Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 14 - 04:34 PM

Wow, I was trying to remember this lullaby, my grandparents used to sing me in the 70s, 43 now
It was the Tura ra lur ah bit I kept remembering, but now the rest starts to come back. I thought of it because I work in a nursery now, keep passing it on. What a lovely thread.

thanks all

Carol,
From Leeds, Yorkshire, England

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Chas
Date: 14 Jan 14 - 03:21 PM

Go to sleep my bonny little baby,
mamma's going to smack you if you don't.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,7th generation Texan
Date: 13 Oct 12 - 04:30 AM

My family has passes this song down through at least 5 generations. Our version goes,

Go to sleep my little bitty baby
Brer fox gonna getcha if you don't
Slumber on the bosom of your ole mammy jinny
Mommas go getcha if you don't
Tur ra lur ah lur ah lur ah
Underneath the starry skies above
Hushabye, don't you cry
Mommas little baby
Mommas little picaninny goo goo goo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Guest,,USA
Date: 15 Jul 12 - 08:36 PM

My family has sung the "Go to Sleep My Baby/Wyoming Lullaby" song for generations. They were not sung to us or written using any terms like "picaninnie, mammie, or coon", maybe they were added as a southern variation. Thank You.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Dereen, Melbourne Australia
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 06:18 AM

I am 62, and my mother and Grandmother both sang it thus:

Go to sleep, my baby. Close those big blue eyes.
Angels watching over you, peeking from the corners of the skies.
Great big moon is shing, stars beign to peep;
And it's time for our Dereenie to go to sleep.

(I change the eye colour and name for my own Grandchildren)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: Bert
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 08:44 AM

Here's one my Dad used to sing us to sleep with. Not PC now though.

There's a mighty heap of trouble brewing down in Tennesee,
and it's all about a little yellow coon.
Now this little pickaninny was as black as he could be
on the morn that he was born the first of June.
Now the cause of this commotion was the fact the other night,
exactly in the fullness of the moon,
this little pickaninny changed his color from black to white,
and in the morn they found a little yellow coon.

Sitting by the fire in his Mammy's arms
as she sings to him this tune
Honey don't you cry, wipe your shiny eye,
There's going to be a little yellow coon.
Never mind your color if your heart ain't black,
better days are coming soon,
Honey don't you cry, wipe your shiny eye,
There's going to be a little yellow coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Neal Anderson
Date: 21 Jan 12 - 10:14 PM

here is the version I learned and sang to my kids:they call it
"The Peep Song"

Go to sleep my Baby
Close Your dreamy Eyes
Angels up above you
Are watch-in on my honey
From the Skies.
Great Big Moon M Shining,
Stars Begin to Peep
Time for Little one's Like you dear
To go to sleep.
That's my one my only Lullaby

Some times sing it twice , but my kids would come to me and ask Daddy can you sing the pee song to me lol they called it that because of the one word peep in the song lol cute lil thing kids do it was a sweet favorite of them when they were little , hope that helps Neal

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,susiemuse
Date: 04 Dec 11 - 10:56 AM

I didn't expect to find it. My mother sang it to me over 70 years ago. she used to make up lyrics when I was screaming with colic, to keep herself awake and peaceful - so to speak. "Go to sleep, my baby, or I'll bat you in the jaw, /Angels up above you, are smiling down so kindly on your Maw." As Rosalie Sorrels always said, you can sing anything in a sweet voice and it will calm a baby.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Lindsay
Date: 19 Oct 11 - 12:00 PM

I thought it was just me that remembered these songs, my Nana used to sing them to me till about the age of 13 !! But my favorite, and I don't see this one on here at all, was called 'Only a Rosebud'...does anyone remember that?
Very sad song, I remeber the words, if any one recalls it, let me know and I will post them.
Lindsay x

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 12:47 AM

It just goes to show how a lullaby endures. My mum and grandma used to sing it to me as a child in Singapore and I have sung it to my children and grandchildren in Australia. I feel Chinese Whispers had something to do with this version:

Go to sleep my baby
close your pretty eyes
Angels are above you
peeping from the dreary, dreary skies
Great big moon is shining
Stars are twinkling bright
Time for little piccaninnies
to say goodnight.
Moira, Perth, Western Australia

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,great grandma
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 06:26 PM

My grandma sang Go to sleep my little piccaninny and Go to sleep my baby when I was 3 in 1938 also I's a coon, a little burglar coon. I calls on you when the nights are black etc. Wonderful memories

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Marion in oz
Date: 22 May 11 - 07:03 PM

This is an old thread folks, but here is the version my northamptonshire granne sang to me in rhodesia way back in the 50's

Loo a loo, my little picaninny,
Underneath the birght and shining moon,
Hushaby rockaby, Mama's little baby,
Mama's little lala bala coon

Go to sleep my little picaninny,
Prairie fox will catch younif you don't
Hushaby, rockaby, Mama's little baby
Mama's little lala bala coon

I was only about 3 when she used to sing to me and pat me when I was wakeful, so words are probably a bit jumbled.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Mairi, Scotland
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 04:15 PM

My mum used to sing this to me when I was wee and her mum sang that to her. I am now learning to sing it to my baby. These are the words she has taught me.

When the sun is setting in Wyoming
When the sky of blue has turned to gold
In my dreams I can hear the organ play
In my dreams I can see the children play

By the cabin door I see my mammy
with a little baby on her knee
And I sing/hear that Wyoming Lullaby
Mammy used to sing to me

Go to sleep my bab
Close your pretty eyes
Shadows of the evening
Stealing pretty baby cross the sky

Great big moon is shining
Stars begin to peep
Time for little piccaninnes (sp) to go to sleep

piccaninny time to go to sleep

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,sophie
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 09:36 PM

Just type 'Go to Sleep My Baby' into iTunes and its there!!

This is what my nan sang to me only a few years ago :)

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels up above you
Peeping at you gently from the skies
Great big moon is shining
Stars begin to peep
Time for little (my name) to go to sleep

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,TIPPETT M W (New Zealand)
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 10:39 PM

Being deaf I may have the words wrong but this is the version I seen to have in my memory from about the 1950's on:

Go to sleep my little picanninie
Mama's going to smack you if you don't
Right on the bottom of your old panannine (this would mean a nappy or baby pants)
Mr Fox will get you if I don't
Lu la lu la lu la lu la lulu
Right down on the other side of the moon
Hush a bye, don't you cry, Mama's little baby
Mama's little piccanninie coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 10 - 05:05 PM

Here was my family's version:

Alabama coon,
'adn't been born very long
'member the great big round moon?
And that old sweet song?
Well my papa was down in the cotton fields
where I rolled and I tumbled in the sun
while my pappy picked cotton my mammy watched me grow
and this am this song she sung:

Go to sleep, my little pickaninny
'fraid a fox'll catch you if you don't
slumber on the bosom of your old mammy ginny
'fraid a fox'll catch you if you don't.

Lu la lu, la lu la lu la lu,
Underneath that silvery southern moon
rock-a-bye, hush-a-bye
mammy's little baby
mammhy's little Alabama coon.

This was my favorite lullaby as a child. Being innocent, I had no idea it had so many slurs in it, but it's so sweet, and I want to think that it's history was something beautiful, hopefully, something written in love by a slave mother for her child. I hope it wasn't just written by some white dude trying to make slave life out to be a cozy little existence. I think I'll still sing it to my babies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Winnie
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 02:45 AM

My mother sang this version of the Sandman to me in the 30's and I have taught it to all of my 5 children who now sing it to theirs.
"The Sandman"
Here Comes the Sandman
Tripping so lightly
He runs along on the tips of his toes
He scatters the sand
with his own little hand
In the eyes of the sleepy children.

Go to sleep, my Baby'
Close your sleepy eyes
The lonely moon is watching
From out the darkened skies
The little stars are peeping
To see if you are sleeping.

