Lyr Req: Baby Owlet

Subject: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 May 04 - 10:21 PM

Just bringing this out from the "baby needs a lullby" thread:

Subject: RE: baby needs lullabyes
From: GUEST,Jean - PM
Date: 23 May 04 - 07:24 PM

Looking and looking for lyrics to Baby Owlet. Can someone, Tinker? send them to me? Not sure how this forum works. First timer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 May 04 - 10:27 PM

Looks as though Tinker, Judy Cook, or Jean Ritchie will be your best bet! Click here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 May 04 - 11:46 PM

I have a song about an owlet. Mexican. Another one somewhere. Can you give more detail? You don't mean the Peggy Seeger "Chylde Owlet"?

(Isn't baby owlet redundant?)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: open mike
Date: 23 May 04 - 11:57 PM

are you sure this is not the Ook Pik waltz? there is a kid's book
about an owlet who goes on many adverntures...i believe Ook Pik is
owl in Inuit. (the "eskimo" language)
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20746#217934

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 May 04 - 12:49 AM

Q, is that the one you've listed in the Botsford Collection?

I hope Tinker sees this as she mentions it, as well as Guest,Jean mentions Tink, so it seems she must know it.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 May 04 - 09:48 PM

Kat, yes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Tinker
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 07:31 AM

I missed this, but I'll be back later today to post the words. I know Judy Cook has a couple of slight variations. I learnt it at Girl Scout Camp where the oral tradition caught and held a wide range of songs going back to 1918. I'm not sure where this one came from.

tinker

Subject: Lyr Add: BABY OWLET
From: GUEST,Kathryn Hall Allahyari
Date: 11 Jul 04 - 09:04 PM

Here's how I remember it (and sing it to my grandchildren). I learned it at Girl Scouts in the 1940/50s

^^ Baby Owlet,
Purple Owlet,
Singing as Moon shines above.

Baby Owlet,
Purple Owlet,
Singing as Moon shines above.

Won't you lend me your swift pinion?
Won't you lend me your swift pinion,
Won't you lend me your swift pinion,
That I may
Fly to my love.

That I may
Fly to my love.

Tetra coo, coo, coo
Tetra Coo, coo, coo
Tetra coo, coo coo
Baby Owlet
Poor little owlet
He is tired
from crying so.

If I were a
Baby Owlet
I would never steal away.
If I were a
Baby Owlet
I would never steal away.

Till my wings were strong and steady
Till my wings were strong and steady
Till my wings were strong and steady
Safe within
My nest I'd stay.
Safe witin
My nest I'd stay.

Then I usually sing it over again starting from "Tetra Coo, coo, coo
and keep going over it until the darlings fall asleep. Baby Owlet is one of their very favorite songs -- just wish I had some printed autority for the words!!

Always,
Kathryn Hall Allahyri
Mercer Island, WA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 04 - 09:35 PM

Apparently, there's a recording of a song called "Purple Owlet" in the Anne and Frank Warner Collection at the Library of Congress - but I can't find it in the Warner book, Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection. There's an MP3 here (click) by the late Richard Marley, and the lyrics are a close match to what Kathryn posted. Can't find the song in any of the usual songbook indexes. I also checked four Jean Ritchie songbooks, three Ruth Crawford Seeger songbooks, and a stack of Girl Scout songbooks.

Tinker, please post your version to complement Kathryn's.

-Joe Offer-

---

Here's a performance of "Baby Owlet by Slim Stevens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Bv1SMF2p4

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Celtaddict
Date: 11 Jul 04 - 11:44 PM

This has been a Girl Scout song for decades and I suspect is in one of the Girl Scout books, which I do not have at hand. Susan of DT knows lots of GS songs also. I learned it in Oklahoma in the 50s in a very similar form. As I recall, we sang "singing as dawn shines above" and "I would never fly away" and the refrain sounded rather like "tucker a kwah, kwah, kwah" but virtually the same.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Kathryn Hall Allahyari
Date: 12 Jul 04 - 12:14 AM

Yeah, you're right; actually, I sing it
"Singing as DAWN shines above" -

but decided a little while ago that "Dawn" didn't make much sense, while "Moon" did - (dawn doesn't shine; moon shines above) and the poor little baby owlet wouldn't make it alone all the way to Dawn - he would need comforting loooooooooonnng before that!

I typed it the "logical" way, thinking that I must have been singing it wrong all these 50+ years...........

Glad that someone else remembers it (and that I wasn't too far off - still wish I could see it in some songbook tho' - I've looked thru all my GS songbooks, but couldn't find it.   Sigh.

