I (Peter) often use songs to help me fall asleep, or go back to sleep if I have woken up in the night and can't stop thinking about stuff...
Here are some of my favorite peaceful, mind-quieting, rest-restoring songs! (And these sleeping "pills" have no known side effects!)
The version that appeals / works best for me is in parentheses. I like the first video unless otherwise noted. (I like to choose songs with a slow rhythm that matches my heartbeat during sleep...) It also helps to turn the volume way down on your phone. Then just lay your head back on your pillow, breathe deeply, and let the song draw towards rest.
Lullabies:
- Summertime from "Porgy & Bess" (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong)
- John O' Dreams by Bill Caddick (Bok, Muir & Trickett)
- Dream Angus - trad. Scottish (The Corries)
- A La Puerta Del Cielo / At the Gate of Heaven (Freyda Epstein)
- Douglas Mountain by Raffi (orig rec is the best)
- Watch the Stars (See How They Run) - trad. St. Helena's Island (Moira Smiley, also early rec by Mike & Peggy Seeger)
- One Grain of Sand by Pete Seeger (Odetta)
- Bye'm Bye (Kevin Roth)
- Owl Moon by Bruce O'Brien (O'Brien's rec)
- Watts Cradle Song (The Heath Sisters)
- Sea of Dreams by Joel Mabus
- Baby Mine (Alison Krauss)
- All Through the Night - Welsh trad. (Laudibus)
- Sweet & Low by Joseph Barnby
- Stone Harbor by Judith Fox played by Rolly Brown
Love songs:
Many of these songs I find deeply comforting, even if they are sometimes sad. I begin with several by Kate Rusby:
- Bring Me a Boat
- Who Will Sing Me Lullabies
- Falling
-
Underneath the Stars (this one is played to photos taken from the Hubble Space Telescope of deep space galaxies - amazing)
plus two covers by Kate: - Wild Mountain Thyme Scottish trad. (Kate Rusby)
- You Belong to Me (Kate Rusby)
Here are other love songs that I find really restful:
- Fields of Gold by Sting (Eva Cassidy)
- Who Knows Where the Time Goes by Sandy Denny (Judy Collins)
- I Will by Paul McCartney (Alison Krauss)
- Broom of the Cowdenknowes - Child Ballad #217 (Archie Fisher)
- Beeswing by Richard Thompson (Roy Bailey)
- Sweet Thames Flow Softly by Ewan MacColl (Christy Moore)
- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Ewan MacColl (Roberta Flack)
- Hello Young Lovers from The King & I (Julie Andrews)
- Down by the Salley Gardens - words by William Butler Yeats
- Since You Asked by Judy Collins (orig rec)
- I Don't Know Why I Didn't Come by Jesse Helms (Norah Jones)
Songs of faith:
- Sanctuary by Eliza Gilkyson (Lucy Kaplansky & John Gorka)
- 23rd Psalm by Bobby McFerrin (MUSE - Cincinnati Women's Choir)
- Crossing the Bar - setting by Rani Arbo to poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (St Martin in the Fields)
- Guide My Feet - trad. African-American spiritual (Bernice Johnson Reagon)
- Healer of the Broken-Hearted by Rena Branson (Psalm 147:3-4)
- Ahava Raba also by Branson (a morning prayer from Jewish liturgy re-imagined)
- Slow Down also by Branson (a chant)
- Christ Has No Body Now but Yours words by St Theresa of Avila (Guilford VT Community Church Choir)
- Come On Up to the House by Tom Waits (live rec)
- Your Labor Is Not in Vain by by Wendell Kimbrough (live rec by The Porter's Gate)
Other songs:
- What a Wonderful World (Chris Botti & Mark Knopfler)
- Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz (Eva Cassidy or medley with What a Wonderful World medley by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole)
- These Hands by Cantor Linda Hirschhorn (video with photos of women's lives)
- For Real by Bob Franke (2009 live rec)
- Here Is My Home by Si Kahn (2012 live rec w Peter Amidon)
- I Bid You Goodnight by Joseph Spence (Grateful Dead)
- Safe in the Harbour by Eric Bogle
- I Think It's Gonna Rain Today by Randy Newman (Nina Simone)
- These Hands by David Gunning (beautiful video with schoolchildren holding up drawings illustrating the themes of this song)
- Rainbow Connection (Annie Patterson)
Songlists:
- Lullabies chapter in Rise Again
- Lullabies chapter in Rise Up Singing
- List of songs of lullaby song genre in The Music Box
- Healing & Letting Go chapter in Rise Again
- Hope & Strength chapter in Rise Again
- Hope chapter in Rise Up Singing