Go to sleep, my baby
Close your sleepy eyes

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 05:55 PM

i'm so happy having found this thread and reading through everyones comments. my grandmother would often sing songs to me as a child and one of my fondest memories of her is her singing me to sleep with this lullaby and i could never remember the complete lyrics, she was from yorkshire and passed away several years ago and i've never known the origin or heard the song since but having browsed for a little while i have just purchased the sweetest version of it sung by the beverley sisters on amazon.........for my lovely nana mary.. this ones for you xxxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,guest, Orma
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 11:34 PM

I always thought my grandmother had made this lullaby up for us, but googled it just to see if it was based on a real lullaby. She was English bought up in India, so I thought it might have come from there. Her variation was

Go to sleep my little piccaninnie
Brer Fox will catch you if you don't
Slumber on the shoulder of your old (substitute your name/title here but she sang 'nonna Beryl' which is what we called her)
(nonna)'s going to kiss you if you don't.

followed always by two kisses!

I guess she was toning it down for us...but I will stick to her version because it has such happy memories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jul 10 - 08:45 AM

This thread is superb! My dad sang this to my sister and I, as it was sung to him by my grandmother. Our version has one slight variation:

Go to sleep
My little pickaninny
Br'er fox is gonna getcha if ya don't
Slumber on the bosom of your ole' Mammy Jenny
Mammy's gonna smack ya if ya don't
L'loo, l'loo
Underneath the silvery, southern, moon
Rockabye, hushabye,
Mammy's little baby
Mammy's little Alabama coon

He also sang us this one:

Oh, the little dog barked at the big round moon
As it rose in the eastern sky
He said, "I'm a terror, although I am small
And I dare you, you impudent fellow to fall,"
But the moon only smilled and smiled
The moon only smiled and smiled

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Rose
Date: 07 Mar 10 - 12:38 PM

my Mother sang this to me when I was 3 1/2 just before she died in 1948, I thought it was Alaballa coon , and she sang ---hush a bye , don't you cry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 07:21 AM

Hi. I'n a Kiwi living in PNG since 1986 in Lae. My father sang a similar song to us kids when we were little. Not that he had much of a singing voice. It was very similar to the one you wrote except that it ended with 'Papa's little pikinini.

Geof

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 11:13 PM

Wow, I just sang this song to my 2yr old son, and my two month old daughter. My dad sang this to me as a child, and now both he and I sing it to my kids. I think my dad got it from his mother (he is in his 60's). There are soo many variations, but what a great little gift to pass down.

Go to sleep my baby close your pretty eyes angels up above you watching from the sky. The great big moon is shining the stars begin to peep and now's it's time for little babies to go to sleep

Go to sleep my little piccannie briar fox will catch you if you don't. Underneath the bosom of your old nanna jinny Ado ado ado ado a dilly underneath the silvery moon hush a bye lullaby daddy's little choochie pie, and mamma's little alabama coo.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 10 - 06:27 PM

I remember my grandmother singing the Alabama Coon lullaby to me and I have since sung it to my own grandchild 54 years later. I know the words are now not politically correct but it's still a lovely song.
We all seem to have a slightly different version...mine goes
Go to sleep my little pickaninny
Granny fox will get you if you don't
Hush a bye don't you cry
Mummy's little baby
Mummy's lttle Balla Calla coo.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,GUEST, mary
Date: 13 Jan 10 - 04:34 AM

I'm just fifteen. My mum, although not a native Papuan, was brought up in Papua New Guinea. I was surprised to find this site, because I believed, incorrectly it would seem, that it was a Papuan New Guinean song. I know her mother sang it to her. As far as I remember, she sang these lyrics:

Go to sleep my little pickaninny
Or the flying fox will get you if you don't
Go to slumber in the bosom of your old black momma
Your're just daddy's little Alabama coon

It's interesting to note the different variations in this one nursery rhyme.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Christine
Date: 18 Nov 09 - 04:59 AM

With a brand new grandson I am researching all the lullabys my grandmother sang to me and my daughter - this is just a magic thread and has brought back some wonderful memories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 12:17 AM

Here is the original. Google the composer's name "Lucine Finch" for background.

http://www.getbodhi.com/lotus/sites/staging.gruntle.com/filebrowser/files/sandman.pdf

(I hope someone is still reading this thread, six years later!

Dave from British Columbia

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,tonto
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 09:11 AM

Lula lula lula bye bye - was Vera Lynn xxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 09 - 11:49 PM

Does anyone recognize any of these lyrics? My grandmother, who grew up in southern Appalachia, used to sing it to us. It had a beautiful, haunting melody:

Hush, my pickaninny, for I'm goin' to tell you a story
Hush, my little babe
It's about a little rabbit, and his mammy called him Orey
Hush, my little babe.
He lived down in a cornfield with a palm leaf for his bed.
He got scared when it grew nighttime, and he covered up his head.
Hush, my little babe.
Mammy's little honey
Go to sleep now sonny
Mammy's little honey boy.

Hush, my pickanniny, it's a-time now you were sleepin'
Hush, my little babe
And the goblins sho will get you, if you don't a-quit your peepin'
Hush my little babe
...a phrase I don't remember .., you must quit your wicked ways
And the lark will come and wake you at the dawnin' of the day
Hush, my little babe
Mammy's little honey
Go to sleep now sonny
Mammy's little honey boy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Najma Hopwood
Date: 07 Sep 09 - 03:06 PM

My mother used to sing go to sleep my baby to me in the late sixties, I really struggle to remember the tune but want to sing the song to my youngest child aged two as she loves songs especially if nana sang them to me! My mother did use the word 'picaninny' and although at the time was not considered offensive, nowdays both 'picaninny' and 'coon' are cosidered offensive,due mostly to the abusive usage of the words and the links to slavery. I will have to use a substitute.
I spoke to my mother tonight and she said her mother had sung it to her in the 40's but she was not sure of the origins.

If anyone knows where I can get a recording of this song I would really apreciate it if you could email me at [e-mail]   
Thank you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Thirlestanelodge
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 08:06 AM

My Mum and Gran used to sing this to us when we were little. We thought that they had made it up. They were from London, my gran was born in White Chapel in 1880 ad my Mum in Camden in 1922, .
They used to sing these words

Go to sleep my little picaninny
Bear 'n' fox'll catch ya if ya don't
Slumber on the bosom of your old mamma Ginny
Bear and fox'll catch ya if ya don't!
Noo nah, noo nah, noona noona naddy ,
Underneath the silvery, silver moon
Hush-a-bye
Don't you cry,
Mammy's little babby,
mammy's little ala bala boo.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Rosie
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 01:59 PM

It's great to see the old Lullabies alive, I couldn't quite remeber the whole of my gran's with the help of this thread, i have the whole version written down for my childer. The tune is embedded in my memory and very much doubt i will every forget it !!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Me
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 08:19 PM

My Grandma and mum used to sing this to me as a child. I always remembered it.

Our version is pretty similar to those stated, although I wont use the "Pickaninnies" version in public and change it to my daughters nick-names.

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels are above you
Peeping at you deary from the skies
Great big moon is shinning
Stars begin to peep
Time for all good *pickaninnies* to go to sleep
Pickaninnies time to go to sleep

My two year old sings along with me too. It certainly has an impact!

Out of interest, Im only 28, but it is still a perfect lullaby, soft and gentle, and easy for little ones to drift off to...or in my case howl along to!!! You have to imagine a 2 year old "go sleep my babyyyyyyyy" comletely off key but enjoying every moment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: bavis
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 01:45 PM

I need new glasses! I read it as My Baby Worming Lullaby. :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Lol
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:40 AM

Just founfd this thread...my mum used to sing it to me in the 50s.

IFound this printed version on the web. Hope it helps

Lol

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Larkspur Honeysuckle
Date: 10 Jun 09 - 02:36 PM

Thank you Mudlark (8/3/05) and KC (guest 5/29/07)
for helping me find the lyrics to "That Sly Old gentleman from Featherbed Lane" I remembered this song today, while reading a story by Jamie Sams about Storyteller, clan Mother of the Sixth Moon Cycle, from the book "The Thirteen Original Clan Mothers", In the story is a Sleep-Man who comes to sprinkle sleep-sand in the childrens' eyes. When i read that part, this song bubbled up from my childhood, almost intact, from my mom singing it to us when we we little. It's such a lovely, soothing song and i went to google it to see if I could find the rest of it, and here you both were! Thank you, through space and time, and the technology of the web for helping me fill in this happy piece of my past.

