Anybody Ever Rock you To Sleep?

That is a sad one, Letty. My Mom liked the sad songs, too, but whenever I was sick and confined to my bed I'd ask her to sing this one:

Close your sleepy eyes,
My little Buckaroo.
While the light of western skies,
Is shinin' down on you.
Don't you know it's time for bed,
Another day is through.
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

Don't you realize,
My little Buckaroo,
That it was from a little acorn,
That the Oak tree grew?
And remember that Buffalo Bill
Was once a kid like you.
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

Oo, oo, oo, oo,
Soon you're gonna ride the range
Like grown up cowboys do
Now it's time that you were rounding
Up a dream or two
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

I can hear her singing that now. It must have been difficult for her because she loved to make pretty feminine things for me and I preferred boots and cowboy hats.

Ah, Raggedy. I know that one. Oh, my, I loved cowboy songs. Remember "Old Faithful" ? I was always and forever being a cowboy..

Another sad one my mother sang was "Darling Nellie Gray". She must have understood the horrors of slave days in the old South. I remember every word to that, even without looking it up. Quite sad.

Raggedy, Another sad type song. I'm trying to figure out "Bad Pitching" in the puzzle this week. I know the author of the quote, but I just

Can't figure out the quote. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Most moved by those lullabys

Steve, Nothing is more beautiful than the songs we learned via our mothers, or for that matter, our fathers.:



Darlin Nellie Gray



There's a low, green, valley on the old Kentucky shore
Where I've whiled many happy hours away,
Just a sitting and a singing by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nellie Gray

When the moon had climbed the mountain, and the stars were shining too
Then I'd take my darling Nellie Gray
And we'd go floatin down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play

One night I went to see her, but she's gone the neighbors say
And the white man had bound her with his chain
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane

Oh, my poor Nellie Gray, they have taken you away
And I'll never see my darling, anymore
I'm sitting by the river and a weeping all the day
For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore

Now my canoe is under water, and my banjo is unstrung
I am tired of living, anymore
My eyes shall be cast downward, and my songs will be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore

Now I'm getting old and feeble, and I cannot see my way
I can hear someone knocking on my door
I can hear the angels singing, and I see my Nellie Gray
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore


Oh, my darling Nellie Gray, up in heaven, so they say
And they'll never take you from me, anymore
I'm coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore

These aren't the words that I know, but all folk songs have a variation. The ones that I recall are more poignant.

must be getting old Letty, but thanks

My mother sang Down in the Valley to me, and I sang it to my daughter. She's a teen now, but still sometimes asks me to sing it...

Nah, Steve. It's the songs that are old. Handed down from generation to generation, they still hold the allure of Londonderry Air.

Oh, Danny Boy was a derivative of that, and I was told some time ago, that Danny Boy was not the original, either

Ah, Wy. Down in the valley...valley so low..late in the evening, hear that train blow. Hear that train blow, love. Here that train blow, late in the evening, hear that train blow. Wow! Write me a letter, send it by mail..send it in care of the Birmingham jail. Did I get that right?

Ah Nellie Gray is so sad. I never heard that one. Birmingham Jail sounds good, Letty, and you might want to add:

Writing this letter, with but three lines
Answer my question, will you be mine?
Will you be mine, dear, will you be mine?
Answer my question will you be mine?
(and sometimes these words are added:)
Roses love sunshine, violets love dew
Angels in Heaven, know I love you
Know I love you, dear, know I love you
Angels in Heaven know I love you.

Now, as for the "Pitching", don't think baseball, think "ads".

Oooh. I just thought of a couple more my Mom used to sing to me. I'll be back after I get the words together.

Raggedy, Those are the words that did not come to mind. Wow! You be good as always.

(worked it all, incidentally )

Here's another lullabye:

Here Come two dukes ariding, riding, riding,
Here come two dukes ariding with a ransom, tansom, tareyoh

What Are you riding Here for, here for, here for.
What are you riding here for with a ransom, tansom, tareyoh.

