Songs in History

234 songs that people have sung and handed down, in 79 languages, from a Sumerian hymn to the goddess of beer, copied about 1800 BCE, to songs of the last years of apartheid and of the Cold War. Each gives who made it, where and in what language, its story, what it says and the songs it led to. 167 carry their words: in the original and, for the songs not in English, romanized and translated line by line. 215 have a performance to listen to.

The ancient world

The medieval world

The early modern world

Sacred · c. 1527Chad Gadyaחד גדיא / Chad GadyaJewish communities; the Passover Seder · Aramaic, HebrewWordsListen Sacred · Anthem · 1528A Mighty Fortress Is Our GodEin feste Burg ist unser GottLutheran and wider Protestant churches · GermanWordsListen Lament · Sacred · c. 1534Coventry Carolthe craft guilds of Coventry and their mystery plays · EnglishWordsListen Dance · Celebration · c. 1550Cantares MexicanosNahua (Aztec) singers of central Mexico · Classical NahuatlWords Sacred · c. 1550Lekha Dodiלכה דודי / Lekha DodiJewish communities; the Kabbalists of Safed · HebrewWordsListen Anthem · War and march · 1570WilhelmusWilhelmus van NassouweThe Dutch: the rebels of the Dutch Revolt, later the Netherlands · DutchWordsListen Sacred · c. 1575Hanuman Chalisaहनुमान चालीसा / Hanumān ChālīsāHindus, devotees of Hanuman and Rama · AwadhiListen Love song · Ballad · 1580GreensleevesEnglish ballad singers and printers of the Elizabethan age · EnglishWordsListen Work song · Lament · 1600Fengyang Flower Drum鳳陽花鼓 / Fèngyáng huāgǔpeople of Fengyang County, Anhui · ChineseListen Sacred · Celebration · c. 1600Shalom Aleichemשָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם / Shalom AleichemJewish communities · HebrewWordsListen Sacred · 1631Hanacpachap cussicuininHanacpachap cussicuinin (modern orthography: Hanaq pachap kusikuynin)Quechua-speaking Catholic congregations of colonial Peru · QuechuaWordsListen Sacred · Celebration · 1642Huron CarolJesous AhatonhiaHuron-Wendat Christians and the Jesuit mission among them; later Canadian churches · WendatWordsListen Ballad · Love song · c. 1666Barbara AllenEnglish, Scottish and Irish ballad singers; later North American, especially Appalachian, singers · EnglishWordsListen Sacred · c. 1700KumulipoNative Hawaiians (the Hawaiian ruling line of Kalaninuiamamao) · HawaiianWordsListen Sacred · c. 1710O Come, O Come, EmmanuelVeni, veni, EmmanuelCatholic Germany, where the Latin hymn was first printed; later the Church of England and English-speaking churches · Latin, EnglishWordsListen Sacred · Celebration · 1719Joy to the WorldEnglish and American Protestant hymn singing · EnglishWordsListen Anthem · 1745God Save the KingBritish; later the British Empire and the Commonwealth realms · EnglishWordsListen