Here's the way my mom sang it to us :

That sly old gentleman, from Hushabye Lane
He's watching you, he's peeking through your windowpane

He's sprinkled sand from the stars
That glistens and gleams
He'll sprinkle your eyes with dreams


He'll make your little heart so happy and gay
You'll ride a rockinghorse along the Milky Way
Why stay awake? ... Better take that slumber train
With that sly old gentleman from Featherbed Lane...

I sang it to my kids too...and now, maybe someday, I'll sing it to my grandkids!

Peace...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Fleabag
Date: 07 May 09 - 04:26 PM

I LOVE this thread!! Like someone way back there, I have just sung this to my year old and decided to google the lyrics, and here it was!!!! my nanna's version went;

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels up above you
Peeping at you gently from the skies
Great big moon am shining
Stars begin to peep
Time for little (childs name) to go to sleep...
...very soon little (childs name) will be asleep.

I've only ever met one other mummy who knows this lullaby!! I know some people are a bit miffed that this thread has run away with itself slightly, but its so good to see the passion people have for keeping these traditional tunes alive within families!

Right! I'm off to search more lyrics now...does anyone know the one that goes............
         
Ok ok! I'm going!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Elaine Lawson
Date: 05 Apr 09 - 05:43 PM

My grandmother sang this song to me in the 50's. I remember the words as:
Alabama Coon,

I 'm a little Alabama Coon,
And I ain't been born very long;
I remember one big moon;
I remember one sweet song.
When they took me down to the cotton field,
there I rolled and I tumbled in the sun;
While my daddy picked the cotton
My mammy watched me grow,
And this is what she sang to me:

Go to sleep my little picaninny
Brer fox will catch you if you don't
slumber on the bosom of your old mammy jenny
mammy's gonna swat you if you don't
alu, alu, alu alu alu
Underneath the silver southern moon
hush-a-bye rock-a-bye mamma's little baby,
mamma's little Alabama coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Reneestpat - the Irish version from around 1
Date: 05 Apr 09 - 12:03 AM

Go to sleep
my little piccaninny
Mammy's going to smack you if you don't
Hush-a-bye, rock-a-bye
Mammy's little baby
Mammy's little Alabama coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Reneestpat - the Irish translation
Date: 04 Apr 09 - 11:54 PM

Go to sleep, my baby
Close your pretty blue eyes.
Angels up above you
Watching o'er you daily from the skies
Great big moon is shining,
Stars begin to peep
For it's time that my wee baby
Should go to sleep.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,aymie
Date: 03 Apr 09 - 11:22 PM

Go to sleep my little picaninny
Brer fox'll getcha if you don't
slumber on the bosom of your old mammy jenny
mammy's gonna swat ya if you don't
shoo, shoo, underneith the silent silver moon
hush-a-bye
rock-a-bye
mammy's little baby,
mammy's little alabamy coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 12:27 AM

The song that Dianne requested and that K Perry supplied is called STAY IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD. There is a separate thread about that song: Lyr Req: Stay in Your Own Backyard. If you want to discuss that song any further, please do so in that thread.

---

Messages moved to the other thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add Cradle Song by Fritz Kreisler 1915
From: GUEST,Gilda
Date: 16 Mar 09 - 02:57 AM

After listening to the John McCormack recording on that link I just posted, I copied the lyrics as they sound to me:

Cradle Song (based on Caprice Viennois)
Music by Fritz Kreisler
Lyrics by Alice Mattullath

Tears must fall,
Eyes must weep,
While my song I sing.
Little one sleep....

You and I are all alone -
I have only you.
Father's love you never have known;
Mother must love for two.

Father heard his country's call
At the stern command.
Soldier's brave must fight and fall
For their native land.
They must keep their loved ones all
In the Savior's hand.

Sleep darling, sleep............

Father lies upon the plain
He is sleeping, too.
Mother's heart must bear the pain.
Heaven has sent her you.

Over your bed a snow white dove
That Watches the long night through
Brought me a message of hope and love
From the starry blue
That someday in heaven above
He will meet us, too.

Eyes must weep
While my song I sing
Little one sleep and rest.........

You can purchase a more recent recording of this song on Amazon.com performed by Robert White, Ida Levin, and Samuel Sanders. It's on the cd album "Music To My Ears, A Collection of Music for Children of All Ages - Fauré, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Borodin, Bach, etc" The MP3 file for "Cradle Song" can be purchased here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017RTJVQ/ref=dm_dp_adp13?ie=UTF8&qid=1237181486&sr=8-1

I really love Cradle Song/Caprice Viennois but never heard it sung until today which is what prompted my search for the lyrics and that's how I found this forum. My father told me that my mother used to play it on the violin when I was a small child, so that may be why this song really strikes a chord with me, aside from the fact it is an exquisite melody. I find the lyrics very moving as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Gilda
Date: 16 Mar 09 - 12:45 AM

This is in reply to Lilibet's post dated 16 Nov 07. The lyrics quoted are from "Cradle Song" which is a 1915 adaptation of Caprice Viennois for violin and piano, Op. 2, by Fritz Kreisler, originally composed in 1910. You can hear a recording of "Cradle Song" sung by John McCormack on the Internet Archive:

http://www.archive.org/details/JohnMcCormackFritzKreisler

<<<<<<
Subject: RE: "Go to sleep, My Baby " & "Alabama 'Coon"
From: GUEST,Lilibet
Date: 16 Nov 07 - 08:24 PM

How I remember my mama singing both songs to my sisters and me, and "Alabama Coon" my daddy sang saying his mother sang it to him.



Does anyone know about another song she sang that I have searched for everywhere and cannot find: It must be a war-time song and it goes something like this.....
   
       "You and I are all along,
       I have only you.
       Father's love you never have known
       Mother must love for two.
       Over your bed a snow white dove
       Lingers the whole night through -
       Bringing a message of hope and love
       Out of the starry blue...."

Thanks for any suggestions!
>>>>>>

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,DC Son
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 08:33 PM

How incredibly cool. This lullaby was such a private, personal thing and now... it's like finding long lost family ;-)

The version my grandma sang to me in the mid-sixties went like this:

Go to sleep my little pickaninny
The brown fox will get you if you don't
Hush-a-bye, rock-a-bye
Mama's little baby
Mama's little Alabama coon.

I loved it so much (the tune is incredibly soft and sweet) I wanted to share it with my daughters. So I'd morphed it into this:

Go to sleep, my itty bitty baby
The brown fox will get you if you don't
(echo'ed quitely: if you don't)
Hush-a-bye, rock-a-bye
Dady's little baby
Dady's little itty bitty boo.

Thanks so much to all for posting the info here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Herbie ,,sheffield uk
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 08:28 PM

go to sleep my baby
close your pretty eye's
angels are above you
sleeping and a peeping from the skies.
when the moon is shining
stars begin to peep
time for little ( name ) baby
to go to sleep.

this is the version I was brought up with in yorkshire.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Fran Carpenter, New Forest
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 06:13 AM

My mum sang these words to me (some 42+ years ago!):

Go to sleep my baby,
Close your pretty eyes,
Angels up above you
Whisper little teardrops from the skies,
Great big moon keeps shining,
Stars begin to peep,
It's time for little piccaninnies to go to sleep.

