Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)

Subject: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Watson
From:
Date: 29 Sep 99 - 10:15 AM

I have been looking for lyrics and chords (if possible) for "A Christmas Lullaby" by Doc Watson.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Wats
From: Genie
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 04:30 PM

refresh

Subject: Lyr Add: A CRADLE HYMN (Isaac Watts)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 05:29 PM

Here are two versions. Neither one is exactly what Doc Watson sings.
-Joe Offer-

---

CHRISTMAS LULLABY (The Dunstan Lullaby)
Traditional

Hush my babe lie still in slumber
Holy angels guard thy bed
Sweetest blessings without number
Gently fall upon thy head

Hush my babe lie still in slumber
Cold and hard thy saviour lay
When his birthplace was a stable
And his softest bed was clay

Hush my babe lie still in slumber
Holy angels guard thy bed
Sweetest blessings without number
Gently fall upon thy head

---

from http://www.bartleby.com/101/435.html:
Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Isaac Watts. 1674–1748

435. A Cradle Hymn

HUSH! my dear, lie still and slumber,
  Holy angels guard thy bed!
Heavenly blessings without number
  Gently falling on thy head.

Sleep, my babe; thy food and raiment,  5
  House and home, thy friends provide;
All without thy care or payment:
  All thy wants are well supplied.

How much better thou'rt attended
  Than the Son of God could be,  10
When from heaven He descended
  And became a child like thee!

Soft and easy is thy cradle:
  Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,
When His birthplace was a stable  15
  And His softest bed was hay.

Blessèd babe! what glorious features—
  Spotless fair, divinely bright!
Must He dwell with brutal creatures?
  How could angels bear the sight?  20

Was there nothing but a manger
  Cursèd sinners could afford
To receive the heavenly stranger?
  Did they thus affront their Lord?

Soft, my child: I did not chide thee,  25
  Though my song might sound too hard;
'Tis thy mother sits beside thee,
  And her arms shall be thy guard.

Yet to read the shameful story
  How the Jews abused their King,  30
How they served the Lord of Glory,
  Makes me angry while I sing.

See the kinder shepherds round Him,
  Telling wonders from the sky!
Where they sought Him, there they found Him,  35
  With His Virgin mother by.

See the lovely babe a-dressing;
  Lovely infant, how He smiled!
When He wept, the mother's blessing
  Soothed and hush'd the holy child.  40

Lo, He slumbers in His manger,
  Where the hornèd oxen fed:
Peace, my darling; here 's no danger,
  Here 's no ox anear thy bed.

'Twas to save thee, child, from dying,  45
  Save my dear from burning flame,
Bitter groans and endless crying,
  That thy blest Redeemer came.

May'st thou live to know and fear Him,
  Trust and love Him all thy days;  50
Then go dwell for ever near Him,
  See His face, and sing His praise!

Subject: ADD: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson Version)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 08:40 PM

More commonly titled "Watt's Cradle Hymn" or "Watt's Cradle Song". An American version is in The New Oxford Book of Carols (no. 115), but the tune there (similar to "Aunt Rhody") is different. Doc's version is on Doc Watson: On Praying Ground (Sugar Hill).

CHRISTMAS LULLABY (Doc Watson version)

Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed.
Heavenly blessings without number
Gently stealing on thy head.

How much better art thou attended
Than the Son of God could be,
When from heaven He descended
And became a child like thee?

Soft and easy is thy cradle--
Coarse and hard the Savior lay,
When His birthplace was a stable,
And His softest bed was hay.

Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed.
Heavenly blessings without number
Gently stealing on thy head.

Gently stealing on thy head.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Wats
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 07:59 AM

The tune to "Hush, My Babe" in The Cyber Hymnal is GREENVILLE ("Aunt Rhody").

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Wats
From: Richie
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 11:02 PM

I don't get the "Aunt Rhody" connection with "Hush, my Babe". I've heard Doc perform this and his version is in Am with a capo.

I also published a similar version in my book, "An Appalachian Christmas" Mel Bay Pub.

The versions I know of "Aunt Rhody" are different and in a major key.

There's a recent discussion on falsola about this song. Here's some of the info:

Hush my babe
Peggy Brayfield wrote:
>Recently I heard a folk-song lullaby beginning
>
>Hush my dear, lie still and slumber,
>Holy angels guard thy bed
>
>I recognized the tune as number 312b in the Denson Sacred Harp.
>
>I would like to have all the words to this version. Does anyone out there
>know them, or where I could find them?

    This is Isaac Watts' famous Cradle Hymn, from Divine and Moral
Songs; as I've seen it it usually begins, Hush my babe, lie still
and slumber, but your version is occasionally found, as at
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/u/hushmyba.htm. I don't know who
linked this poem with RESTORATION, but it was in Ruth Crawford
Seeger's book of Appalachian songs for Christmas.
Warren Steel
               
The Cradle Hymn by Watts is quoted in full in the New England Primer,
Boston 1777, which has a web site all to iself at:
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/primer.htm

Its worth a look if you havn't found it already
Edwin Macadam

This is the opening of "A Cradle Hymn" by our old friend Dr. Isaac
Watts. Full text at

http://www.bartleby.com/101/435.html


have been learning this song from a beautiful arrangment by Peter
Amidon of Brattleboro VT. It does follow the melody of 312b, but
considerably more delicately!

