Title and lyrics to an old lullaby

MY CURLY HEADED BABY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3hwbcu9HM

The Library of Congress American Memory Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rpbaasm&fileName=0200/0259/rpbaasm0259page.db&recNum=0

Hope that helps

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! I either never knew the verse or had forgotten it completely. I thought it was the wrong song at first. Paul Robeson's version was the closest to the the tune and words I remember - i.e. "lulla" being pronounced like the lulla in lullaby not 'loo-la". Thanks also for sending both sites...I appreciated seeing both! I have wondered about this song for years and finally put the question out there. You have made my day! Bless you!
evonne

My mother used to sing this to me in 1950s so I decided to look it up since I did not remember all of the words. I had forgotten the intro "my curly headed baby" part too. Thank you ! My mother pronounced it Loola !

Oh my God, My wonderful Auntie who raised me sang this to me and I've been searching for it ever since. Let me know if you find anymore on this.

Thanks for the links. I, too have searched for this old song, and was never able to find it. My mother's side of the family was French/creole, and I see that the song is labelled as both Creole & African-american. Her version, also sung to me back on the early 50s, used the 'loola-loola' variant. I see some words in her version were closer to the very oldest sheet music, but not all.
Here is her version, which I assume she learned from her own mother, who was born in the 1900s:
Oh, Ta loola loola loola loola bye bye
You can have the moon to play with
And the stars to run away with
If only you don't cry.
Oh, Ta loola loola loola loola bye bye
In your mama's arms she'll rock you,
And once again we'll sing this song,
Oh Ta loola loola loola loola bye (this line descended in pitch)
Oh, Ta loola loola loola loola bye (this line ascended, ending quite high).
I sang this part, which I realize now is only the chorus, to my own two children. The full song, once I heard it, did sound oddly familiar, but I suspect mother sang the full version only rarely, and forgot much of it as time went by.

My grandmother, in her 60's in the early 1940's, sang this song to us in Seattle. Also, we had a 78rpm record of a female artist, with orchestral accompaniment, who sang the melody and most of the lyrics (including the dialect) exactly as published in the Chappell & Co. sheet music in the Library of Congress web site. The record was badly worn and is now lost, but I copied it onto a cassette when I still had it. I do not remember the label information.

Bruce

OK, now I'm confused. I live in the UK and was a baby in the 1960s. This was the lullaby my mum sang to me - and it was definitely 'loola'. I sing it to my children now, but I'm intrigued as to how we ended up passing down a Creole lullaby!
Alison

Found your forum by putting "Do you want the moon to play with" into Google and am so pleased to have got some more of the lullaby. Does anyone know the name of the lullaby? I've been singing it to my first grandchild and just hum when I've run out of words! My mother sang it to me (she used loola) and was a great fan of Paul Robeson so maybe that's where it came from.

My Grandma sang it to me and she was Irish . I sang it to my daughter and my pets But I sing , loola loola baby in your mummy's arm's your sleeping. rather than creeping.

I have been writing my life story and I remember this lullaby. My Grandmother sang it to me 1935/6. ?? I was born Jan 1934

The song is.. 'Lulla lulla lulla bye bye, you've got the stars to run away with you've got the moon to role and play with. They will come if you don't cry so, lulla lulla lulla bye bye., in your mummy's arms your keeping in your daddy's arms your sleeping, they'll come if you don't cry'..... Assuming you know the much loved tune, my grandma would have learnt in the 1950s also and my father sang it to me. Enjoy.

The pronunciation of the Lulla' is Loola

The song was written in my Grandfathers' diary from WW1 1915, last page, he was an Australian Light Horse soldier who served in Turkey, Egypt and Palestine and his diaries are held in the Mitchell Library Sydney. Gordon Macrae. I wasn't sure of the origin, now the mystery is solved, thanks google. Thanks Evonne.

I've just found this thread searching for the origin of this lullaby. I'm singing it to my baby currently, my mum sang it to me & her mum to her. We live in the UK & only white British heritage as far as I know. I'm singing 'lula lula lula bye now, do you want the moon to play with, or the stars to run away with, they'll come if you don't cry. Lula lula lula bye now, in mummy's arms you're peeping, and soon you will be sleeping with a lula lullaby. - slightly different tune to the YouTube clip above but recognisable as the same song. I'm still confused about the exact origin though?

My mom sang this lullaby to me as a child and we sang it as adults together. I don't know where she got it, but assume from her mom who was from Lithuania or her dad from Pennsylvania and his parents were French and German. However the "lulla lulla etc" is actually just the repeated refrain, and there are multiple verses before it. I don't really want to write it all out, but it starts with "I see the Moon, the Moon sees me, the moon sees the one I want to see, it seems to me that God above, created you for me to love, He picked you ...."

My grandma used to sing this to my mum, who sang it to my boys, and I now sing it to my grandson! I looked it up once, and I'm sure it came from a musical in the 1920s featuring a coloured singer (hence the 'does you'), but I can't find that reference now. I've just listened to another version on Youtube, sung by British mums(!) but the words and tune are slightly different from what I remember. The version you've written is practically the same as the one I sing, which is:-

Sing, tulalula, lulalula bye-bye
Does you want the moon to play with?
Or the stars to run away with?
They'll come if you don't cry!
Singing tulalula, lulalula bye-bye,
In your mamma's arms you're creepin'
And soon you'll be a-sleepin'
Singing tula, lula, lula, lula, bye.

I've written 'tula' and 'lula' with one 'l' otherwise it would be pronounced tulla rhyming with colour!

I'm now editing this post because I've found the heavenly Paul Robeson singing it - but it's not exactly as I think the original was, and I'm sure the song is much earlier than 1948! Beautiful nonetheless.

Happy memories, eh! Long may we sing it!

Hello. My grandma used to sing this to my mother back in the 30s and my mother sang it to us and my children. Yes I agree Lulla is pronounced 'loola'.

The version she sang differs from the ones on the recordings I've heard but it sounds more authentic to me particularly with the connection with the plantation. The family in the song appears to be black and the 'coon' that the father worked for was a member of a political party/group called the Whigs, some of whom were 'planters'. They wore raccoon hats as a show their wealth and so were nicknamed 'coons. '

Oh my baby, my curly-headed baby
Your Mamma's in a rocking chair
Listen while I croon
Oh my baby, my curly-headed baby
Your fathers in the cotton field
Working for his coon.

So lulla, lulla, lulla, lulla bye bye
If you want the moon to play with
And the stars to run away with
They'll come if you don't cry
So lulla, lulla, lulla, lulla bye bey
In your Mamma's arms be creeping
And soon you'll be a sleeping babe
So lulla, lulla, lull, lulla bye bye.

Please let me know if this version rings a bell with any of you.

This is word for word what I remember I have sung this to my five grandchildren I was taught it at school inn in the 1960s I would love to be able to see the rest of this

The song is called Ma Curly-Headed Babby, and it is also commonly known as Lula Lula Lula Lula Bye Bye. It was written and composed by George Howard Clutsam in 1897. Clutsam was actually an Australian, but in the late 19th century he was exploring music in the style of the American Deep South when he wrote this lullaby. It was popular throughout the English- speaking world.

Clutsam died in 1851, around the same time as his lullaby was recorded and re-popularised by the singer (and American Football star!) Paul Robeson.

You can see a copy of the original song sheet on this page:

https://ozvta.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/clutsam-george-1912014.pdf