(Piccaninnies now apparently unpolitically correct (meaning black children). I always thought it just meant 'children'. (What a lovely word, and what a shame it can't just be taken to mean 'children'!) I substitute when teaching this song to others with 'it's time for little, sleepy children to go to sleep.'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,James
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 09:35 AM

i remember my grandad singing this to me as a child.

go to sleep my baby
close those weary eyes
angels are above you
peaking at you dearly from above
great big moon is shining
stars begin to peak
its time for little piccaninies to go to sleep.

another song he used to sing began

if i give you a little watering can
to water your flowers when the sun goes down
will you marry, marry marry marry
will you marry me

there were other vesus which i forget but always ending in last 2 lines "will you marry.....etc.

would love it if someone could fill in the gaps. Nothing on google or likes

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Nov 08 - 03:04 PM

Go to sleep wee (childs name)
shut your pretty blue eyes
Night has come to greet you
Angel from the starry sky above
Great big moon is shining
stars begin to peep
Now its time for (childs name)
to go to sleep.x

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Mick Williams - Rochester UK
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 06:45 PM

Great thread - was researching cos my son couldn't believe I would sing his baby son songs with words like 'piccaninny' in!
Brilliant to see so many people's memories coinciding with my own.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,mike
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:49 AM

My mom used to sing a song to my brothers and I...
Curly headed
picaninny
coming home so soon
crying cause your little hearts been broke
so mammy in her lap
takes this weeping little lad
and says in her kind old way
now honey you stay in your own back yard
don't mind what those white folks say
cause who in the world would want to play
with a black little coon like you

Anyone know the origin?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: Amos
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 11:45 AM

It means a baby of African descent, and originally meant a slave baby. As a result, its has fallen into disuse. It can be found in a number of very beautiful lullabies from the nineteenth century, though.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Sharon Miles
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 11:43 AM

My Grandad used to sing this to my and my brothers and sisters (he died in Manchester, England in 1972). He lived in England all of his life and as far as I know, all our ancestors came from the UK. How on earth he came to know this song is beyond me but here is the version I know:

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels are above you
Peeping at you from the starry skies
Great big moon is shinin
Stars begin to peep
Its time for little picaninnies to go to sleep

I still reside in England and sign it to my children but having researched it a bit I gather the word picanninie (apologies for the spelling) is a derogatory term. I always thought it just meant "baby".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Bev
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 12:14 AM

Hi,
I followed this thread with interest, watching as it seemed to split into a discussion about at least 2 separate songs (the scan of the lyrics don't match).

From this webpage:
http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2003-11/thismonth/featureb.php

comes the origin of the song my mother sang to me in South Wales (Britain) in the early 1960s...

The webpage includes a link to the lyrics, the sheet music and the midi file, as well as an image of the original sheet music cover and some notes regarding the song's origins, among them...

"Wyoming Lullaby( Go To Sleep My Baby)
1920

Music by: Gene Williams
Lyrics by: Williams

The song began it's life as an instrumental waltz titled Wyoming. Soon after its introduction, the composer published it as a song. The song was mildly popular but enjoyed its greatest popularity when resurrected by Bing Crosby in the 1940's. The music and song have survived as a standard to today, more though as a lullaby than a song about Wyoming. First recorded in 1920 by Charles Hart & Elliott Shaw on the Brunswick label, then again in 1921 by Nora Bayes on Columbia, the song lay fallow till 1946. Judging from the cover statement "The Sensational European Success," it seems that early on, the song may have had more success in Europe than America."


I hope this info will help to clear up at least some of this matter for some people.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 08:08 AM

Just happened on this , refreshed, thread. My mother used to sing it for me and twin brother at bedtime when we were about 2 - 3 yrs old, born 1939 - Xmas day in fact. But from what year did it originate ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 02:06 AM

Hush a bye my little pikannani
Ole brer fox will get you if you dont
Hush a bye, baby bye
Mammas little pudding pie
Mammas little Lousianna coon

Thats the way it was sung to me by my mom from Lake Charles, La
1959

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Anne Marie
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 05:31 PM

My mum sang this to me, but I remember her singing it to my little brother the most. I don't know the origin, and neither does she, but her mum sang it to her. I sing it to my little nephew and look forward to singing it to my own, due in November!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Samantha
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 07:59 AM

I am from New Zealand and was trying to find out where my Gran got this song from that she sang me as a babe! Wow, where she got if from i dont know and i have hunted before and couldn't find anything until now.
It went
Go to sleep my little Pikinini
Mummies going to smack you if you don't
Slumber in the bosom of your old Mamma Ginny
Mumma's little hunny bunny coon
I thought it was an old aboriginal lullaby from Australia. My Gran was born in NZ but her folks came from Scotland. I loved that song!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 03:39 PM

I, too, was sung to sleep with "Mammy's Li'l Alabammy Coon". And one or two equally politically incorrect numbers of the time. The funny thing is that deep sentimental value gets attached to such tunes when they are your own lullabies, even though the cultural undercurrents of them is terrible. I guess you don't notice those things when you still of lullabying age.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Little Pickininny
From: GUEST,Janni
Date: 24 Jun 08 - 01:14 PM

My grandmother, born in Sweden, met my grandfather, also born in Sweden (20 miles apart), in Chicago, Illinois.

Neither spoke English. Working as a maid, my grandmother learned English and used to sing this song to me as a child (I am now a young child of 60 with 5 grandchildren of my own), however, this is how I learned the song:

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny!
Brer Fox will get you if you don't.
Rest your head on the bosom of your old Aunti Jinny. (I changed this to "Rest your head on the bosom of your new mommy" for my children)
Papa's gonna switch you if you don't.

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny!
Underneath the brightly shining moon.
Now hush-a-by and rock-a-by, my little piccaninny,
Hush-a-bye my piccaninny you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Dr. Henry Meredith
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 11:24 PM

Hello --
I am a musician and musicologist and a professor at the University of Western Ontario.

I found my self singing this song to my dog this evening, adapting it as "Daddy's little Alabama coon hound" (she's a shepherd-husky-lab mix but looks like she's also a bit coon hound). My mother would sing this lullaby to me in the late 1940s/ early 1950s. She sang it to these words, in a lilting compound duple meter (or swing time):
       La lu_, la lu_, la lu, la lu, la lu_!
       Underneath the southern silvery moon.
       Rock-a-by! hush-a-by!
       Mammy's little baby,
       Mammy's little Alabama Coon.

She might've said Mama's, instead of Mammy's. I don't know where or how she learned it.

She also sang another charming lullaby, in duple time to these words:

Sleepy sparrows in the willows
settle in their leafy nest.
Sleepy children on their pillows
settle for a long night's rest.
Mother bird peeps softly from the branches high.
Little children's mother sings a lullaby.

[at this point she would sing either the Alabama Coon lullaby, or Brahms's Lullaby]

Has anyone heard of the sleepy sparrows song? I've never seen it, nor the Alabama coon one, in sheet music or in a collection before.
Until I did a google search tonight on Alabama coon, I had never seen the lyrics to it.

Thanks.
Dr. Hank (as my universoty music students and colleagues call me)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Giselle in Australia
Date: 17 Jun 08 - 12:46 AM

I was just trying to find the words myself to sing to my newborn as I remember my mum singing it too me and my siblings 40 years ago.

Our version (or how I remember it is)

Go to sleep my baby
Close your weary eyes
Angels up above you
Peeping at my baby from the skies

Now I have more to share with him :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Emily
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 11:04 PM

My husband was horrified when he heard me sing this to our little one so I thought I should do some research! My grandmother used to sing to us:

Now it's time for piccaninies all to go to bye byes
rest your little weary head and sleep
otherwise the sandman will come and get you children it's time all little coons were fast asleep

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny
Brer fox'll catch you if you don't don't don't
Slumber on the bosom of your ol' mama jinny
brer fox'll catch you if you don't

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 21 Mar 08 - 11:09 AM

My mother's version in England in the late 1930's was:

"Hush-a-bye, my little picaninny,
Momma's gonna spank you if you don't.
Hush-a-bye, lullaby, Momma's little Alabama coon."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Trevor in Switzerland
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 01:58 PM

Here's the version that my Mother sang to me in England when I was very small in the late 1930s:

Go to sleep, my baby
Close your pretty blue eyes
Angels are above you
Looking down to say "I love you"
Great big moon is shining
Stars begin to peep
Time for little piccaninnies
To go to sleep.