The age of revolutions

Dance · Celebration · date unknownLa Bambason jarocho musicians of Veracruz, Mexico · SpanishListen Sacred · Celebration · 1751O Come, All Ye FaithfulAdeste FidelesEnglish Catholics; later Christians of many churches · Latin, EnglishWordsListen War and march · Anthem · c. 1755Yankee DoodleBritish soldiers in North America, then American colonists and revolutionaries · EnglishWordsListen Love song · Protest and freedom · 1756Arirang아리랑 / ArirangKoreans · KoreanWordsListen Celebration · 1765Mo Li Hua茉莉花 / MòlìhuāHan Chinese of the Jiangnan region · ChineseWordsListen Sacred · 1773Amazing GraceEnglish evangelical Christians; later American churches, especially African American and shape-note singing communities · EnglishWordsListen Lullaby · c. 1780Au clair de la luneFrench popular and children's song · FrenchWordsListen Protest and freedom · 1780Die Gedanken sind freiGerman-speaking lands; later German student fraternities and the resistance to Nazism · GermanWordsListen Lullaby · c. 1780Frère JacquesFrench children's song, sung worldwide · FrenchWordsListen Celebration · 1781Gaudeamus igiturEuropean university students · LatinWordsListen Love song · 1784Plaisir d'amourFrench art song of the late 18th century · FrenchWordsListen Anthem · Celebration · 1785Ode to JoyAn die FreudeGerman poetry and music of the late Enlightenment; later Europe as a whole · GermanWordsListen Celebration · 1788Auld Lang SyneScots · ScotsWordsListen Protest and freedom · Work song · 1790Ça IraÇa iraFrench revolutionaries; the sans-culottes · FrenchWordsListen Protest and freedom · Dance · 1792La Carmagnolethe sans-culottes of revolutionary Paris and later French revolutionaries · FrenchWordsListen Anthem · War and march · 1792La MarseillaiseFrench revolutionaries; later the French Republic · FrenchWordsListen War and march · Anthem · 1794Le Chant du départFrench Republican soldiers; later the French Empire and the French Republic · FrenchWordsListen Anthem · War and march · 1797Poland Is Not Yet LostMazurek DąbrowskiegoPolish Legions in Italy; later the Polish nation · PolishWordsListen Dance · date unknownKagome Kagomeかごめかごめ / Kagome KagomeJapanese children · JapaneseWordsListen Dance · date unknownTōryanse通りゃんせ / TōryanseJapanese children · JapaneseWordsListen Anthem · 1813Argentine National AnthemHimno Nacional ArgentinoPatriots of Buenos Aires in the wars of independence; later the Argentine Republic · SpanishWordsListen Anthem · War and march · 1814The Star-Spangled BannerAmericans of the early United States; the national anthem of the United States · EnglishWordsListen

The nineteenth century

The early twentieth century

The world since 1945

Songs that led to songs

Tunes travel: an anthem borrows a hymn’s melody, a farewell song becomes a graduation song on the other side of the world. These are the links between the songs in this library; every song’s page lists many more.

Hanacpachap cussicuinin → Magnificatrecording
Auld Lang Syne → Hotaru no Hikarisame tune, Japanese words
Poland Is Not Yet Lost → Hatikvahnamed as inspired by it
John Brown's Body → Battle Hymn of the Republicnew words, same tune; written November 1861, published February 1862
Botany Bay → Waltzing Matildacover
Mbube → The Lion Sleeps Tonightadapted as, Linda's closing notes made the new tune, with English words by George David Weiss
Mbube → The Lion Sleeps Tonightrecording
Mbube → The Lion Sleeps Tonightrecording
Psalm 137 → Va, pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)the libretto was inspired by it
La Marseillaise → Il Canto degli italianisource of inspiration for the text
John Brown's Body → Battle Hymn of the Republicthe soldiers' song whose tune Howe wrote new words for
Poland Is Not Yet Lost → State Anthem of Ukraineinfluence on the words, as scholars think
La Marseillaise → The InternationalePottier wrote the words to be sung to its tune
God Save the King → Hawaiʻi Ponoʻīmelody reminiscent of it
God Save the King → Kimigayothe words may have been chosen for their likeness to it
Auld Lang Syne → Hotaru no Hikarisame melody, new words
God Save the King → Sansoen Phra BaramiSiam's royal honour music before this anthem
La Marseillaise → Lupang Hinirang (Chosen Land)one of three pieces Felipe said he based the music on
Auld Lang Syne → Aegukgathe tune the words were sung to before 1935
The Internationale → March of the Volunteersopening motif inspired by it
Mbube → The Lion Sleeps Tonightthe original; Linda's final improvised notes became the new tune
Psalm 137 → Jerusalem of Goldline drawn from

How the songs are told

The words of a song appear only where they are in the public domain: traditional and anonymous songs, and words whose authors died long ago or that were published before 1930. They are imported from the editions that hold them (Wikisource, Project Gutenberg, or the public-domain words quoted in Wikipedia’s articles), never typed from memory, and each names its edition. Where no older translation is free to use, the English and the romanization are the Institute’s own, made line by line from the original; notes say where a line can be read more than one way. Songs whose words are still in copyright have their story and their theme, told in our own words, but not their words.

Each performance was chosen by ear and by its source: the performers’ own channels, choirs, ensembles and institutions, and old recordings. YouTube’s player loads only when you press play.