The Night Wind Lyrics
Have you ever heard the wind go "Yooooo"? The poem's speaker remembers being told that the wailing night wind means somebody has been bad, and lying in bed wondering which child was meant. It is a joke about a guilty conscience, in three verses by Eugene Field.
The Night Wind
Have you ever heard the wind go "Yooooo"?
'Tis a pitiful sound to hear!
It seems to chill you through and through
With a strange and speechless fear.
'Tis the voice of the night that broods outside
When folk should be asleep,
And many and many's the time I've cried
To the darkness brooding far and wide
Over the land and the deep:
"Whom do you want, O lonely night,
That you wail the long hours through?"
And the night would say in its ghostly way:
"Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!"
My mother told me long ago
(When I was a little tad)
That when the night went wailing so,
Somebody had been bad;
And then, when I was snug in bed,
Whither I had been sent,
With the blankets pulled up round my head,
I'd think of what my mother'd said,
And wonder what boy she meant!
And "Who's been bad to-day?" I'd ask
Of the wind that hoarsely blew,
And the voice would say in its meaningful way
"Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!"
That this was true I must allow -
You'll not believe it, though!
Yes, though I'm quite a model now,
I was not always so.
And if you doubt what things I say,
Suppose you make the test;
Suppose, when you've been bad some day
And up to bed are sent away
From mother and the rest -
Suppose you ask, "Who has been bad?"
And then you'll hear what's true;
For the wind will moan in its ruefulest tone:
"Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!"
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-night-wind-eugene-field/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Eugene Field
- Tune
- Spoken storytelling voice, with a long, low, spooky 'Yoooooooo' to finish each verse
- Best for ages
- 5 to 10 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Yoooooooo! | Cup your hands round your mouth and make a long, low wind sound. |
| With the blankets pulled up round my head | Pull a pretend blanket up to your nose. |
| Who's been bad to-day? | Tilt your head and cup a hand behind your ear, listening. |
What Does The Night Wind Mean?
The poem is a joke, and the joke is on the child in bed. A grown-up looks back to the time when a mother said that when the night wind wails, somebody has been bad. Under the blankets the child hears the wind's "Yoooo" and thinks about the day, wondering which child the wind means. In the last verse the speaker says that this was true, with a wink: try it yourself, ask the wind "Who has been bad?" after you have been sent to bed, and you will hear exactly the same "Yoooo". The wind says the same thing to everybody, so it always seems to be talking to you.
That is the point of the poem. The wind does not know anything. A guilty conscience, the small nagging voice inside a child who knows they have done something wrong, supplies the meaning. It is a poem to read with a smile, and it makes a poor threat for a real bedtime. A parent can use it the other way round, to show a child who is frightened of the sound that the wind is only a wind, and that it is funny to think it can point at anyone.
A few words help. Tad is an old pet word for a small child. Pitiful means sad enough to make you feel sorry. Brooding means hanging heavy and still. Ruefulest means the most sorrowful.
History and Origin
Eugene Field (1850 to 1895) was an American poet and newspaper writer who became best known for verses about children. The poem is in Poems of Childhood, published by Charles Scribner's Sons of New York in September 1904, a collection that brings together poems from two earlier books of his, With Trumpet and Drum (1892) and Love-Songs of Childhood (1894), as the copyright page shows.
The "Yoooo" of the refrain is the part children usually remember, and it is easy to say it together.
Learning Activities
- Wind sounds: practise the long 'Yoooo' sound, loud and then soft, and take turns being the wind.
- Spot the joke: read the last verse and ask why the wind gives the same answer every time.
- Night sounds walk: before bed, listen for three different sounds in the house or garden and say what each one is.
- A kinder answer: ask the children what they would say if the wind asked 'who has been good today?'