"Golden Slumbers" is based on the poem "Cradle Song" from the play Patient Grissel, a lullaby by the dramatist Thomas Dekker.

McCartney saw sheet music for "Cradle Song" at his father's home in Liverpool, left on a piano by his stepsister Ruth.

In the 1885 collection "St Nicholas Songs", p. 177, is W J Henderson's music set to the poem, titled "Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes".

Thomas Dekker's poem was set to music by W J Henderson in 1885, Peter Warlock in 1918, also by Charles Villiers Stanford and Alfredo Casella.

[8] On 15 August, orchestral overdubs that marked 30 musicians altogether were added to "Golden Slumbers" and five other songs on Abbey Road.