All Through the Night

Where it comes from

“Ar Hyd y Nos” means “all through the night” in Welsh. The tune is an old Welsh air, and its first known printing is in Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, a collection of Welsh harp music published in London in 1784 by the Welsh harpist Edward Jones. Even then, “Ar hyd y nos” was the line that came back again and again, between the other lines of the song.

These English words are by Harold Boulton, who also wrote the English words of “The Skye Boat Song”. We’ve taken them from Songs of the Four Nations (1892), a book of old songs from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales that he edited, with music arranged by Arthur Somervell. It’s the book the tune in the player above comes from.

Boulton wrote three verses, but only the first is a lullaby. The second is about a lonely harper whose love is over, and the third is about the person he loves dying, so we’ve left them out. By the early 1900s, songbooks for children were already starting it “Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee”, and that’s how many people sing it now.

The song is still loved in Wales, and it’s often sung in Welsh, most often to words by the poet John Ceiriog Hughes. Welsh male voice choirs sing it, and some people sing it at Christmas.

Old words

• peace attend thee: may peace stay with you.
• lend thee: give you, send to you.
• dale: a valley.
• slumber steeping: soaking in sleep, as if the hills and valleys were bathed in it.

How to sing it

• Each “All through the night” is a little rest. Breathe out on it and let it fall softly, as if you’re putting your baby down.
• Sing the verse twice, the second time just above a whisper. Or swap “my love” for “my child”, or your baby’s name.
• On the last time through, try humming it instead of singing the words.