Often erroneously described as a traditional Māori song,[1] its creation is usually credited to several people, including Clement Scott (music), and Maewa Kaihau and Dorothy Stewart (arrangement and lyrics).
Paling and Co as a piano-variations piece in Australia, called "Swiss Cradle Song" and credited to "Clement Scott".
Some sources say that after a tour of New Zealand, the British music critic and travel writer Clement Scott wrote the tune to the "Swiss Cradle Song".
[1] One claim attributes the first words to two Māori groups of sheep shearers, the Grace and Awatere families, of Tuparoa.
[4] In 1920, Maewa Kaihau (friend to Ramai Hayward) wrote an opening verse in English as "This is the hour..." for her daughter who had become attached to a member of a visiting royal party, who was shortly to leave.
Fields's manager, Dorothy Stewart, is credited with amending the opening line to "Now is the Hour", and with adding another verse.
[4] The tune, commonly named "Māori" in hymnals, is also used with the lyrics "Search Me, O God" by J. Edwin Orr.
[15] Numerous other artists have subsequently recorded the song, including Frank Sinatra, Gale Storm, Burl Ives, Connie Francis and the Everly Brothers.