Rock A Bye Baby Lyrics
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. 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 Cosy 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 Rock a bye baby Do not you fear.
- Rock-A-Bye Baby DESCRIPTION: The nursery rhyme: 'Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.' Folk versions often add more.
- Rock a bye Baby in 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. Baby is drowsing, cozy and fair Mother sits near in her rocking chair Forward and back the cradle she swings Though baby sleeps, he hears what she sings. Rock a bye Baby, do not you fear.
- Lyrics to 'Rock-A-Bye Baby' by Lullabies and Children's Songs. Rock a bye baby on the treetop When the wind blows the cradle will rock When the bough breaks the cradle will fall And don will come baby cradle and all.
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Rock a Bye Baby Lyrics
Rock a bye baby, in 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
[Note: If you would prefer more soothing lyrics, please visit our new lyrics for a more comforting version.
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Background
There is not a clear history for this famous lullaby so there is plenty of speculation. What we do know is that the first published version appeared in 1765.
The clearest explanation we have found is that it reflects the observations of a pilgrim boy in America who saw native Indian women place their babies in birch bark cradles which they hung from trees so that the wind would gently rock them to sleep. Some versions use “Hush a bye” instead of 'Rock a Bye” in the title and verse.
Another story says the song originated from a family that lived in a huge tree in England.
Rock A Bye Baby Lyrics Anne Marie
In the end, all we really know is that the song is over 250 years old and has been sung to English speaking babies for generations.
Rock-a-bye Baby Lyrics
Other Lullabies for Babies
Notes
Rock A Bye Baby Lyrics Nursery Rhyme
Here's the version from A Book for Bairns and Big Folk, Children's Rhymes, Games, Songs, and Stories (1904), by Robert Ford:
Hush-a-by Baby on the Tree Top
Hush-a-by 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 cradle and baby and all.
Ford wrote, 'This is a rhyme which 'every child has joyed to hear.' Its origin, as told in the records of the Boston (U.S.) Historical Society, is not more curious than beautiful and significant. 'Shortly after our forefathers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts (I am quoting), a party were out in the fields where the Indian women were picking strawberries. Several of the women, or squaws as they were called, had papooses - that is babies - and, having no cradle, they had them tied up in Indian fashion and hung from the limbs of the surrounding trees. Sure enough, when the wind blew these cradles would rock! A young man of the party observing this, pulled off a piece of bark and wrote off the above words, which is believed to be the first poetry written in America.'
Another Theory about the Origins of this Song:
(from Wikimedia)
Betty Kenny (Kate Kenyon) and her charcoal burner husband Luke lived in the Shining Cliff Woods in the late 1700's in a huge yew tree that is said to be 2000 years old. Their house was formed within the tree, probably with a turf roof. They raised 8 children, and are said to have used a hollowed-out bough of the tree as a cradle. Local legend suggests that this is the origin of the nursery rhyme 'Rock-a-bye-Baby'.