Slumber My Darling — Stephen Foster

Album:  

Beautiful Dreamer

Artist:  

Alison Krauss, Yo Yo Ma ...

  Lyrics and chords:  

As performed by Alison Krauss

 

Here's one of the sweetest lullabies ever sung. There's no rock-a-bye branch breaking or cradle falling—it's just pure motherly devotion, tenderness and protectiveness. Surely one of Stephen Foster's most compassionate songs, and as sung by Alison Krauss, it's a real two-hankie performance.

My transcription is based on the recording by Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor, found on the albums:

Beautiful Dreamer — The Songs of Stephen Foster (CD only?)
Appalachian Journey (CD or MP3 download)

The chords on the recording are slightly more complex than I've notated here in my song sheets. My goal was to define a simple guitar accompaniment. The accompaniment on Alison Krauss's recording is purely strings, cello, bass and violin, and includes some rather complex yet nonessential harmonic details.

There's also a nice video of the same performers (Krauss, et al) on youTube (with a small, apparent glitch around 2:15, where the three words "Slumber, my darling are skipped.)

 

Watch 'Slumber My Darling' video (on youtube)

Slumber My Darling — Original Key (G Major):

Meter 3/4
Verse 1

G           |            |         |
Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near

Em            G              |          D
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear

G            |              |            |
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone

Em          G            D              G
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on

Bridge 1 (Chorus 1)

D     |          G        |
Sweet visions at-tend thy sleep

D        |          G     |
Fondest, dearest to me

D     |            G      |
While others their revels keep

D      A          D      D(7)
I will watch over thee

Verse 2

G           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

Em        G           |              D
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

G           |             D            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

    Em            G           D                G
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

Instrumental

Verse 3

G           |             |               |
Slumber, my darling, 'til morn's blushing ray

Em            G           |                D
Brings to the world (the) glad tidings of day

G             |             |         |
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy de-light

Em           G           D             G
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee to-night.


Bridge 2 (Chorus 2)

D   |            G      |
Thy pillow shall sacred be

D        |         G        |
From all outward a-larm(s)

D     |            G        |
Thou, thou art the world to me

D        A        D         D(7)
In thine innocent charm(s)

Verse 4 (same as verse 2)

G           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

Em        G           |              D
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

G            |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

      Em            G           D                G
(And) pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

 

 

 

Slumber My Darling — Transposed to A major:

Verse 1

C           |            |         |
Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near

Am            C              |          G
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear

C            |              |            |
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone

Am          C            G              C
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on

 

Bridge 1 (Chorus 1)

G     |          C        |
Sweet visions at-tend thy sleep

G        |          C     |
Fondest, dearest to me

G     |            C      |
While others their revels keep

G      D          G      G(7)
I will watch over thee

 

Verse 2

C           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

Am        C           |              G
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

C           |             G            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

    Am            C           G                C
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

 

Instrumental

 

Verse 3

C           |             |               |
Slumber, my darling, 'til morn's blushing ray

Am            C           |                G
Brings to the world (the) glad tidings of day

C             |             |         |
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy de-light

Am           C           G             C
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee to-night.

 

Bridge 2 (Chorus 2)

G   |            C      |
Thy pillow shall sacred be

G        |         C        |
From all outward a-larm(s)

G     |            C        |
Thou, thou art the world to me

G        D        G         G(7)
In thine innocent charm(s)

 

Verse 4 (same as verse 2)

C           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

Am        C           |              G
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

C            |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

      Am            C           G                C
(And) pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

 

Slumber My Darling — Transposed to Roman numbering:

Verse 1

I           |            |         |
Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near

VIm           I              |          V
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear

I            |              |            |
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone

VIm         I            V              I
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on

 

Bridge 1 (Chorus 1)

V     |          I        |
Sweet visions at-tend thy sleep

V        |          I     |
Fondest, dearest to me

V     |            I      |
While others their revels keep

V      II         V      V(7)
I will watch over thee

 

Verse 2

I           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

VIm       I           |              V
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

I           |             V            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

    VIm           I           V                I
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

 

Instrumental

 

Verse 3

I           |             |               |
Slumber, my darling, 'til morn's blushing ray

VIm           I           |                V
Brings to the world (the) glad tidings of day

I             |             |         |
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy de-light

VIm          I           V             I
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee to-night.

 

Bridge 2 (Chorus 2)

V   |            I      |
Thy pillow shall sacred be

V        |         I        |
From all outward a-larm(s)

V     |            I        |
Thou, thou art the world to me

V        II       V         V(7)
In thine innocent charm(s)

 

Verse 4 (same as verse 2)

I           |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest

VIm       I           |              V
Wandering dews by the flow'rs are ca-ressed

I            |            |            |
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm

      VIm           I           V                I
(And) pray that the angels will shield thee from harm

 

 

 

 

These transpositions were created using Transposer

Go to Transposer

 


The MP3 player above contains two versions of Slumber My Darling. The first is Alison Krauss's recording, a lovely vocal rendition, from Beautiful Dreamer—The songs of Stephen Foster (CD).

If you hear a version you want to buy, the transaction is handled directly by Amazon through your existing Amazon account.* Click for instructions on using the player

                 line flourish

There's no 'right' set of chords for a song, it's purely a matter a taste, style and imagination.

The chords on the left are for the Alison Krauss recording.

You can copy and paste any of these versions into Transposer, and transpose to a new key. That makes it easy to find a key that fits your voice, or suits your instrumental talents. Have fun trying it out in different keys.

                  flourish

* I would also provide links for purchasing from the iTunes Store, but most iTunes downloads are in an M4p protected format, and Transcribe can't play this type of sound file.

Transcribe, by www.SeventhString.com, is my favorite software for studying music and learning music by ear. As an honest member of the music community I want to be able to use my purchased music in all of my music playing software. That's why I buy and recommend MP3s from Amazon. The are unprotected mp3 recordings, and they work with Transcribe.

Here's an article on Transcribe ... and some Transcribe resources that I've created which are currently available for free. I've used Transcribe mainly for learning instrumental music by ear. Vocalists also use it for studing voice: timing, vocal inflections, vowel sounds ...

 

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