Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep: History
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Subjects: Cultural Studies
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Now I lay me down to sleep is a classic children's bedtime prayer from the 18th century.

  • sleep
  • prayer

1. Text

Perhaps the earliest version was written by Joseph Addison in an essay appearing in The Spectator on 8 March 1711. It says: [1]

When I lay me down to Sleep,
I recommend my self to his Care;
when I awake, I give my self up to his Direction.

A later version printed in The New England Primer goes:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my Soul to keep[;]
If I should die before I 'wake,
I pray the Lord my Soul to take.[2]

2. Other Versions

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.
If I should live for other days,
I pray thee, Lord, to guide my ways.
Amen.

Now
I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
His Love to guard me through the night,
And wake me in the morning's light amen.[3]

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
May the angels watch me through the night,
and keep me in their blessed sight.
Amen.

This can be edited:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Please angels watch me through the night,
And keep me safe till morning light.[3]

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Angels watch me through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
Amen[4]

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take,
All the angels watching over me.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Guide me safely through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep:
Watch and guard me through the night,
Until You bring the morning light.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
When in the morning light I wake,
Show me the path of love to take.
Amen.

(Additional third verse)
If I should live another day,
I pray the Lord to guide my way.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
For if I die before I wake,
That's one less test I have to take. [Parodic]

It is sometimes combined with the "Black Paternoster", one version of which goes:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.[5]

3. In Popular Culture

  • The Doors performed a part of this prayer live in New York in 1970 as an added verse to their song "Soul Kitchen".
  • In James O'Barr's most famous comic "The Crow", the main character Eric Draven recites the prayer during the fight against Tom Tom.
  • The prayer is used in the bridge of Metallica's hit "Enter Sandman" from their 1991 eponymous album, with James switching to a deep ghost voice and saying the lines.
  • Circle of Dust used an edited version of this prayer in the song "Prayers of a Dad Man" from their 1994 album of Brainchild.
  • It was used in the opening lines of Megadeth's 1991 song "Go to Hell" from the soundtrack to the 1991 film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
  • In "Murder Was the Case", a song from his debut album Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg included a verse with this prayer.
  • In Notorious B.I.G. song called "Ready to Die" this prayer can be heard.
  • American singer-songwriter, Halsey, used this prayer in the opening lines of the song "Nightmare".[6]
  • Rapper and songwriter 21 Savage used the later version of the poem in the opening track, "Lord Forgive", of his album Slaughter King.
  • Rapper and songwriter XXXTentacion used the poem in his song "before I close my eyes", from his album ?.
  • The musical, Carrie had the poem featured in the middle of the song “Evening Prayers”.
  • In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the poem is recited by the main character before confronting Freddy.
  • In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master, a rhyme based on this prayer was used to defeat Freddy
  • American metalcore band Ice Nine Kills use another version of this rhyme in the bridge of their song "Communion of the Cursed", on the album Every Trick In The Book.
  • Rapper Calboy also used this rhyme in the beginning of his song "Envy Me".
  • American rapper Kid Cudi features the latter two lines of the rhyme repeatedly in the hook to his song "The Prayer," on his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi.
  • The prayer is also mentioned in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Testaments.
  • The WWE used some lines of the prayer for the entrance theme of The Undertaker in 2000.
  • The phrase "I pray the Lord my soul to keep" appears in Bob Dylan's song "Roll on John" from the album Tempest.
  • "If I die before I wake" is followed by the line "at least in heaven I can skate" in the 2000 top 40 song "Heaven Is a Halfpipe" by OPM
  • In the "Fathers and Sons" episode of the TV series Blue Bloods the prayer is used.
  • "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep" was inscribed on the headstone of Amber Rene Hagerman in 1996 after her death.
  • Keith & Kristyn Getty used the first two lines of the poem in the first verse of "Evensong".
  • In an episode of the TV series M*A*S*H, Father Mulcahey recites a common children's parody of the prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep / A bag of peanuts at my feet / If I should die before I wake / Give them to my Uncle Jake".

The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Biology:Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_to_Sleep

References

  1. The Spectator Vol. I, 1729 https://books.google.com/books?id=1Gdskp1ey8QC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=When+I+lay+me+down+to+Sleep,I+recommend+my+self+to+His+care;when+I+awake,+I+give+my+self+up+to+His+Directio&source=bl&ots=Nudb-oHkZV&sig=ACfU3U3TCsa0ld0ZKFxH4gXSQhDbzhg5kg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUz7aTmPnfAhUi0oMKHWJ_D-UQ6AEwCHoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=When%20I%20lay%20me%20down%20to%20Sleep%2CI%20recommend%20my%20self%20to%20His%20care%3Bwhen%20I%20awake%2C%20I%20give%20my%20self%20up%20to%20His%20Directio&f=true
  2. The New England Primer , 1750 ed., p. 23. http://cdlrsandbox.org/neprimer/versiontwopages/028.html
  3. Debbie Trafton O'Neal; Nancy Munger (1994), Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep: Action Prayers, Poems, and Songs for Bedtime, Augsburg Books, p. 6, ISBN 978-0-8066-2602-4, https://books.google.com/books?id=IOwi-B9IhKgC&pg=PA6 
  4. James Limburg (2006), Encountering Ecclesiastes: a book for our time, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p. 103, ISBN 978-0-8028-3047-0, https://books.google.com/books?id=O2qBfPnB4VAC&pg=PA103&dq=lay 
  5. I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), ISBN:0-19-860088-7, pp. 357–60.
  6. (in en) Nightmare, https://open.spotify.com/album/4KaiavWFhR7j9tY1f7V6UL, retrieved 2019-06-15 
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