The Cradle Song
Scottish Song By James Scott Skinner
The Cradle Song is a Scottish song written by James Scott Skinner, a Scottish dancing master, violinist, fiddler, and composer, in 1888.John Drewry's instructions tell us this is a slow air- danced with slow strathspey steps- to the tune "The Cradle Song by James Scott Skinner (in Skinner's Logie Collection 1888). The air was originally a song with words by Alexander Hastings, from Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Skinner's inspiration for the song was said to be the sight of a sick child in the arms of its mother, whom he stumbled upon in a hotel room in Forres, Scotland.
Related Scottish Country Dances
The Cradle SongThe Cradle Song By James Scott Skinner
Enter here tonight;
O'er my fevered darling
Watch till morning light.
From our home forever
Went my love away;
Crossed the darkling River
Entered endless day.
Sleep my own fair darling
I will cling to thee;
Sure my cup of sorrow
Cannot fuller be.
Oh! my life is lonely;
Oft my thoughts are wild;
Ah! my heart were broken,
Did I lose my child.
But I'll trust God's mercy
And, through widow's tears;
Watch my precious darling
Climb to manhood's years.
Then I'll trace my lost one
Mirrored in these eyes;
Till I join his presence
Up beyond the skies.
The Cradle Song - Song Video
The Cradle Song - Information Video
Baby In Cradle
"Baby (Cradle)" Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Oil On Canvas, c. 1917-1918
Image from Gustav Klimt, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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