Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy father tends the sheep,
Thy mother shakes the branches small,
Whence happy dreams in showers fall.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Sleep, baby, sleep!
The sky is full of sheep,
The stars the lambs of heaven are,
For whom the shepherd moon doth care.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Notes
Wagner wrote the music to which this lullaby is sung for his Siegfried Idyll. Siegfried was his son who was born in 1869. Wagner wrote this tune for his wife Cosima's birthday (after the birth of Siegfried). She woke up on the morning of her birthday to a small ensemble playing the opening melody of this song.
*****
Here's a nice version of Sleep, Baby, Sleep:
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy father watches the sheep;
Thy mother is shaking the dream-land tree,
And down falls a little dream on thee:
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Sleep, baby, sleep.
The large stars are the sheep,
The wee stars are the lambs, I guess,
The fair moon is the shepherdess:
Sleep, baby, sleep!
This version's from Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories, The Young Folks Treasury, Volume 1 (1917).
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The first version of Sleep, Baby Sleep was written down and printed by Percy B. Green (1899) in his book, A History of Nursery Rhymes.
Recited by Ruth Golding for Librivox.