And even nowadays if I can't get to sleep I let it run through my head and imagine that I am in that room where I used to hear it nearly seventy years ago. The soothing effect remains undiminished!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,plasticbarbie
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 05:34 PM

the song is!

go to sleep my baby
close your pretty eyes
angels up above you
peeping at you deary from the skys
great big moon is shining
stars begin to (gleam or peep)
and all of the birds and bees
and flowers and trees
are all asleep...
there u go everyone who was stuck!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:25 PM

I don't have any actual proof, but this song may be older than we think. My grandmother (born 1908 in Wyoming State) told me that her grandmother and mother sang it to her when she was little.

My step-father thinks this song is about or originated in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania.

Who knows? Just thought I'd toss out these tidbits.

Glad to know there are actually others in the world that have heard this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 10:51 PM

My grandmother use to sing it like that to me.

Go to sleep my little pickininny
Bryer fox'll get you if you dont
slumber on the bosom of your 'ol mammy Jinny
Im a gonna swat you if ya dont

chocarooo chocharooo chocharooo aroo aroo chocharoo

or something like that.
Im from Pennsylvania. Her parents were Irish. So i have no clue where she got it from.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,THANKS EVERYONE- Finally found the words!
Date: 21 Feb 08 - 04:56 PM

I am 45 years old and my mother died in 1998. One day I was looking at a lilac tree and remembered my mother singing "Lilac Trees are Bloomin in the corner by the gate. For several months a few more words came. A few years later I asked my aunt about the song and she sang it out. But soon after she passed away and I was left without the song. I have been thinking about asking my Uncle (the last survivor of this family of 5 children) but thought I would google 1st. This was a lullaby my mother was sung by her nanny in the 1930's. Amazing how many people were sung this as a child and remember it! Thanks to you all!!! Sarah Bennett

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 11:15 PM

This is how I heard it from some unknown CD...

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels watching call you
Peeping at you darling from the skies

Great big moon is shining
High up in the sky
Time to go to sleep my pretty one
Go to sleep. (echos "go to sleep")

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 24 Jan 08 - 05:02 PM

My mum sang a similar version,(with Southern words and an English accent) in 2:4 time.
It went something like:

Go to sleep, my curly-headed baby (Bah-bee)
Father Fox will catch you if you don't.
Hush-a-bye, rock-a-bye, my little cherry pie,
Mama's little Alabama coon.

The memories of lovingly-sung lullabies bring comfort and I whisper them to my children now, as did the generations before me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Ray Morrison
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 01:01 PM

My father used to sing the version below to me when I was a child in the 1930's. He had acted the mother in a minstrel troup in Putney, London,in the 1890's. I have a picture of him all blacked up ( not politically incorrect in those days).

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny!
Brer Fox will catch you if you don't.
Slumber on the bosom of your old Mumma Jinny.
Mumma's going to swot you if you don't.

At least it sounded something like that!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Linda in Michigan
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 05:33 PM

My father was stationed in Alabama during WWII....my mother always sang us this lullaby..

Go to sleep, my little picaninny
Briar fox 'll get you if you don't
Slumber on the bosom of your ole momma Ginny
Momma's gonna spank you if you don't
To ra lu ra lu ra lu ra lu ra
Underneath the silver southern moon
Rock a bye Hush a bye
Momma's little baby
Momma's little Alabama coon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Fay
Date: 27 Nov 07 - 03:18 PM

My goodness, isn't life strange! there i was singing to my 2 yr old at bedtime the 2 songs handed down from my great grandma from grimsby, thought what odd words not the most english i've heard oh i'll google it and BAM here they both are!!!
Versions i got were

Go to sleep my baby,
close your pretty eyes,
night has come to greet you,
peeping at you dearie from the skies,
Big old moon is shining,
stars begin to peep,
time for little picannines to go to sleep
(think i prefer sleepy babies to go to sleep)


Go to sleep my little picaninny,
brear fox'll catch you if you don't
slumber on the bosom of your elder mama jenny
Mama's little alabama coo
tra-loo tra-loo tra-loo-tra-loo tra-la-loo-loo
underneath the silvery southern moon
hushaby rockaby mama's little baby
mama's little alabama coo

i see now how just being handed down by word of mouth has altered it slightly! I have never met anyone who knows these 2 song i am astounded and delighted. So explain again just how these songs would have become familiar to our great grandparents?

Subject: RE: "Go to sleep, My Baby " & "Alabama 'Coon"
From: GUEST,Lilibet
Date: 16 Nov 07 - 08:24 PM

How I remember my mama singing both songs to my sisters and me, and "Alabama Coon" my daddy sang saying his mother sang it to him.

Does anyone know about another song she sang that I have searched for everywhere and cannot find: It must be a war-time song and it goes something like this.....
   
       "You and I are all along,
       I have only you.
       Father's love you never have known
       Mother must love for two.
       Over your bed a snow white dove
       Lingers the whole night through -
       Bringing a message of hope and love
       Out of the starry blue...."

Thanks for any suggestions!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 04:42 PM

I remember this line. "Johnny won your marbles tell you what I'll do I'll have daddy buy you new ones right away better to to sleep no little man you've had a busy day" that is all I remember.


Re Athena.I think you're confusing two songs.There is one that goes "Little man you're crying ,
tell me why you're blue,
Dad'll buy you new one right away,
Time to go to sleep now,
Little man, you've had a busy day.
You've been playing soldiers,
The battle has been won,
The enemy is out of sight.
Put away your soldiers
Put away your gun,
The battle is all over for tonight.
Time to stop your scheming
I know why you're blue.
Someone stole your kiddicar away,
Time to go to sleep now
Little man ,
you've had a busy day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,mal g.
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 11:25 PM

hey- i used to cry when my mom would sing me the kappa song she knew when she was in college. i would cry beacuse i didnt want to die, and in the song it said, so heres a key to guide you, twill guard you till you die. the song was called sleep my honey. i love my mom so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Angele, Malta
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:21 AM

My Grandmother,of british derivation, used to sing this version:-

Go to sleep my Baby,
Close your pretty eyes,
let the angels guard you,
from the sky above.
When the moon is shining ,
and stars begin to peep -
that's the time for piccanninies
to go to sleep

Go to sleep.

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE ALABAMA COON (Hattie Starr)
From: GUEST,Alex Zachopoulos
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 05:22 PM

Got it after some more googlein'. Here it is:

http://bartleby.com/248/1469.html

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833—1908). An American Anthology, 1787—1900. 1900.

1469. LITTLE ALABAMA COON
By Hattie Starr

I 's a little Alabama Coon,
And I has n't been born very long;
I 'member seein' a great big round moon;
I 'member hearin' one sweet song.
When dey tote me down to de cotton field,
Dar I roll and I tumble in de sun;
While my daddy pick de cotton, mammy watch me grow,
And dis am de song she sung:

Go to sleep, my little pickaninny,—
Brer' Fox 'll catch you if yo' don't;
Slumber on de bosom of yo' ole Mammy Jinny,—
Mammy's gwine to swat yo' if you won't.

Sh! sh! sh!
Lu-la, lu-la lu-la lu-la lu!
Underneaf de silver Southern moon;
Rock-a-by! hush-a-by!
Mammy's little baby,
Mammy's little Alabama Coon.

Dis hyar little Alabama Coon
Specks to be a growed-up man some day;
Dey ¢s gwine to christen me hyar very soon,—
My name 's gwine to be "Henry Clay."
When I 's big, I 's gwine to wed a yellow gal;
Den we 'll hab pickaninnies ob our own;
Den dat yellow gal shall rock 'em on her bosom,
And dis am de song she 'll croon:

Go to sleep, my little pickaninny,—
Brer' Fox 'll catch you if yo' don't;
Slumber on de bosom of yo' ole Mammy Jinny,—
Mammy's gwine to swat yo' if you won't.

