And We Bid You Goodnight

Lyrics: Traditional [Sarah Doudney]
Music: Traditional [Ira David Sankey]

Sung a capella by the Grateful Dead to close many of their concerts in the late sixties and the beginning of the seventies - and then revived again in 1989-91. A brief instrumental fragment was also played almost always right at the end of Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad, usually as a transition to another song (thanks to Chris Jones for pointing this out)

The lyrics varied a bit from performance to performance. This is the version from Dick's Picks Volume 8 (2 May 1970), which is one of the fuller versions:

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Walking in Jerusalem just like John (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
I remember right well, I remember right well (bid you goodnight, goodnight) (note 1)
His rod and his staff shall comfort me (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Tell "A" for the ark, that wonderful boat (bid you goodnight, goodnight) (note 2)
Tell "B" for the beast at the ending of the wood (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Well it eat all the children that would not be good (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
I'm walking in Jerusalem just like John (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Walking in the valley of the shadow of death (bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight)

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus love you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

"In the 1960s, the Incredible String Band renamed a song called 'I Bid You Goodnight' which they learned from Jody Stecher's recordings of the great Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence and his family, the Pindar family, and the song became, for some folkies, one of those great standards. A year or two ago, John Howson visited Staithes to record the Fisherman's Choir, and was accompanied by Maggie Hunt who, at the same time, was interviewing the individuals involved. During conversations, Mr Willie Wright sung a snatch of the Sankey hymn 'Sleep On Beloved' which he described as a lowering down song at funerals, and which was clearly the same song as 'I Bid You Goodnight' but in an earlier form, and when Norma [Waterson] heard it she went to see Willie, who kindly provided her with the other verses. When we sang the song to Jody Stecher, he was enormously pleased, not least because its function as a funeral song in the Bahamian fishing community was identical to that in its North Yorkshire counterpart."

Sleep on beloved, sleep and take thy rest
Lay down thy head upon thy saviour's breast
We love thee well, but Jesus loves thee best
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Until the shadows from this earth are cast
Until he gathers in his sheep at last
Until the twilight gloom is over passed
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Until made beatiful by love divine
Thou in the likeness of thy Lord shall shine
And he will bring that golden crown of thine
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Until we meet again before the throne
Clothed in the spotless robes he gives his own
Until we know as we are known
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Lay down my dear brother, lay down and take your rest
Won't you lay your head now upon your Saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus love you the best
Lord I bid you goodnight, Lord, goodnight, Lord, goodnight
Lord I bid you goodnight, Lord, goodnight, goodnight

Lay down brother Spence, won't you lay and take your rest
Won't you lay your head now upon your Saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus love you the best
Lord I bid you goodnight, Lord, goodnight, goodnight

One of these mornings bright early and soon (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
Not a [creepy] not a spirit gonna shout me on (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
Lord I go walking in the valley of the shadow of death (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
His rod and staff shall comfort me (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
Jesus and Moses shall follow me on (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
John the wine said I saw the sign (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
John said a number of sign (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
Tell "A" for the ark, that wonderful boat (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
She building on the land, getting water to float (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
Now "B" for the beast at the ending of the wood (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
It ate all the children that would not be good (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
I remember right well, I remember right well (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)
I went a-walking in Jerusalem just like John (goodnight, Lord, goodnight)

Lay down brother Pindar, lay down and take your rest
Won't you lay your head now upon your Saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus love you the best
Lord I bid you goodnight, Lord, goodnight, goodnight

"A well known anthem wake song in the Bahamas, traditionally sung at the end of a wake. ... The unusual version here is sung without the familiar verses, but rendered with amazing excitement. "Very emotional," noted Alan Lomax years after this was recorded. ...

"Except for occasional words, the rhyming verses of the lead singer cannot be interpreted."

Last Sat'day night and the night before
Now I had a dream that my mother, she been dyin'
Listen me children, Jesus love you the best
I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight