Sweet and Low
Words by Alfred Tennyson
- Takes about:
- 2 minutes to sing
- Good for:
- In the bump, Newborn
- Tune:
- Joseph Barnby’s part-song (1865)
Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon; Rest, rest, on mother’s breast, Father will come to thee soon; Father will come to his babe in the nest, Silver sails all out of the west Under the silver moon: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.
Where it comes from
Alfred Tennyson wrote “Sweet and Low” for his long poem The Princess. It wasn’t in the first edition of 1847: he added it, with several other songs, when he revised the poem in 1850. A mother sings it to her baby while the baby’s father is away at sea, asking the wind to blow his ship home.
In the very first printing the moon was the “dropping moon”. By 1851 Tennyson had changed it to the “dying moon”, and that’s how it has stayed.
The tune most people know is by the composer Joseph Barnby, who set it for choir in 1865. It became a favourite Victorian part-song. You can find his music on IMSLP, the free library of sheet music.
Old words
- thee: you.
- babe: baby.
- dying moon: the moon going down, low in the sky.
- western sea: the sea to the west, where the wind is coming from.
How to sing it
- No tune to hand? Say it softly. It has its own gentle rocking rhythm, like waves.
- If a parent works away, swap “Father” for whoever your baby is waiting for.
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