"Ar Hyd y Nos" (English: All Through the Night) is a
Welshsong sung to a tune that was first recorded in
Edward Jones' Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards (1784). The most commonly sung
Welsh lyrics were written by
John Ceiriog Hughes (1832-1887), and have been translated into several languages, including English (most famously by
Harold Boulton (1859–1935)[1]) and
Breton. One of the earliest English versions, to different Welsh lyrics by one John Jones, was by
Thomas Oliphant in 1862.[2]
The melody is also used in the hymns "Go My Children With My Blessing” (text by
Jaroslav Vajda, 1983), “God That Madest Earth and Heaven” (1827) and "Father in your Love Enfold Us[3]".
The song is highly popular with traditional Welsh
male voice choirs, and is sung by them at festivals in Wales and around the world.[4]
Singable English lyrics to the same tune were written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884:[7]
Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
Hill and vale in slumber sleeping,
I my loving vigil keeping
All through the night.
While the moon her watch is keeping
All through the night
While the weary world is sleeping
All through the night
O'er thy spirit gently stealing
Visions of delight revealing
Breathes a pure and holy feeling
All through the night.
Variations
There is evidence that the song has undergone the
folk process to some degree, yielding several similar but modified versions.[8] In one alternative version, the second verse is substituted with:
The tune is also used in the hymn "For the Fruit of All Creation" by
Fred Pratt Green.[11] The first verse of Green's lyrics (used widely in the harvest season and at Thanksgiving) ends with these words: "For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping, / Future needs in earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God."
The chorus of
Max Boyce's song "
Hymns and Arias", frequently sung by fans of the
Wales rugby union team, mentions "Ar Hyd y Nos": "And we were singing hymns and arias; 'Land of my Fathers', 'Ar hyd y nos'".[13]
Alan Stivell sings the song in Breton, Welsh and English on his 23rd album Emerald.
In the 1949 British Ealing comedy film, A Run for Your Money, starring
Donald Houston, the song is sung at the Amateur Night performance and also heard as a theme on the train journey home.[15]
The TV movie A Child's Christmas in Wales features the family singing the song towards the end of the film, but in English.
In season 3 of the series Angel, the character
Daniel Holtz is frequently heard singing the English version of this song.
In the episode "Thursday's Child" in season 5 of Road to Avonlea, Alec King (played by
Cedric Smith) sings the English version of this song to his son Daniel. However, the
lullaby applies to everyone else awake in the household, given the recent bout of
tuberculosis in the youngest daughter, Cecily, which has thrown the family into crisis.
In Series Two, Episode 26 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the first two lines of the Welsh version are heard as an opening to a sketch about Welsh coal miners.
In Season Three, Episode 14 of Shining Time Station, Stacy Forgets Her Name, Grace and Rex in the Jukebox Band sing the first section of their lullaby medley to help Stacy Jones who has lost her memory.
In season 2, episode 4 of the American television series The Alienist, nurse Libby Hatch is humming the melody as she is seen lying next to the Matron she just killed.
In video games
Chapter IV of the 2015 video game The Order: 1886 features the Sir Harold Boulton lyrics of the folk song on a collectible wax cylinder in the psychiatric ward of the
Royal London Hospital.
Sheet music gallery
Page 1 Ar Hyd y Nos in Welsh Melodies for the Harp by John Thomas
Pages 2–3 Ar Hyd y Nos in Welsh Melodies for the Harp by John Thomas
Pages 4–5 Ar Hyd y Nos in Welsh Melodies for the Harp by John Thomas
Pages 6–7 Ar Hyd y Nos in Welsh Melodies for the Harp by John Thomas