Thanx for bringing a smile to my face!

Always,
Kathryn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Celtaddict
Date: 12 Jul 04 - 09:27 AM

I have long thought that the chorus might not be nonsense nor even onomatopoetic (as we did not sing it as "coo" or "hoo") but possibly from another language. Could it be qua, qua, qua? Quois, quois, quois?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Judy Cook
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 07:42 PM

Yes, this is one of many I learned at GS Camp May Flather in the Virginia mountains in the 1960's. I sing the words as above with a few small changes. "Dawn" instead of "Moon", plural "pinions", "I would never fly away" instead of "I would never steal away", and the "tekkera kwow kwow kwow" (no idea how to spell it) chorus. I understood it to be a Mexican lullabye.

Thanks to Joe for pointing me to this thread.

--Judy Cook

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 07:52 PM

Alternate version from my wife who learned it at camp (where else):

Baby Owlet, poor little owlet,
Singing as the night wind blows.
Baby Owlet, poor little owlet,
Singing as the night wind blows,
Singing coo coo coo coo coo,
Singing coo coo coo coo coo,
Singing coo coo coo coo coo,
Baby Owlet, poor little Owlet,
He's crying so.

The tune is ineffably sad.

Bob Coltman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 08:39 PM

Well sure- Owls sleep during the daytime, so "Singing as dawn shines above," makes sense- it's a lullabye before going to sleep. I'm for "dawn," and that's how I first heard it. My older sister Kitty was a girl scout leader- she probably brought it to us from scout camp, in the early 1930s. So, we're all pretty well agreed on the source. Our chorus went,

Te-coura coo-ah, coo-ah, coo-ah (imitates the owl's call)
Te-coura coo-ah, coo-ah, coo-ah
Te-coura coo-ah, coo-ah, coo-ah
That I may fly to my love, etc.

No Joe, I never recorded this, nor published it, just sang it-to many many kids, and for my own pleasure.   Jean

Subject: Add: Tecolotito (The Owlet)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 09:39 PM

The song posted by Kathryn Hall Allahyari is a Mexican song. 'Purple Owlet' also is in the song.

TECOLOTITO
^^
Tecolotito morado,
Pajaro madrugador.
Me prestaras tus alitas (3x)
Para ir a ver a mi amor. (2x)

Tecuru cua, cua, cua, (3x)
Pobrecito Probecito tecolotito,
Y se cansa de llorar.

Si yo fuero tecolote,
No me lanzaría a volar.
Me quedara en mi nitido (3x)
Y acabándome de criar. (2x)

THE OWLET

Baby owlet, purple owlet,
Singing as dawn shines above,
Won't you lend me your swift pinions (3x)
That I may fly to my love? (2x)

Tecuru kwa, kwa, kwa, (3x)
Poor little owlet, poor little owlet,
It is tired from crying so.

If I were a little owlet,
I would never steal away;
Till my wings were strong and steady, (3x)
Safe within my nest I'd stay. (2x)

Mexican traditional. Botsford, Florence H., 1922, Songs of the Americas, G. Schirmer, NY. With music, pp. 86-88.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: MAG
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 12:08 AM

It's a small point, but that is probably "pobrecito" above -- "poor little" -- I hear mothers say it to their unhappy children often.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Sep 04 - 09:44 AM

MAG is correct- pobrecito, poor little (masc.). The text in Botsford is in error- a misprint as 'probecito.'

Subject: ADD: El Tecolote (The Owl)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 07:55 PM

The song is found in more than one form. The following waltz version originally was from the State of Michoacan.


EL TECOLOTE (THE OWL)

Tecolote, ?qué haces hay
Sentado en esa pared?
Tecolote, ?qué haces hay
Sentado en esa pared?
Esperando a mi tecolota,
Esperando a mi fiel esposa;
Esperando a mi tecolota,
Que me traiga de comer.
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Tecolote de Guadiana,
Pâjaro madrugador,
?Quién tuviera tus alitas,
!Quién tuviera tus alitas,
Quién tuviera tus alitas
Para ir a ver a mi amor,
Para ir a ver a mi amor!
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Pobrecito tecolote
Ya se cansa de llorar;
Si yo fuera tecolote,
No me ocuparía en volar;
Me estaría en mi nitido,
Me estaría en mi nitido
Acabándome de criar,
Acabándome de criar.
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Tecolote, what are you doing there,
Seated on that wall?
Tecolote, what are you doing there,
Seated on that wall?
I'm waiting for my Tecolota,
Waiting for my faithful wife;
I'm waiting for my Tecolota,
Who brings me something to eat.
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Tecolote from Guadiana,
Early rising bird,
Would that I had your little wings,
Would that I had your little wings,
Would that I had your little wings,
To go to see my love,
To go to see my love!
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Poor little Tecolote,
He is already tired of weeping.
If I were a tecolote,
I would not bother about flying,
I would remain in my little nest,
I would remain in my little nest,
Just finished breeding,
Just finished breeding.
Te cu ru cú.
Te cu ru cú.