Sh! sh! sh!
Lu-la, lu-la lu-la lu-la lu!
Underneaf de silver Southern moon;
Rock-a-by! hush-a-by!
Mammy's little baby,
Mammy's little Alabama Coon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Alex Zachopoulos
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 04:05 PM

I've been trying to get the lyrics to the '...Alabama coon...' version of it, too, so I was very glad to come across this list.

My father in law (british) sang it to my children, and one of the lines says something about the "bosom of untie Jenny". Does it ring a bell, anyone?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Tony Caspersz
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:43 AM

I am astounded at the versions that the song has attracted.
I was born in Ceylon/Sri Lanka and migrated to Australia in 1963, and my Dad (Osmund) - a man with a beautiful voice- sang this song. In turn I sang it my children, and my grand-children - who,(believe me!) still ask it to be sung at bed-time.

So here goes:-

Go to sleep my little piccaninny
(Or the/Brother) fox'll catch you if you don't
Hush a bye Rock a bye
Mamma's little Baby
Mama's little Alabama coon

Loo loo   loo loo   loo loo loo loo loo...
Underneath that ever-watching moon

Hush a Bye Rock a Bye
Mamma's little baby
Mama's little Alabama coon

I hope, Shirley Guest, you have been able to listen to Paul Robeson's version of 'Little man you're crying..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,shirley roberts
Date: 27 Jun 07 - 04:48 PM

Re Athena.I think you're confusing two songs.There is one that goes "Little man you're crying ,
tell me why you're blue,
Dad'll buy you new one right away,
Time to go to sleep now,
Little man, you've had a busy day.
You've been playing soldiers,
The battle has been won,
The enemy is out of sight.
Put away your soldiers
Put away your gun,
The battle is all over for tonight.
Time to stop your scheming
I know why you're blue.
Someone stole your kiddicar away,
Time to go to sleep now
Little man ,
you've had a busy day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby
From: GUEST,Roberts,shirley.Liverpool
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 04:18 PM

My Grandma used to sing this to me, and her version was

Go to sleep my baby,Close your pretty eyes,
Angels up above you,
Watching over you from the skies, my darling,
Great big moon a-shining,
Stars begin to peep.
Time for little piccaninnies to go to sleep.

She also sang another lullaby to which I don't remember all the words but it started:

Go to sleep ,my little piccaninny,
Go to sleep my Alabama coon,
Don't you see,
You're going to be
an angel very soon?
You're going to the land of the ........
Where it is so bright and fair
You're just the same as the white folk,
We're all one colour there.
Does anyone else remember this?

I also remember her singing

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny,
Brother fox'll catch you if you don't.
Hush a bye, Rock a bye
Mamma's little baby,
Mamma's little Alabama coon.

All of these songs had different melodies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,JoanR Ireland
Date: 03 Jun 07 - 12:28 AM

Does anyone know how I could hear some of these versions, so I can see if we're all using the same tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,JoanR Ireland: My mother's version 1930s
Date: 03 Jun 07 - 12:26 AM

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Mammy's little baby
Always has the angels by her side.
Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Its time for Mammy's little baby
To go to sleep.
Time for little baby to go to sleep

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 08:13 PM

I don't quite agree with Jim Dixon there. I rather like the way one song can lead to another song, both in threads here and in real life.

And more often than not when you're hunting up a half remembered song the kind of rambling thread might actually be a better way of tracking the one you're after. For example, all you can remember is, it's got "Go to sleep my baby" in it, but you'll know it when you find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Bugsy
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 03:13 AM

I went all misty there for a moment. My mum used to sing that for me way back when we used to live in Black & White.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: Lyr Add: WYOMING LULLABY (GO TO SLEEP, MY BABY)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 May 07 - 05:12 AM

From Indiana University Sheet Music Collections:

"The Sensational European Success
WYOMING LULLABY (GO TO SLEEP, MY BABY)
Founded on the popular waltz WYOMING"
Lyric and music by Gene Williams
Publisher: M. Witmark & Sons, New York, 1920.

1. When the sun is sinking in Wyoming,
When the twilight shadows start to fall,
In my dreams, I can hear a melody.
In my heart, there's a tender memory.
By the cabin door, I see my mother
With a little baby on her knee.
Then comes back that Wyoming lullaby
Mother used to sing to me.
When night is near,
That song I hear:

CHORUS: Go to sleep, my baby. Close your pretty eyes.
Angels up above you peeping at my honey from the skies.
Great big moon is shining. Stars begin to peep.
Time for sleepyheads like you, dear, to go to sleep.
That's my sweet Wyoming lullaby.

2. There beneath the pines in old Wyoming,
There's a little world that no one knows.
Ev'ry flow'r there just means a loving kiss
From that mammy whose smile I wouldn't miss.
Soon I'm going back to old Wyoming
To that little home I'm longing for.
Then each night I shall hear my mother's voice
Sing that lullaby once more.
Just once again,
I'll hear that strain: CHORUS

[A passing thought: There has been quite a bit of thread creep in this thread. It started out about ONE lullaby, and then people started throwing in information about other unrelated lullabies. There are tons of lullabies in the world. Each one deserves its own thread. That will keep Mudcat better organized, and it will be easier for future searchers to find information about the particular songs they are looking for.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,kc
Date: 29 May 07 - 12:35 PM

mUDLARK -

It is:

That sly old gentleman
From Featherbed Lane
He's watching you
He's peeking through
Your Windowpane
He's gathered sand
From the Sky
That glitters and gleams
He'll sprinkle your eyes
With dreams
He'll make your little heart
so happy and gay
You'll ride that rockinghorse
along the Milky Way
Don't stay awake
why don't you take that Slumber Train
With the sly old gentleman
from Featherbed lane

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST
Date: 27 May 07 - 03:36 PM

my version is

go to sleep my baby,
close your pretty eyes,
stars are up above you,
looking down from the skys,
great big moon is shining,
stars begin to peek,
time for little (name) to go to sleep.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Athena
Date: 24 May 07 - 12:00 PM

Go to sleep my baby, I know why you're blue...
Someone stole your kiddy-car, away
Better go to sleep now,
Little man you've had a busy day..


My grandmother used to sing this song to me, and both my husbands would request it and cry when they were on their pillows so I couldn't see.

I wish I knew all the lyrics but I think it's the same song
Athena

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Peace
Date: 11 Mar 07 - 04:54 AM

See post of lyrics by Jim Dixon here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Elena_M
Date: 11 Mar 07 - 04:49 AM

Hi!

Does anybody know the Lullaby of Paul Robeson:
Oh, my baby,
My curly headed baby...

It's a very old song, of 1930-s..

Thank you in advance,

BR,
Elena.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Willa
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 12:49 PM

Thank Q!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 06:13 PM

"Little Alabama Coon," by Hattie Starr, sheet music, in the Brown Univ. African-American Sheet Music Collection.
Go to American Memory: INDEX
and click on Music, then type in name of tune in Search.

Bartleby Link from Willa- Alabama Coon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Willa
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 05:31 PM

aj4nier
You'll find it here http://www.bartleby.com/248/1469.html
(Bue clicky won't work for some reason.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From:
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 11:48 AM

I have been looking for the lyrics to this song and wondered if anyone out there has every heard it and has the complete lyrics it goes something like this
Go to sleep my little picaninny, papa come and see ya bye and bye hush a bye lullabye mamma little baby mammas little alabama coon, ain;t been born very long.........

That is all that I can remember, my Nana used to sing it to me and my grandson just loves it and I have to keep singing the same words over and over.
I think it was a southern lullabye and I have searched every where I know , Can anyone HELP with the words.
THANKS and Happy Holidays

Subject: Lyr Add: LULLABY (Joseph K. Emmet)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 09:10 PM

Lyr. Add: Lullaby (from Fritz)
Words and music by Joseph K. Emmet

Close your eyes, Lena, my darling,
While I sing your lullaby, fear thou no danger, Lena,
Move not, dear Lena, my darling,
For your brouder watches nigh you, Lena dear.
Angels guard thee, Lena, dear, my darling.
Nothing evil can come near;
Brightest flowers bloom for thee,
Darling sister, dear to me.

