The Appalachian carol Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head was collected John Jacob Niles in Hardin County, central Kentucky in the early 20th century. Like so many other folk carols and hymns, the song’s origins predate by many decades its collection and publication. This gentle lullaby is sometimes titled alternatively The Manger Cradle Song, as the lyrics of the refrain take the form a soothing serenade to the sleeping Christ Child on that first Christmas night. (notes thanks to PBS)
Refrain
Jesus, Jesus, rest your head.
You has got a manger bed.
All the evil folk on earth
Sleep in feathers at their birth.
Jesus, Jesus, rest your head.
You has got a manger bed.
Have you heard about our Jesus?
Have you heard about his fate?
How his mammy went to the stable
On that Christmas Eve so late?
Winds were blowing, cows were lowing,
Stars were glowing, glowing, glowing. Refrain
To the manger came the Wise Men.
Bringing gifts from hin and yon,
For the mother and the father,
And the blessed little Son.
Milkmaids left their fields and flocks
And sat beside the ass and ox. Refrain
Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head - John Jacob Niles, voice & dulcimer
Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head - Seraphic Fire (arr. by Patrick Dupré Quigley)
Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head - The Westminster Choir
Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head - Worcester Cathedral Choir (arr. by A. Warrell)
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