Tempo di Valse Lento. With music (not the same as "Tecolito"), pp. 421-422, Frances Toor, 1947 (1964), "A Treasury of Mexican Folkways," Crown Publishers, New York.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Tinker
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 10:24 PM

My computer has been freezing and otherwise not co-operating lately. I learnt the song in the 1970's at Camp Bonnie Brae in East Otis Massachusetts. The words I learnt were almost identical to Q's September 8th post. We sang the second section as a chorus and it had become Tetra Kwa Kwa Kwa (3x)
            Baby Owlet, poor little owlet
            He is tired from crying so.

It was refered to as a "forth encampment song" The camp has been in continuous operation since 1918, and it was considered "one of the old ones" that was still used at closing ceremonies and of course as a lullabye to get campers to sleep.

Thanks Q for giving me a time frame for when it might have joined the song lists.

tinker

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 12:09 AM

I have been trying to find more information on this old Mexican song, but it is difficult. "El Tecolote" is the name of countless hotels, inns and watering holes, and thus trying to 'google' is a pain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 01:40 AM

The song "El Tecolotito," The Little Owl, has been collected in New Mexico-Colorado, sung in Spanish. Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande, The Juan B. Rael Collection, American Memory.
To listen, enter 'El Tecolotito' in Search: Search

"El Tecolote" was recorded as early as 1908-1909 by a Mariachi group (available on a cd from Amazon.co.uk).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 05:00 AM

We now have two versions of the tune posted (links up top and with the lyrics), and Q pointed out a recording at the Library of Congress (click). Is this the same tune as the "Baby Owlet/Purple Owlet" song you Girl Scouts learned?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Tinker
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 09:49 AM

Joe, Q's September 8th link matches the tune I learnt. It is much, much slower than the file as my computer played it, but it is the same melody. Think lullabye. Judy Cook and I have sung it together, so I know her version is close if not identical.

tinker

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 02:08 PM

Since owlet (tecolotito) is a baby owl, need I add that 'baby owlet' is redundant.

I guess there are girl scouts only in the States; girl guides elsewhere.

Is there a Girl Guides Songbook on line? A Guides Songbook used to be on sale- is one still available?

Do Canadian Girl Guides sing about baby ookpiks?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Tinker
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:20 PM

Singapore Girl Guide Songs

Canadian Girl Guide songs

Q, unfortunately the official song book through out history only provide a common base. As I've tried to track the sources of the 114 songs I was taught and copied into a personal songbook as a Counselor in training in 1973, I've discovered that putting oral tradition into the hands of 12-24 year old young women means that the popular songs of the day often become "traditional" in 20 or 30 years. (ie: Debbie Reynolds "Dreamer" from the movie Tammy)

I've found songs from the entire 50 year history of the camp that don't go back into the song book. There are still songs I've yet to find but that I can now musically trace to approximate time periods.

Tinker

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Tinker
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:40 PM

Extensive list of scout song lists

Subject: Lyr Add: TECOLOTE
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 08:20 PM

Another version from Central America, just one verse.

ADD: TECOLOTE

Tecolote de Guadeña
Pájaro madrugador!
Me prestarás tus alitas,
Me prestarás tus alitas,
Para ir a ver mi amor,
Para ir a ver mi amor!

Ticuri-cu-ay-cu-ay-cu-ay!
Ticuri-cu-ay-cu-ay-cu-ay!
Pobrecito tecolote ya se cansa de llorar.
The little tecolote wearies of its crying now.

Listen to the tecolote,
Birdie of the rosy dawn,
Take me on your feathery winglets,
To my dearest love far away!
To my dearest love far away!

