Oldest Song in the World, written 3,400 years ago | Crazy Ancient Musicians

The short of it: in the early 1950s archaeologists discovered 14th Century B.C.E. clay tablets with cuneiform writing in what was once the Sumarian city of Ugarit, in present-day Syria. The cuneiform turned out to be a cult hymn, and Ann Draffkorn Kilmer of the University of California produced an interpretation in 1972, which was then recorded. It's a fascinating story, which is explained wonderfully at Open Culture. It is also worth reading the detail text on the YouTube site, posted by AssyriaTimes.