"Ar Hyd y Nos" is a Welsh song sung to a tune that was first recorded in Edward Jones' Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards (1784). The most commonly sung Welsh lyrics were written by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832-1887), and have been translated into several languages, including English (most famously by Harold Boulton (1859–1935) ) and Breton. One of the earliest English versions, to different Welsh lyrics by one John Jones, was by Thomas Oliphant in 1862. The melody is also used in the hymns "Go My Children With My Blessing” (text by Jaroslav Vajda, 1983), “God That Madest Earth and Heaven” (1827) and "Father in your Love Enfold Us ". The song is highly popular with traditional Welsh male voice choirs, and is sung by them at festivals in Wales and around the world. The song is also sometimes considered a Christmas carol, and as such has been performed by many artists on Christmas albums, including Olivia Newton-John and Michael McDonald, who sang it as a duet on Newton-John's 2007 album Christmas Wish. Cerys Matthews sang it solo on her 2010 album Tir.

Lyrics

Singable English lyrics to the same tune were written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884:

Variations

There is evidence that the song has undergone the folk process to some degree, yielding several similar but modified versions. In one alternative version, the second verse is substituted with: Another alternative version features a more neutral, night song text: Yet another alternative version of the second verse is as follows: A. G. Prys-Jones wrote a more literal but still singable and rhyming version: The tune is also used in the hymn "For the Fruit of All Creation" by Fred Pratt Green. The first verse of Green's lyrics (used widely in the harvest season and at Thanksgiving) ends with these words: "For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping, / Future needs in earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God." In 1835, William Walker compiled and published the shape note hymn and tune book The Southern Harmony, which included the song "Welch" (page 109), using the tune for "Ar Hyd y Nos". The lyrics include the repeated phrase "O! how he loves!" Both the tune and the lyrics are unattributed.

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