A genuine and distinctive Welsh folk song.
English words by Harold Boulton
music is an old Welsh melody, adapted by J.B.W.
A Welsh folk song “Ar Hyd y Nos” from 1784. The composer of this peaceful and plaintive air is unknown. It was popular in the states by 1825. The beautiful lyrics here were put to the melody in 1884 by English lyricist, Harold Boulton. This sheet music is from 1897.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Sleep my love and peace attend thee
All through the night
Guardian angels God will lend thee
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
Hill and vale in slumber steeping
Love alone his watch is keeping
All through the night - Though I roam a minstrel lonely
All through the night
My true harp shall praise thee 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 heaven-ward winging
Home through the night
Earthly dust from off thee shaken
Soul immortal thou shall waken
With thy last dim journey taken
Home through the night
Sung here by Fred Feild: