Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Rock-a-Bye Baby" was first printed in 1765 in "Mother Goose's Melody", making it one of the oldest nursery rhymes in the printed record. It has been one of the most popular lullabies in the English-speaking world ever since, despite — or perhaps because of — the unusual darkness of its imagery: a baby in a cradle placed high in a tree, which falls when the bough breaks.
Various explanations have been offered for this strange scenario. One theory holds that the rhyme was brought to America by early settlers who observed Native American mothers placing cradle-boards in trees where the wind could rock the children to sleep. Others have suggested a more straightforwardly metaphorical reading: the wind is change, the bough is the fragility of life, and the falling is inevitable. The lullaby may simply acknowledge that the world is uncertain, while offering the warmth of being rocked as comfort against that uncertainty.
What is remarkable is that generations of parents have sung this to children to help them sleep. A baby falling from a tree is not an obvious choice of bedtime imagery, yet the gentle rhythm of the song and the warmth of the singing voice override the content entirely. The music carries the baby to sleep long before the bough breaks.