Chorus:
Go to sleep, go to sleep, my baby, my baby, my baby
Go to sleep, my baby, baby, oh, bye,
Go to sleep, Lena, sleep.

Bright be de morning, my darling,
You you ope your eyes, sunbeams glow all around you, Lena.
Peace be with thee, love, my darling.
Blue and cloudless be the sky for Lena dear.
Birds sing their bright songs for thee, my darling,
Full of sweetest melody,
Angels ever hover near,
Darling sister, dear to me.

As sung bu the composer in "Fritz, Our Cousin German." 1878, Cincinnati, Ohio, John Church & Co., 66 West Fourth Street.

Levy Sheet Music Collection. There are other copies of sheet music, but they may vary from the lyrics used in "the only correct and authorized edition": Emmet's LULLABY

Some versions have more 'dialect,' but in the sheet music, only the words 'brouder' and 'de' are in dialect.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 08:36 PM

Oh, Q- Thank you so much- I have hummed this song and wondered about it all my life. I never felt I HAD to research it- but have enjoyed singing what I knew of it to my kids, and saying in my mind, "Well, someday I'll look that up, and learn the rest of it!" My deepest appreciation!    Jean R.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 08:26 PM

You asked for a real old timer, from 1879, by Joseph K. Emmet.
Emmet's Lullaby
(I will post it if it isn't already here.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 08:09 PM

I realize that Noreen's request has been well and completely answered, but the first song I thought about is one that begins,

Close your eyes, Lena, my darling while
   I sing your lullabye- O lullabye my Lena, my darling
( la la la la...don't remember words to this line)

Chorus was something like:
Go to sleep my ba-a-by, my ba-a-by, my ba-aaa-by;
Go to sleep my ba-a-by, my ba-a-by, my ba-byyyyy.

My older sisters sang it, and they told me it was from a Broadway show. Anyone know what show it was? It's a lovely tune, and is usually half sung, half hummed- the way lullabyes often are. The very last note is sung or hummed an octave higher than the note before it- ba-byyyy... Thread creep, I know, Noreen, but I couldn't resist asking the experts if they know this one! Jean

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,A. Syd
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 05:33 PM

My great great Aunt used to sing this to me when I was a baby, it still works on my baby daughter! It's amazing that it's got to South Wales from all over USA (my family have sung it for many generations)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Dave in British Columbia
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 08:06 PM

Yes Joe, that is close to the tune that we use in our family. Now I see the advantage of the old sol-fa notation: transmission as text!

There are some variations, such as in the first two lines of the chorus, where we use:

S...L.d...m.s...s.....
S...L...d.m.s.......

Rhythmically, we sing most of it in a slow 6/8 or 12/8, though the first two lines are sung in 4/4.

My sister saw our correspondence and (having sung the song
to more children than I did) suggests some corrections to
the words, as shown below in asterisks:

...*As* he scatters the sand....

The silver moon is *gleaming under starlit* skies.
   [-- which might explain how you remember "paradise"]

   And at the end,

Go to sleep my baby,
Close your sleepy eyes.



Now, as to source. My mother (Ruth Witbeck at the time) heard it around 1933, when she was running a sorority camp for underpriviledged children south of Vancouver, in Boundary Bay. Two sorority sisters from Denver CO, with the last name of Peck, used this song with the younger children at bedtime and also taught it to my mom. Thanks to musical training and a very good ear, my mother likely preserved it as accurately as she heard it over the years until my older sister could become the lullaby's repository.

Do any of those clues help you to trace the song?

Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:22 PM

Guest Dave:

Thanks very much for completing it and (probably) correcting some mistakes.

Here is the tune as I remember it, line by line, in solfa (scale is
DRMFSLTdrmfslt, except that there are a lot of accidentals, so make that DRMF4SLTd1r2mf4slt):

m.2.m.d.....S.....
m.2.m.d.....S.....
S.L.T.d.r.m.s.f.L.t...
rmf.s.l.r...
rmf.s.l.r...
rrs...ss4...4.s.....S.....

S...L.T...d.m.....m.....
S...L.T...d.f.......
m.r...1.r...2.m...d.S...
S.4...m.r...L.r.........
S.S...L.T...d.m.....m...
m.2...m.t...l.f.....f.....
d...T.r...d.m.....l...
m.s...f.m...r.d...........

Dots mean continuation for another half beat. The rhythm, as I remember it, is irregular, so I have not tried to divide it into measures.

It is indeed a complicated tune, probably not a folk tune. At a guess, my mother learned it when she was little. She was born in 1908.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Dave in British Columbia
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 12:02 AM

Joe F reported (on August 4) a version of "Go to Sleep my Baby" with a verse that began,


>Here comes the sandman
>Tripping so lightly
>. . .
>And he scatters the sand
>With his little brown hand
>In the eyes of the sleeping children.


That's our family version! My mother heard it from some other young people when barely out of her teens and attending a function near Denver. That would be in the early 1930's. She took it to heart and sang it to her children when they came along. My sister and I in turn sang it to our kids; I hope some in the next generation use it too; as a lullaby it's almost as good as a sedative on small children, because the tune is irregular yet so gentle. It sounds like a rocking cradle.

Until stumbling upon Joe F.'s recollection, none of us in the last seventy years had encountered another soul who knew the song!

Here is the version that I used. My sister's memory of the song will be more accutare, perhaps she'll provide more authentic words:

[Verse]
Here comes the sandman
Softly he's stealing
Creeping along on the tips of his toes.
And he scatters the sand
With his own little hand
On the eyes of the sleeping children

[Chorus]
Go to sleep my baby
Close your sleepy eyes
The silver moon is gleaming from under starry skies

The old sandman is peeping
To see if you are sleeping
Go to sleep my baby for just a little while.



Wish I could enclose the tune in some way, because it makes the song. The melody is more complex than one finds in most lullabies. When sung in the key of D, for example, the word "sleeping" takes an F-sharp major chord.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 10:05 AM

That accounts for it. And talking of strange things you find in bed when you wake up, what about ... no, better not ask -- there may be ladies present!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 09:06 AM

But he must - otherwise how come you wake up with sand in your eyes! (Or don't you?)

Most - or at least many - people wake up with gritty deposits in the corners of their eyes - The sandman doesn't necessarily throw sand at you to make you close your eyes, but he throws sleep sand which makes you sleep - but it wears off - which is why you find the sand in your eyes when you wake.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 03:07 AM

Where did this "Sandman" come from? I know Hans CAnderson used it in one (or more) of his stories, but I don't think he invemnted it. It always seemed gruesome to me as a child that someone (and a responsible adult at that) should make you close your eyes at bedtime by throwing sand in them!

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Mudlark
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 02:00 AM

And speaking of sandmen...what about that great old Crosby tune...

That sly old gentleman, from Featherbed Lane
He's watching you, peeking through your windowpane.

There's a bit I don't remember well, then

He'll make your little heart so happy and gay
You'll ride a rockinghorse across the Milky Way
Don't stay away...why don't you take that Slumber Train
With the sly old gentleman, from Featherbed lane

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 10:43 PM

My mother sang a version that had a introduction with a different tune. I only remember fragments:

Here comes the sandman
Tripping so lightly
. . .
And he scatters the sand
With his little brown hand
In the eyes of the sleeping children.

Go to sleep, my baby.
Close your tired eyes.
The . . .
. . . paradise.
The little stars are peeping
To see if you are sleeping.
Go to sleep, my baby,
. . . .

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: JudeL
Date: 24 Jan 03 - 07:54 AM

It was one who's first line was "Sweet & low, sweet & low, wind of the western sea" that my dad used to sing to me when I was little. It still has the power to make me relax and feel sleepy , when I hear it today. How's that for conditioning!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,m t
Date: 23 Jan 03 - 08:46 AM

The song you are looking for is "Ma curly headed baby" It will still be on records/C.D somewhere as it was popular during the thirties and forties and translated into other languages even Polish.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 09:56 AM

For some reason I never sang to my twins at bedtime - used to read them lots of stories, though.

