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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Goodnight to you all, and sweet be your sleep,
May angels around you their silent watch keep.
Good night, good night,
Good night, good night.
Goodbye to you all, we hope you enjoyed
Our songs and our lullabies for to enthral.
Goodbye, good night,
Goodbye, good night.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Sweet Be Your Sleep" is a closing lullaby designed to bring a programme of nursery songs to a gentle end. It functions both as a goodnight and as a farewell, wishing the listeners sweet sleep and acknowledging that the music has been a kind of gift — songs and lullabies offered with the hope that they have pleased.
The phrase "may angels around you their silent watch keep" places the sleeping child within a long tradition of lullabies that invoke angelic protection. From the cradle songs of medieval Europe to the Victorian nursery, the image of angels watching over a sleeping child has been one of the most enduring in the genre. It offers parents a way to express a wish for their child's safety that is both sincere and poetic.
The transition from "goodnight" to "goodbye" in the second verse acknowledges that this is a song for the end of something — an album, a programme, a day — as well as for the beginning of sleep. The two are connected: to close one thing is to open another, and the night that follows the goodbye is itself a kind of gift.
Our arrangement treats the farewell with the quiet warmth it deserves.