Notes- Central America. In parts of Central America, the owl is supposed to have miraculous powers.
Ms Hague often left out succeeding verses in longer songs and may have left out verses here. At the time, she found it difficult to get around in Mexico (think of Villa, Zapata, the Federales, the Old Gringo).
No. 73, p. 97 with music, Collected by Eleanor Hague, 1917 (rep. 1976, Kraus), The American Folk-Lore Society, C. E. Stechert & Co. NY.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 08:23 PM

Left out book title- "Spanish-American Folk-Songs."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Kaleea
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 03:21 AM

I have sung a lovely song by that title & as I recall, the first line is "Lullaby my baby owlet . . ." anybody remember that one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 31 May 05 - 06:06 AM

Just stumbled on this page. Doubt if anyone will read my post, so many months late, but what the heck.
This is the lullaby my mom sang to me. The words she sang were:

Baby owlet, purple owlet, crying as the stars go by. (x2)
Oh won't you lend me your swift pinions
won't you lend me your swift pinions (x2)
that I may, fly to my love.
Tacker a coo coo coo (x3)
Baby owlet, poor little owlet,
you are tired, from crying so.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: open mike
Date: 31 May 05 - 02:18 PM

yes they might read your post,
because any time yo add to a thread it
jumps back up to the top of the list...
for all to see!
hoot!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 12:26 PM

It's good to know this song is actually on the internet now. My mother used to sing it to me. She learned it from her mother, who learned it from Girl Scouts. However, she always sung it as "Little owlet" not "Baby owlet". By the way, what is a pinion?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 02:01 PM

In birds:
The terminal section of a bird's wing including the carpus, metacarpus, and phalanges; broadly, the wing.
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Also applied to the flight feathers, and to a quill.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Ellen in Conn
Date: 08 Oct 06 - 11:41 AM

I learned this song from my much-older sisters in the mid-60's. They didn't like to sing it to me because it made me cry, but I loved it, anyway. When my children were born I remembered all that I could and sang it to them that way. I have just played one of the above piano renditions, and my younger one, age 17, says it's wrong. But what does she know? I taught it to her wrong! Thanks for the extra words, everyone, so I can sing it "wrong to my grandchildren, someday.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Serenity Hamlin
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 03:21 PM

My mother always sang that to us, but the words were a bit different.

She always sang:

Baby owlet, poor little owlet
Singing as the sun doth shine (repeat)

Won't you send me your sweet pinion (and then she'd sing another verse with "won't you send me your sweet kisses)

It was our favourite lullaby when we were young and I always sang it to the babies when I was a nanny.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 04:47 AM

On the other hand, you might try Child Owlet; the ballad where the irate father serves up the heart of his daughter's lover to her in a bowl, in revenge for her disobedience - but that's probably not the one you're looking for.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 10:36 PM

Jim Carroll: I believe you have mistaken your atrocity. Child Owlet (Child 291) is the one in which the lady contrives to get a man torn apart by horses for refusing to commit incest with her.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 05:29 PM

Joe F,
I have; the one I quoted was Lady Diamond (sounds equally harmless, doesn't it?
Thanks for that.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,JW
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 11:34 AM

I am seeking lyrics from a song used in a children's play based on "Hiawatha's Childhood" by Longfellow. Can anyone help me? One of the lines is "Hush-a-bye, my little owlet; many voices sing to thee."
Thanks for any leads!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Weebairn
Date: 27 May 07 - 02:42 PM

I know this is late, but I have a few more lines to the "Hiawatha's Childhood" song, my Mother used to sing it to me

Hushabye my little owlet
Many voices sing to thee
Hushaby the waters rushing
Hush replys the old pine tree

Ta whoo, Ta whoo, Ta whoo (spelling on this part is iffy at best!)

Sorry this is all I can remember and my dear Mother passed on a few years back. I was looking for more lyrics to this myself.

Sincerely,

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Weebairn
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 09:45 AM

Okay, I'm back, found additional lyrics on another thread here

Hushabye, my little owlet,
Many voices sing to thee.
Hushabye the water whispers,
Hush replies the tall pine tree.
Too hoo (this is pronunciation, I don't know how to spell it)
Too hoo
Too hoo

Weep no more, my little owlet,
In thy lofty swaying nest.
Weep no more, my little owlet,
Close your eyes and take thy rest.
Too hoo
Too hoo
Too hoo

This was posted by Grandma Liz (thank you!)

Also found mention of a song Hush a bye owlet on a CD by Big Smith called from Hay to Zzzzzz available here http://www.mayapplerecords.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CD0104&Category_Code=

don't know if this is the same song but it is billed as Hillbilly Lullabyes so maybe.

I'm not giving up!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 10:22 PM

As my mom sang it to me...

Hushabye my Little Owlet
In thy mossy swaying nest
With thy little woodland brothers
Close thine eyes and take thy rest.

