Lullaby Lyrics
Rock-A-Bye Baby – Lyrics
American Lullaby – author unknown
Rock-a-bye, baby
In 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
Baby is drowsing
Cozy and fair
Mother sits near
In her rocking chair
Forward and back
The cradle she swings
And though baby sleeps
He hears what she sings
From the high rooftops
Down to the sea
No one’s as dear
As baby to me
Wee little fingers
Eyes wide and bright
Now sound asleep
Until morning light
MP3 – Rock-A-Bye Baby
Rock-a-Bye Baby
Originally titled “Hushabye Baby”, this nursery rhyme is sometimes said to be the first poem written in America.
Although there is no evidence as to when the lyrics were actually written, it’s interesting that it may date to the 1600s. The story goes that a young pilgrim who sailed on the Mayflower wrote this widely loved song.
He was said to have observed native American women rocking their babies in birch-bark cradles.
They sometimes suspended those cradles from the branches of trees and allowed the rocking of the wind to help their baby fall asleep.
However, that is but one story. Another tradition credits the lullaby to a relative of Davy Crockett, nearly two centuries later.
MP3 – Rockabye Baby