long to hear you,
Away, you rolling river,
Oh, Shenan­doah, I long to hear you,
Away, I’m bound away, ‘cross the wide Missouri.

Puff, the Magic Dragon

Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

Lit­tle Jackie Paper
Loved that ras­cal Puff,
And brought him strings and seal­ing wax
And other fancy stuff. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

Together they would travel
On a boat with bil­lowed sail
Jackie kept a look­out perched
On Puff’s gigan­tic tail

Noble kings and princes
Would bow whene’er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag
When Puff roared out his name. Oh!

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

A dragon lives for­ever
But not so lit­tle boys
Painted wings and giant rings
Make way for other toys.

One grey night it hap­pened,
Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon,
He ceased his fear­less roar.

His head was bent in sor­row,
Green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play
Along the cherry lane.

With­out his life-​​long friend,
Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon
Sadly slipped into his cave. Oh!

(Sing Cho­rus Softly)

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

(Sing Cho­rus Loudly)

Puff, the magic dragon
Lived by the sea
And frol­icked in the autumn mist
In a land called Honah Lee

Can­dle on the Water

Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn

I’ll be your can­dle on the water,
My love for you will always burn.
I know your lost and drift­ing.
But the clouds are lift­ing,
Don’t give up you have some­where to turn.

I’ll be your can­dle on the water,
Till every wave is warm and bright.
My soul is there beside you.
Let this can­dle guide you,
soon you’ll see a golden stream of light.

A cold and friend­less tide has found you,
don’t let the stormy dark­ness pull you down.
I’ll paint a ray of hope around you,
cir­cling the air lighted by a prayer.

I’ll be your can­dle on the water,
this flame inside of me will grow.
Keep hold­ing on, you’ll make it,
Here’s my hand so take it,
look for me reach­ing out to show
as sure as rivers flow,
I’ll never let you go,
I’ll never let you go,
I’ll never let you go.

Hush, Lit­tle Baby

Tra­di­tional

Hush, lit­tle baby, don’t say a word,
Mama’s going to buy you a mock­ing­bird.
And if that mock­ing­bird don’t sing,
Mama’s going to buy you a dia­mond ring.
And if that dia­mond ring turns brass,
Mama’s going to buy you a look­ing glass.
And if that look­ing glass gets broke,
Mama’s going to buy you a billy goat.
And if that billy goat won’t pull,
Mama’s going to buy you a cart and bull.
And if that cart and bull turn over,
Mama’s going to buy you a dog named Rover.
And if that dog named Rover won’t bark,
Mama’s going to buy you a horse and cart.
And if that horse and cart fall down,
You’ll still be the sweet­est lit­tle baby in town.

Wild­wood Flower

Tra­di­tional

I will twine and will min­gle my wav­ing black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
The myr­tle so green of an emer­ald hue
The pale emanita and vio­lets of blue

Oh he promised to love me, he promised to love
To cher­ish me always all oth­ers above
I woke from my dream and my idol was clay
My pas­sion for lov­ing had van­ished away

Oh he taught me to love him, he called me his flower
A blos­som to cheer him through life’s weary hour
But now he has gone and left him alone
The wild flow­ers to weep and the wild birds to moan

I’ll dance and I’ll sing and my life shall be gay
I’ll charm every heart in the crowd I sur­vey
Though my heart now is break­ing, he shall never know
How his name makes me trem­ble, my pale cheeks to glow

I’ll dance and I’ll sing and my life shall be gay
I’ll ban­ish this weep­ing, drive trou­bles away
I’ll live yet to see him, regret this dark hour
When he won and neglected his frail wild­wood flower

Last updated Decem­ber 19, 2000

Permalink | June 27th, 2012

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