maybe instead of the juice being red, the apple is red? Unnecessary word added for the sake of a syllable in the line?

I've heard "laid in the shade" in reference to being buried under a tree. It also makes sense that "laid in the shade" could equal "made in the shade"..
I suppose if you wanted to contrive a storyline for the song, you could base it on the idea that the woman died in childbirth--cradle and rocking chair fit into that, but it seems like quite a stretch to me.