Too hooo
too hooo
too hooo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: open mike
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 12:15 AM

pinion or piñon
(with an enye the spanish letter n with a tilda-=squiggle above it)
is a pine tree that produces the pine nut or pignolia....

oh i now see the context that it was used in...anatomical bird wing...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: toadfrog
Date: 05 Jul 09 - 07:05 PM

I finally found the song I was looking for; it is not one of the ones above. We lived in Santa Fe, and she sang in Spanish although that was not her native language.

Tecolotito orguloso
Tecolotito orguloso
Que haces in ese Sotillo
Que haces in ese Sotillo
Hoo?

Cu, curu cu, cu, cu,
Pobrecito animalito
Tiene hambre tecolotito,
Hoo!

Mirando los borachitos
Mirando los borachitos
Empinarse la botella
Empinarse la botella
Hoo!

Cu, curu [etc.]

In Mary van Stone and Alice Corbin, Spanish Folk Songs of New Mexico (1926). The translation in the book is impossibly strained. It more or less keeps the scansion but not the meaning of the Spanish words.
I understand the chorus "cu, curu, etc." means both a sound an owl makes and something a mother would say to a baby. And the verses are full of diminutives that are a little hard to translate:

Proud little owl,
What are you doing in the [cute little] thicket, Hoo?

I am watching the [cute little] drunks
Tip the bottle. Hoo!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Shoes Are Soled at the . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 01:47 PM

Does anyone remember the song "Little Shoes are Soled at the Doorway to Heaven" from Girl Scout camp?

I've LOVED reading the discussion thread about "Little Owlet." Now that I have a grandson to sing to, I'm trying to dredge up old songs from the "deep file" of my brain!

Carolyn W. in Milwaukee

Subject: Lyr. Add> Tecolote (Central America)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 04:25 PM

Toadfrog, thanks for posting the little Spanish-American song.
Here is another, Central America. The singer, Señorita Luz Gonzales Donal, says the Tecolote is a species of little owl, supposed in parts of Central America to have miraculous powers.

Lyr. Add: Tecolote

Tecolote de Guadafia,
Pájaro magrugador!
¡Me prestarás tus alitas,
Me prestaráa tus alitas,
Me prestatrás tus alitas,
Para ir a ver mi amor,
Para ir a ver mi amor!

¡Ti-cu-ricu-ay-cu-ay-cu-ay! (3X)
Pobrecito tecolote ya se cansa de llorar.

Listen to the Tecolote,
Birdie of the rosy dawn.
Take me on your feathery winglets,
Take me on your feathery winglets,
Take me on your feathery winglets,
To my dearest love far away,
To my dearest love far away.

Last line following repeated cry-
The little Tecolote wearies of its crying now.

With musical score. No. 73, Ed. Eleanor Hague, 1917, "Spanish-American Folk-Songs," The American Folk-lore Society, vol. X; reprint Kraus Reprint Co., 1976.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 04:43 PM

Translation (literal) of the little song posted by Toadfrog-
Tecolotito orguloso...

Proud little owl,
Proud little owl,
Who lives in the little grove,
Who lives in the little grove,
Hoo?

Cu, curu cu,cu,cu,
Poor little animal,
The little owl is hungry,
Hoo!

Look at the drinker
Look at the drinker
Drinking much from the bottle,
Drinking much from the bottle,
Hoo!

Of course 'borachito' means drinking just like a drunkard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 04:59 PM

I should have put "little drinker."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 12:10 AM

Carolyn W. in Milwaukee: If you want to request a different song than the one being discussed here, it's best to start a separate thread.

Accordingly, I have started one for you: Lyr Add: Do-do (Spanish lullaby) 'Little shoes...'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Mary Canning
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 08:30 AM

Thanks for so much great information on this song. Tinker, I learned it at Edith Newell in the 60s, and for the life of me could not remember the first verse. Must admit, it still doesn't sound familiar. I guess flying to my lover was a low priority at that age. As the eldest of 6 though, I sang it all the time to my baby sisters as a lullaby.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 06:33 PM

Can anyone at all direct me to a site or book that has the music (ideally chords) for this song? My mother sang this song to me when I was a child, and now I want to sing it (with accompaniment) to my kids. Thank you for the help!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,cohyde
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 03:26 AM

My mother probably learned it as a Girl Scout in MO. She was a GS from the time she was 7 in 1930 until her death in 1988. She sang it to me and I to my children. Always a favorite. Our version:

Baby Owlet,
Poor wee Owlet,
Crying as dawn shines above.

