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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
This acoustic arrangement of "Rock-a-Bye Baby" presents one of the oldest and most beloved lullabies in the English language in its most intimate form. The stripped-back instrumentation places the melody and the voice at the centre, creating the close, quiet sound of a song sung in a darkened room beside a sleeping child.
"Rock-a-Bye Baby" was first printed in 1765 in "Mother Goose's Melody" and has been sung to children ever since. Its imagery — a baby in a cradle rocked by the wind in a treetop, the bough breaking, the cradle falling — is genuinely unusual for a song designed to encourage sleep. Yet the lullaby works, as lullabies always have, not through its content but through the quality of its sound and the presence of the singing voice.
An acoustic arrangement suits this particular lullaby well. There is something about the natural resonance of acoustic instruments — the slight imperfection, the warmth of wood and strings — that feels appropriate to a song this old. The acoustic version here is especially suited to bedtime, when the familiar words can be heard as a comfort rather than a warning, the voice of someone who is simply there, steady and close.
