Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)

"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album River of Dreams
Released	1994
Format	7", CD single
Genre	Soft rock, classical
Length	3:34
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Billy Joel
Producer(s)	Billy Joel, Danny Kortchmar
Billy Joel singles chronology
"No Man's Land" (1993) "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" (1994) "To Make You Feel My Love" (1997)
"No Man's Land" (1993) "Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)" (1994) "To Make You Feel My Love" (1997)

"Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" is the seventh track and fourth single from Billy Joel's 1993 album River of Dreams. It was inspired by Alexa Ray Joel, his daughter by Christie Brinkley. The song is in the key of G major.

The song was originally written as a prelude to the song "The River of Dreams" in the style of a monophonic Gregorian chant. Joel had written English words in the chant describing a man who had lost his faith, and had then had the words translated into Latin.^[1] He changed his mind upon hearing the recording, and incorporated it into the song River of Dreams. He later removed the interlude from the final studio version of "River of Dreams", and instead wrote lyrics to the melody that reflected his sentiment toward Alexa Ray, who was a young child at the time of writing. The version of "River of Dreams" incorporating Lullaby appeared as an alternate version on the box set My Lives, and on An Evening of Questions and Answers...And A Little Music.

In 2004, it was announced that Joel had agreed to write two children's books for Scholastic, the U.S. publisher. The first book was entitled Goodnight, My Angel (A Lullaby) and is a picture book based on the song and illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert. "Reassuring children that they are not alone or could be abandoned is very important for their well-being," Joel said in a statement in 2004. The second book was entitled New York State of Mind and illustrated by Izak.

Personnel

• Billy Joel: lead vocals, piano
• Lewis Del Gatto: orchestra manager
• Ira Newborn: orchestration

Cover versions

• The German vocal group Singer Pur interpretes a version of this song in their 2005 CD Herztöne - Lovesongs^[2]
• The German a cappella group Wise Guys included a version of this song in their 1997 album Alles im grünen Bereich^[3]
• The Gas House Gang (quartet) included an arrangement of this song by Kirk Young on their 2003 CD "The Gas House Gang's Fifth"^[4]
• John Stamos performed it on the 2006 charity album Unexpected Dreams–Songs From the Stars.
• Cantabile - the London Quartet arranged this for their album Lullabyes and Goodbyes - Cantabile
• In 2009, the song was also performed by Celtic Woman^[5]
• Philip Lawson arranged this song for The King's Singers.
• In 2010, it was covered by Libera on their Peace DeLuxe album, with Joshua Madine as the soloist.
• In 2010, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed an all-male vocal arrangement by Ryan Murphy on the album "Men of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir".
• In 2011, Celine Dion performed it on The Oprah Winfrey Show and her residency show, Celine. It was also included on her 2013 English album Loved Me Back to Life as a bonus track in the Deluxe edition.
• It was featured in the 2012 film Song for Marion, performed by Terence Stamp
• In 2013, Hayley Westenra covered the song on her album Hushabye.
• In 2014, X Factor UK finalist Daniel Evans recorded an emotional version on YouTube and it appeared as the final song from his best of album, Emotions.

Chart positions

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics