I've been a professional singer for over 35 years and somehow, this song never has crossed my path. Sadly, it now has, at the passing of a very dear friend for whom I sang it (with difficulty, but hopefully poignantly) at her memorial Mass almost two weeks ago.
I miss you, Vickie but I know, as the song says, you are sleeping in quiet on mother's gentle breast...
When I was in primary school in Cork City where I was born in 1938, we were taught to sing this great song from Wales ('All Through The Night') - in English. It made such a deep impression on me that I began to cry. Everybody stopped singing. I felt utterly lost. Our teacher, a master of gentleness, told the other boys that the class was over and allowed them to go home. Then Brother Oliver - a Christian Brother of the very best kind - went over the song with me again, line by line. Then he began to sing on his own while encouraging me to join in. Deeply moved both by the song and by the unexpected kindness, I stopped crying and began to sing too, my voice trembling at first and then gradually growing steady and more confident. It was my first introduction to Wales, my adopted homeland, where I have lived since 1960.
I heard this song for the first time as a teenager and without knowing its significance to my family, loved it. It still calms me to my soul and is a part of my cherished heritage. It makes me proud to say I'm part Welsh.
welsh and cornish are a relic of the true british culture inhabiting this island b4 romans.......but fear not, most english ppl have brythonic ancestry....just lost the language from various invasions ^^
Despite being raised in England, my blood, and heart are as Welsh as they can be. Cymru am Byth! This song always calms my soul. It's hilarious. not even knowing it's significance, and having heard it once, mom would sing the melody to me as an infant. Not realising she was singing an antiquity :) God bless Wales. A pure, Honest land with a pure name and a pure soul. I know that God loves all his children. But we Welshmen give him a lot of reason to be proud!!
Fantastic. I love all Welsh music. It is soothing. I'm also proud to have Welsh blood in my veins. Wales will always be my spiritual home. Cymru am Byth!
