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Sing along (with lyrics)

Top 20 lullabies with lyrics

Lullabies work because they are slow, soft and repeated. Public-domain ones are printed so any parent can sing them without a recording; newer favourites link to the official page.

Chosen from lullaby collections and bedtime playlists; public-domain wording checked with Wikipedia and the Library of Congress, Oct 2026. Checked 2026-10-25. Nobody paid to be here. The buy links are plain search links, not affiliate links, so Peabody earns nothing from them.

  1. Hush, Little Baby

    Traditional (Southern US) · Ages 0-4

    A promise-song with a gift in every verse, easy to extend as long as you like.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring turns brass, Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass gets broke, Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat.

  2. Brahms' Lullaby

    Johannes Brahms, 1868 · Ages 0-4

    The most recorded lullaby in the world; the English words below are the long-standing ones.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight, With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed. Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed, Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed.

  3. All the Pretty Little Horses

    Traditional (Southern US) · Ages 0-5

    A slow lullaby with a promise of horses at morning.

    Watch for: Often traced to enslaved women singing to the slaveholder's baby while their own were left alone; some versions have darker verses.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep, little baby. When you wake, you shall have All the pretty little horses. Blacks and bays, dapples and grays, Coach and six little horses. Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep, little baby.

  4. Golden Slumbers

    Thomas Dekker, 1603 · Ages 0-5

    The 400-year-old poem behind the Beatles song; the first four lines still work as a lullaby.

    Watch for: The Beatles' song reuses only part of this poem and adds new words that are still under copyright.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles awake you when you rise. Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby: Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

  5. Sleep, Baby, Sleep

    Traditional (German), English version 1800s · Ages 0-4

    A quiet song about the sheep and the dream-tree.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Sleep, baby, sleep, Thy father watches the sheep, Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree, And down fall the little dreams on thee. Sleep, baby, sleep.

  6. All Through the Night

    Welsh air, English words by Harold Boulton, 1884 · Ages 0-5

    One of the best-loved lullabies in Wales and Britain.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    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 steeping, I my loving vigil keeping All through the night.

  7. Sweet and Low

    Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850 · Ages 0-6

    A poem set to music by Joseph Barnby; slow and wave-like.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

  8. Rock-a-Bye Baby

    Traditional · Ages 0-3

    Cradle song for rocking; the tune is easy.

    Watch for: The cradle falls in the last line.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Rock-a-bye, baby, on the treetop, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock; When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, And down will come baby, cradle and all.

  9. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

    Jane Taylor, 1806 · Ages 0-6

    Slow it down and it makes a good wind-down song.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are!

  10. Lavender's Blue

    Traditional · Ages 0-5

    A gentle English song that Disney later used in Cinderella.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green; When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen.

  11. Bye, Baby Bunting

    Traditional · Ages 0-3

    A rocking rhyme with one soft rabbit.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Bye, baby bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting, Gone to get a rabbit skin To wrap the baby bunting in.

  12. Wee Willie Winkie

    William Miller, 1841 · Ages 0-5

    A bedtime rhyme where a nightgown-clad runner checks the windows.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

    Words

    Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown, Rapping at the window, crying through the lock, "Are the children all in bed, for now it's eight o'clock?"

  13. Suo Gân

    Traditional (Welsh) · Ages 0-5

    A Welsh lullaby, sung in Welsh at bedtime for generations.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  14. Over the Rainbow

    Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, 1939 · Ages 0-12

    From The Wizard of Oz; slow and dreamy. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  15. You Are My Sunshine

    Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell, 1939 · Ages 0-8

    A Louisiana song children ask for by name. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  16. Moon River

    Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, 1961 · Ages 0-10

    A slow waltz that parents often hum at bedtime. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  17. Baby Mine

    Frank Churchill and Ned Washington, 1941 · Ages 0-6

    The lullaby from Dumbo, sung to a baby elephant. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Watch for: The scene is about a mother separated from her baby, and many children find it sad.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  18. Dream a Little Dream of Me

    Wilbur Schwandt, Fabian Andre and Gus Kahn, 1931 · Ages 0-10

    A 1930s standard that is often hummed at bedtime. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  19. Edelweiss

    Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, 1959 · Ages 2-12

    A short, easy tune from The Sound of Music. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

  20. Hushabye Mountain

    Richard and Robert Sherman, 1968 · Ages 0-6

    From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a lullaby about a dream land. Words are copyrighted, so not printed.

    Buy: Apple Music · Spotify

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