At the risk of pre-empting Alice, and in response to Joe's request some lyrics for Rocking the Cradle are here .AndyG
Rocking The Cradle
It was the other night, sure I chanced to go roving,
Down by the clear river I wandered alone,
I heard an old man making sad lamentation,
About rocking the cradle and the child not his own.
When first that I married your inconstant mother,
- Oh the day, rue the day, Laddie lie easy,
Perhaps your own daddy will never be known,
I'm seein' and sighin' and rocking the cradle,
And nursin' the babbie that's none of my own.
I thought myself happy to be blessed with a wife,
But for my misfortune, sure I was mistaken,
She proved both a curse and a plague on my life.Every night she goes out on the Ran-tan,
Leaves me here rockin' the cradle alone,
The innocent Laddie, he calls me his daddy,
But little he knows that he's none of my own.Come all you young men that's inclined to get married,
Take my advice leave the women alone,
For by the Lord Harry, if ever you marry,
They'll give you a babbie and swear it's your own.
Trad: Irish ?
Steve Mayne