I'm riding here to get married, married, married,
I'm riding here to get married (repeat ransom,etc)

and on and on. Sheeeeze. If I wasn't asleep by the time Mama sang through all those verses, there weren't no hope

I'm trying to remember the words to Ma Curly Headed Baby. My Mom sang that a lot. I guess it was wishful thinking because my hair was straight as a poker. Anyway, I have a Paul Robeson recording of that song and I'm going to play it this evening.

Letty, those aren't the words I know... All the verses follow the pattern of the first...

Down in the valley,
Valley so low,
Hang your head over,
Hear the wind blow,
Hear the wind blow, love,
Hear the wind blow,
Hang your head over,
Hear the wind blow.

Build me a tower,
Forty feet high,
So I can see you,
As you ride by.

Roses are red, love,
Violets are blue,
Angels in Heaven
Know I love you.

Those are the only verses I knew, but I believe I'll add the ones I'm learning here!

In livelier moments, mom would sing "Doodle-dee Doo" -- Please play for me, that old melody, that goes doodle-dee doo, doodle-dee doo..." or "Pretty Baby" -- part of that goes, "Wont'cha come and let me rock you in my cradle of arms, we'll cuddle all night long... Wont'cha let me be your momma pappa brother sister too, Pretty Baby of mine!

Wy, I swear, it is totally amazing how words change over time and through the eyes of mothers who rock and sing and kiss wee bairns' heads. I know "Pretty Baby".

As I understand it "Rock-a-bye baby" was a song designed as a code during the Bloodless Revolution. I need to find out more about that. I never sang that to my kids, nor did my Mom sing it to me. Can you imagine a kid thinking that he/she would tumble down from tree branches?

ah, my. We've frightened Steve off with all this baby bonding. My goodness, Steve. Surely someone rocked you to sleep ....The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world? No, the hand that rocks the cradle simply does just that. <smile>

Maybe Steve fell asleep, Letty. :wink:

I just listened to Paul Robeson singing this one, and my eyes are drooping.

Oh my baby, my curly-headed baby
I'll sing you fast to sleep and lull you so as I sing.
Oh my baby, my curly-headed baby
Just tuck your head
Like little bird beneath its mother's wing
So lulla lulla lulla lulla bye bye
If you want the stars to play with
Or the moon to run away with
They'll come if you don't cry.
So lulla lulla lulla lulla bye bye
In your mother's arms be creeping
And soon you'll be asleep in lulla lulla lulla lulla bye.

Oh, and one more for the road:

Bye bye baby
Time to hit the road to dreamland
You're mine baby
Dig you in the land of nod
Hold tight baby
We'll be swinging up in dreamland
All night baby
Where the little cherubs trot
Well look at that knocked out moon
He's been a-blowing his top in the blue
Never saw the likes of you
Bye bye baby
Time to hit the road to dreamland
Don't cry baby
It was divine but the rooster has finally crowed
Time to hit the road

(Letty, don't forget to check out Rockabye Baby. I've always wondered where that song originated. )

Raggedy, I checked on the origin of the lullabye, and only found the same old..same old. Most English nursery rhymes/lullabyes do seem to be codes for a dissatisfied populace. It seems to me that the song had to do with James II and toppling his house. As I recall, the king had no heirs and attempted to smuggle a baby, secreted in a large bed warming pan, into the castle. The plot was foiled, however, and the King had to go into exile. William and Mary of Orange took the throne. Now this is all in my memory, so it may not be fact at all. When we think of the words to Rockabye Baby, it does make sense. "....down will come baby, cradle, and all...."

Or, from Google:



Note the word "reputed"!

Hey, Wy. It's really provocative when we don't know the exact origin of stuff. Yesterday marked the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death. Wow. What a lot of intriguing legends surround his demise.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13377&highlight=

Take a look, all, and see what you think.