All Through The Night

All Through The Night is a Welsh folk song. Because it comes from Wales, it is also popular in countries close to Wales, like England and Ireland.

In Welsh the title of this song is, "Ar Hyd y Nos. ' You can hear this song in Welsh here.

The original use of this song was as a lullaby, because the melody is soothing and soft. The words are about keeping Baby sleeping safe and sound.

This song is popular at Christmas time because one of the original verses was about the baby Jesus having peace and protection while he slept, and wishing for peace and protection for all sleeping babies.

People taught folk songs like this to their children, who grew up and sang them to their own children. Some of these songs are very old and were sung before anyone started writing them down.

In 1784 a man named Edward Jones recorded old folk songs in a publication called Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards. That's how All Through The Night was preserved for all of us to enjoy and learn.

The tune to this song is so pretty that lots of people have written all kinds of other words for it. You can find out what other words have been written to the tune for All Through The Night at Wikipedia.