FC2020
A Manx lullaby
Music: Frances Cockburn, Words: Trad. Anon
Voicing: SATB
Performance time approx: 2m 30s
Range S: e'♭ – f'' / A: d' – e''♭ / T: e♭ – f' / B: A♭ – a♭
Price code: B
Complexity:
A warmly harmonised setting of a traditional Manx lullaby, featuring three-part female voice and male voice verses interspersed with SATB refrains, with a rich SATB verse to finish.
O hush you my baby, O hush you my love:
When lilacs are lush and bees in the blossom,
When cuckoos are calling and blackbirds do sing;
O sleep in your silence, babe of my bosom,
As through the green boughs your cradle I swing.
O smile in your sleeping, my beautiful baby,
Although our ship's rocking and waves they rise high;
Far o'er the wild water, wherever our way be,
O child of my heart, 'tis safe you shall lie.
On green hills afar the shadows they darken,
The moon's silver cradle is shining above;
Within it I'll lay you, and there you shall hearken
The songs that the stars sing, O child of my love.
Trad. anon.