| Rock-a-bye Baby / Hush-a-bye Baby | |
|---|---|
 Illustration by Kate Greenaway, 1900 | |
| Publication date | c. 1765 |
"Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top" (sometimes "Hush-a-bye baby on the tree top") is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768.
The rhyme exists in several versions. One modern example, quoted by the National Literacy Trust, has these words: [1]
Rock a bye baby on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
The rhyme is believed to have first appeared in print in Mother Goose's Melody (London c. 1765), [2] possibly published by John Newbery, and which was reprinted in Boston in 1785. [3] No copies of the first edition are extant, but a 1791 edition has the following words: [4]
Hush-a-by baby on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down tumbles baby, cradle and all.
The rhyme is followed by a note: "This may serve as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last." [4]
James Orchard Halliwell, in his The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842), notes that the third line read "When the wind ceases the cradle will fall" in the earlier Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784) and himself records "When the bough bends" in the second line and "Down will come baby, bough, cradle and all" as the fourth. [5] Modern versions often alter the opening words to "Rock-a-bye, baby", a phrase that was first recorded in Benjamin Tabart's Songs for the Nursery (London, 1805). [3] [6]
The scholars Iona and Peter Opie note that the age of the words is uncertain, and that "imaginations have been stretched to give the rhyme significance". They list a variety of claims that have been made, without endorsing any of them: [2]
In Derbyshire, England, one local legend has it that the song relates to a local character in the late 18th century, Betty Kenny (Kate Kenyon), who lived in a huge yew tree in Shining Cliff Woods in the Derwent Valley, where a hollowed-out bough served as a cradle. [7]
A later Mormon speculation was that the words "may simply have been suggested by the swaying and soothing motion of the topmost branches of the trees, although…another authority is that Rock-a-bye baby and Bye baby bunting come to us from the Indians, as they had a custom of cradling their pappooses among the swaying branches." [8]
The rhyme is generally sung to one of two tunes. The only one mentioned by the Opies in The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes (1951) is a variant of Henry Purcell's 1686 quickstep Lillibullero , [2] but others were once popular in the USA.
An 1887 editorial in Boston's The Musical Herald mentions "Rock-a-bye-baby" as being part of the street band repertoire, [9] while in that same year The Times carried an advertisement for a performance in London by the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, featuring among others "the great American song of ROCK-A-BYE". [10] Newspapers of the period credited the tune to two separate persons, both resident in Boston. One was Effie D. Canning, who in 1872 wrote an original composition using the lullaby as a returning refrain after each of its three verses. This, however, was not published until "probably 1884" under the pseudonym Effie I. Canning. [11] [12] [13] The other candidate was Charles Dupee Blake (1847-1903), a prolific composer of popular music, of which "his best known work is Rock-a-Bye Baby". [14]
It is difficult to say which one of the many contemporary songs bearing that title and of varied authorship was really the subject of the news reports. The one reproduced under that title in Clara L. Mateaux's Through Picture Land (1876) is a two-stanza work that is different in wording and form. [15] Another in St Nicholas Magazine for 1881 and ascribed to M. E. Wilkins begins with the words of the traditional lullaby, which are then followed by fourteen stanzas of more varied form. [16] Still another appears in the Franklin Square Song Collection for 1885 under the title "American Cradle Song" in a version by R. J. Burdette. [17] More lullabies followed in much the same format, including variations on the completely separate song "Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green" (Opie #23), [18] until the ultimate transformation into Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody from the musical Sinbad of 1918. [19]
In 1874 the sculptor Jules Dalou exhibited a terracotta statuette titled "Hush-a-bye Baby" at that year's Royal Academy exhibition. This portrayed a singing mother cradling her baby and seated in a rocking chair, with the rhyme’s first two lines quoted on the base. A commission followed in 1875 to carve the composition in marble. [20]
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. The character also appears in a pantomime tracing its roots to 1806.
A lullaby, or a cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for children. The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition. In addition, lullabies are often used for the developing of communication skills, indication of emotional intent, maintenance of infants' undivided attention, modulation of infants' arousal, and regulation of behavior. Perhaps one of the most important uses of lullabies is as a sleep aid for infants. As a result, the music is often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in many countries, and have existed since ancient times.
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Effie Crockett, also known as Effie I. Canning, also known as Effie C. Carlton, was an American actress. She is credited with having written and composed the lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby"; despite the words being in print in 1765.
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A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied in some cultures more than others, they appear to be universal in human society.
"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme of which there are early occurrences in the US and UK. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11284.
"Pease Porridge Hot" or "Pease Pudding Hot" is a children's singing game and nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19631.
Hot Cross Buns was an English street cry, later perpetuated as a nursery rhyme and an aid in musical education. It refers to the spiced English confection known as a hot cross bun, which is associated with the end of Lent and is eaten on Good Friday in various countries. The song has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13029.
"See Saw Margery Daw" is an English language nursery rhyme, folk song and playground singing game. The rhyme first appeared in its modern form in Mother Goose's Melody, published in London in around 1765. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13028.
"Bye, baby Bunting" is an English-language nursery rhyme and lullaby.
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Gammer Gurton's Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus, edited by the literary antiquary Joseph Ritson, is one of the earliest collections of English nursery rhymes. It was first published as a chapbook in 1784, but was three times reprinted in expanded editions during the following century, as were several unrelated children's books with similar titles. Gammer Gurton's Garland put into print for the first time some of our best-known nursery rhymes.
