We’ve been singing lullabies for millennia. Inscribed on a clay tablet is a Babylonian lullaby that’s about 4,000 years old.




(Play, to listen to the oldest known lullaby)

By the glow of a phone, or to the thrum of a city, lullabies still charm babies to sleep today. We inherit them, and we pass them on. We carry lullabies across borders and make new ones along the way. They contain the traces of those who came before us, and they will carry traces of us long after we’re gone. They are likely to be the first love songs that we hear.

Within lullabies we’ve inscribed not just our greatest fears, but in the same breath, our prayers, our hopes, and our reassurances.