Watts Cradle Hymn (trad American)

Hush my babe lie still and slumber
Holy angels guard thy bed
Heavenly blessings without number
Gently falling on thy bed

Sleep my babe, thy food and raiment
House and home thy friends provide
All without thy care and payment
All thy wants are well supplied

Soft and easy is thy cradle
Coarse and hard thy Savior lay
When his birthplace was a stable
And his softest bed was hay

Lo he slumbered in his manger
Where the horned oxen fed
Peace, my darling, here's no danger
Here's no ox a-near thy bed.


"The Oxford Book of Carols" has seven verses set to a Northumbrian folk tune. On the other hand, "The New Oxford Book of Carols" has five double verses, i.e., ten verses, set to an interesting rearrangement of "Sweet Affliction".

-Berkley Moore, Springfield, IL

<< I don't know who linked this poem with RESTORATION, but it was in Ruth Crawford Seeger's book of Appalachian songs for Christmas. >>

...And her daughter Peggy sang a lovely version of it on one of her
early recordings (which I wish I still had), which is where I learned
the tune, though I could never quite match her guitar accompaniment.

--Ted Johnson

I found this through Google. It contains all the verses.

http://www.ccel.org/w/watts/divsongs/htm/s8.htm#s8


One verse should be considered unacceptable today:

"Yet to read the shameful story.
How the Jews received their King,
How they served the Lord of Glory,
Makes me angry while I sing."

I also went to the site that Roland Hutchinson referred to, and found it likewise narrow-minded, but I think we have to rise above these alienating beliefs when we sing together. The Spirit behind the words does not allow rejection of what some people (we don't understand) find sacred.

Let us find the Love that unites us at this season, and practice Peace.

Claire Simon

From fasola: Discussion forum

-Richie

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Wats
From: masato sakurai
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 12:22 AM

SWEET AFFLICTION is the tune name also known as "Rousseau's Dream". See The Sacred Harp (p. 145) [the middle is the melody].
~Masato

Subject: Cradle Hymn
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 03:37 PM

Here are Ruth Crawford Seeger's verses and notes, in American Folk Songs for Christmas (Doubleday, 1953):

Cradle Hymn

Hush, my babe, llie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed,
Heav'nly blessings without number
Gently stealing on thy head.

How much better art thou attended
Than the Son of God could be
When from heaven he descended
And became a child like thee.

Soft and easy is thy cradle,
Coarse and hard the Savior lay
When His birthplace was a stable
And His softest bed the hay.

"Cradle Hymn from Devil's Ditties, by Jean Thomas (The Traipsin'Woman) Copyright, 1931, by W. Wilbur Hatfield, Chicago, p. 119. The tune, from a Tennessee singer, is closely related to the shape-note "Restoration" (Southern Harmony, p. 5), whose 3-part setting has been used as basis for the piano accompaniment [here]. The words are part of the 14-stanza poem by Isaac Watts. In Kentucky, "Cradle Hymn" stanzas are said to have been sung to the tune of "Go Tell Aunt Nancy." This latter can be found as "Greenville" in the 1823 edition of The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, p. 233. And "Greenville" appears to be a simplification of an air from Jean Jacques Rousseau's opera Le Devin du Village, first performed at Fontainebleau in 1752. Reousseau's tune is itself clearly in folk idiom."

In 1989, Rounder Records has reissued the Seeger family recordings of the songs from American Folk Songs for Christmans in a 2-cd set. Mike Seeger sings the song, accompanying himself on autoharp with Peggy Seeger's son Calum MacColl playing bowed psaltery. (Mike, Peggy, and Penny appear on the recordings, with members of their families, including Ewan MacColl.)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Watson
From:
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 09:18 AM

Really enjoyed all the info. about this song.
My first experience with it was on Doc Watson's "On Praying Ground" CD.
I'm here because I would like to try his tab with my guitar, (but unable to find it). Any suggestions from anyone??
Thanks,
G

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby by Doc Watson
From: GUEST,Marty Henrickson
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 02:23 PM

nitecopy, I realize it's a long shot that you will see this nearly 7 years later, but Doc's version is in C#m. Try putting your capo on the 4th fret and playing Am, Em, C, G. Play around with it and see what works.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 May 14 - 08:04 PM

Marty, thanks! WE found it TODAY!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)
From: GUEST,LK867
Date: 03 May 14 - 05:07 AM

"Looking T'Ward Heaven" remains one of my all time favourites.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 May 14 - 07:48 PM

As is stated above, the tune Doc Watson uses for "Christmas Lullaby" is RESTORATION. I think many of us know this as the tune commonly used for "I Will Arise":

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in his arms.
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)
From: GUEST,Dude
Date: 15 Aug 16 - 06:29 PM

So people what chords did the Doc play on this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Christmas Lullaby (Doc Watson)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 08:47 AM

Here's Doc Watson singing the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOFSyDj0duQ