Baby owlet,
Poor wee owlet,
Crying as dawn shines above.

Won't you lend me your swift pinions?
Won't you lend me your swift pinions,
Won't you lend me your swift pinions,
That I may
Fly to my love.

That I may
Fly to my love.

Tequera qua, qua, qua
Tequera qua, qua, qua
Tequera qua, qua, qua
Poor wee owlet
Poor little owlet
It is tired
from crying so.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Wacky Orb
Date: 19 May 11 - 12:53 AM

It's a treasured family favorite by way of Mom's camp days.
I really wish I could find the chords for guitar.
It would be the icing on the cake at the next family campfire.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 05:01 PM

I remember this song! Can anyone help me find the words to the old lullaby we sang in Girl Scouts: Braves, they are riding, they are riding, in the sky, Braves, see them riding as their pawnee ponies fly.."" and on. Thank you!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 08:58 PM

Guest, please post as a new thread. Your request will reach many more readers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet/Braves
From: GUEST,Sqrlwmn
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 12:45 AM

I was surprised no one had posted the "Braves" lyrics. I never saw the words, only sang at campfires. Lyrics learned that way tend to morph a little, so I don't know how my version matches the way it was written. It was one of our favorites in the 1960's and I sang it many a time to my children.

Braves, they are riding, they are riding in the sky
Braves, they are riding, as their Pawnee ponies fly.

Steeds, they are silver, they are silver as the moon
And with the dawning, in the distance, vanish soon

Swift o'er the heavens, o'er the heavens, never slow
Then in the morning, o'er the mountains they must go

Come little warrior, squaw is calling, chief is nigh
And while you're dreaming, braves will watch you from the sky

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Aug 12 - 10:43 PM

My mother was a Girl Scout and Brownie Leader, Waterfront Director at camp in Wisconsin starting in the late 1920's and she always sang "Baby Owlet" to us as a lullaby. It was my favorite and my brother and I made her sing it to us every night for years when we were small. The lyrics were very similar to those posted above, but with a few minor variations. Later when I took French in high school, I was convinced that this must have been originally a French lullaby, because 'purple' in English sounds a lot like 'poor' in French and 'poor' makes more sense. Also, the chorus 'Tetra Quoi Quoi Quoi' sounds a lot like the French words for 'Maybe.. why, why why?' Perhaps this lullaby was popular in both France and Spain at one time, which would account for the variations in wording. Here are the lyrics my mother sang:

Baby Owlet, Purple Owlet,
Singing til dawn Shines Away

Baby Owlet, Purple Owlet,
Singing til dawn Shines Away

Won't you lend me your swift pinions?
Won't you lend me your swift pinions?
Won't you lend me your swift pinions?

That I may fly to my love.
That I may Fly to my love.

Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Poor wee owlet
Poor little owlet
Is tired from crying so.

If I were a baby owlet
I would never steal away.

If I were a baby owlet
I would never steal away.

Til my wings were strong and steady
Til my wings were strong and steady
Til my wings were strong and steady

Safe within my nest I'd stay
Safe within my next I'd stay.

Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Tetra quoi quoi quoi
Poor wee owlet, poor little owlet...
is tired from crying so.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,Penelope
Date: 03 Aug 13 - 04:11 PM

So excited to see all of these posts! Can anyone link to a recorded version? My mother sang this to me as a lullaby. I think she learned it while working as a camp counselor at Birch Trail in Wisconsin in the early seventies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jan 14 - 09:57 AM

There's a mp3 here: http://friendsofeic.org/book/4camp/camp_24.htm
I don't agree with them on the words, but the tune is right except a few notes.
If it helps anyone track it, my mom sang it to me as a lullaby in the 50s. I never heard it in Girl Scouts. But my mom was a Girl Scout in Minnesota in the 30s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 09:15 PM

Another verse
Hush a bye my little outlet
Through the tints of pale moonshine
With His Great eye watching ore you
Rest and sleep till morning light. Toowoo two woo too woo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Owlet
From: GUEST,G
Date: 13 Jul 19 - 05:25 PM

In the story of how Corra Linn on the River Clyde got it"s name we find that Corra, the youngest and at the time unmarried daughter of Malcolm king of Scotland, then an aged man, around the year 1005AD would be soothed to sleep by her harping and singing his favourite lullaby yeclept "The Howlet" [Owl]
This Malcolm was of course the grandfather of Duncan and MacBeth who were cousins.

Not any connection to the matter in hand but may be of some historical interest.