Bathtime was when I sang to them, but there's not much call for lullabies then - more stuff like Michael Finnegan or the Tennessee Wig Walk or Hang on the Bell, Nelly or nursery rhymes.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:22 AM

Yes, I sang it to my kids! But since my bro married a black girl, we have a problem with "picaninny", so we'll all be changing to one of the versions above. My days of getting small children to sleep are over now--for tha time being, anyway!

Steve

P.S. My mom also used to sing "My resistance is low". It must have worked, 'cos I could never remember the ending...!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Gray D
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 07:50 PM

Obviously, being nostalgic ain't what it used to be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Gray D
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 07:42 PM

You all keep typing that you remember it from the distant past. Didn't any of you sing it to your own kids? Ours were certainly lulled with it hardly a dozen or so years ago.

Snuffy's version was the one we used to use, lyricwise anyway (sorry, Snuffy, I'm not musically ept enough to decipher the tab. Every confidence that you're spot on tho').

I drifted off to my mum singing "The Skye Boat Song" in my early years. Altogether now "Speed bonny boat, like a bird on the wing, over the sea to Skye".

What a beautiful tune.

Thanks for the thread, tig'. Made me go all misty and nostaligic.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 08:49 PM

Variant remembered from my childhood:

The little stars are peeping To see if you are sleeping.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 05:42 AM

Noreen - the copied booklet is on its way to you.

There is one line where my memory of my Father's singing is at odds with what both the booklet and my Scouser Partner remember (but I think my Dad's line is an improvement!!!)
I will get the dots later and post the difference ...

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 05:36 AM

My Partner, (Poor Misery), who's an ex-Scouser, says he remembers it from his childhood too ...

Noreen - I'll copy the whole booklet and snailmail it to you, coz the others may be of interest too (some of which I've never heard anyway ...)

Cheers! R-J

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: GO TO SLEEP MY BABY
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 06:39 PM

Here's what my mum used to sing when we were kids:

Go to sleep my baby,
Close your sleepy eyes.
Angels are above you,
Looking at you dearie from the skies.
Great big moon keeps shining,
Stars begin to peep.
Time for little sleepy babies
To go to sleep.

X: 228
T:Go To Sleep, My Baby
M:3/4
L:1/8
S:from memory of my mother's singing ca 1950
K:F
c4 d2|c4 A2|d2 f4-|f4 z2|
c4 d2|c4 A2|G6- |G4 z2|
c4 d2|c4 d2|e2 g4-|g4 z2|
g3a gf|e3f ed|c6- |c4 z2|
c4 d2|c4 A2|d2 f4-|f4 z2|
c4 d2|c4 A2|G6- |G4 z2|
F4 G2|A4 F2|B4 c2 |d2 c2 B2|
d6 |E6 |F6- |F4 z2||

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:48 AM

That thought was never far from my mind, MMario!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: MMario
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:26 AM

and you all know what to do once you have the tune, don't you????

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:23 AM

Thanks Snuffy- I'm interested in knowing whether the Vera Lynn tune is the same as the one my parents sang to me.

I'll get the dots from R.J and we can compare notes... (groan)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:15 AM

ok, will do

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:09 AM

My Mum used to sing this to us, Noreen. I'll see if I can manage to get it down tonight.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 08:32 AM

sorry Noreen, I haven't a clue how!! I could post you a photocopy though if you PM me!! (c/o The Ark)

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 08:05 AM

Lovely! Music please...

Subject: Lyr Add: WYOMING LULLABY
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 08:03 AM

"Seek, and you shall find, Knock, and the door shall be opened, Ask, and it shall be given ..."

So there I was today, pursuing with a passion one of my favourite past times - that of Op-Shopping!! (i.e. scouring opportunity/thrift/charity shops)

There amongst the knitting patterns, I came across a little publication, in pink and blue (!!) that was presented free with "Wife and Home" in November 1952 (when I was 14 months old) and entitled : "Vera Lynn's Favourite Lullabies"

Among the gems was : "WYOMING LULLABY" : words and music by Gene Williams - published by permission of Lawrence Wright Music Company, Ltd, London WC2, complete with words and music. The words are :

Go to sleep, my baby
Close your pretty eyes
Angels up above you
Peeping at you dearie from the skies
Great big moon is shining
Stars begin to peep
Time for little piccaninnies to go to sleep
Piccaninies' time to go to sleep
Piccaninnies' time to go to sleep.

So my Dad wasn't that far off ... I still find this song very comforting and soporific!!!

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: rich-joy
Date: 02 Jul 02 - 05:42 AM

I was going to start a thread to ask for the lyrics of this song - and here it was already!!

My Dad used to sing me to sleep (in Perth, W.A.) with "Go To Sleep My Baby" - he was born in 1916 in Fremantle, Western Australia - but this is the fragment that I recall - SIMILAR to MMario's and Noreen's, yet not QUITE the same ...

"Go to sleep, my baby
Close those pretty eyes
Angels are above you
Peeking at you Dearie from the skies
Great big moon above you
Stars begin to peep
Time for little picaninnies to go to sleep
Picaninnies' time to go to sleep"

I can't recall if this was the whole of it or not, though ... (but I can IMAGINE Paul Robeson singing it ...) Is there any more??

Cheers! R-J

--- Line breaks <br> added ---
---Jeff (PA)---

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 12:16 PM

It's not the same song, Noreen -- I was playing it last night, so I can say that with confidence! I wondered the same thing. That's one of the cds I've got. "Babby" is a typo, btw: it's "baby" on the sleeve, and that's what he sings. It's a good one, though. (Mind you, he could have sung the Ying-tong Song to make your heart melt!)

There must be a Paul Robeson appreciation society, mustn't there? Or maybe we should start our own Mudcat PRAS?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 10:13 AM

Stee, would the song be called "Ma Curly Headed Babby"? I've found that listed on a CD here which looks tempting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 03:27 AM

Oh dear! Sorry, Noreen -- I checked out both my PR cds last night, and it's not on either of them. It'll take me some time to check through my 78s to find it, but you won't be able to order a copy anyway! Keep your fingers crossed, and check out the budget complation cds. Ohterwise, the other offer still stands!

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 07:55 AM

Thanks Steve, I'd love to hear it again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 03:23 AM

Noreen, you can get Robeson's "Lula..." on a cd; I'll try and remember to look up the number when I get back tonight. I've got quite a few 78s by him as well (I never get tired of hearing his voice!), which you're welkcome to come and listen to next time i you're in Milton Keynes.

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 09:07 PM

Tigger! Wasn't she the woman who...

*LOL*

Hope the words are the ones you remember. I've enjoyed thinking about them again.

Noreen
Ex-Liverpool Judy, now living north of Manchester.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 05:24 PM

Noreen, are you from Liverpool? Iam! I posted the original lyrics request at the top and I didn't even mention that I was from Liverpool!!! That is so weird. You don't know my Grandma, do you?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 01:32 PM

"lula-lula-lula-lual-bye-bye" was another one, Steve, and I remember the shock of hearing it sung on the radio when I was quite grown up, prob by Mr. Robeson. Presumably he recorded it- I wonder if it's available? This was my daughter's favourite lullaby for a long time, she'd ask for "the moon and stars". Aaaah- happy memories.

The other one was:

Go to sleep, my little piccaninny,
Underneath the silvery shiny moon,
Go to sleep, my little piccaninny,
Mummy's little Alabamy coon....!! Goodness knows how that got to Liverpool...

Noreen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:49 AM

I'll have to ask Mom where she got it from -- chances are, it was Nan or Grandad! The only thing I can ever remember asking her when I was little was: "how can jars peep?" (Mom's version has "stars above you peeping, peeping at you, dearie, from the sky") I suppose I must have been about two years old, from the odd little thing or two I can also remember that I associate with the memory. I still have this rather vivid inmage of a moonlit night sky, wispy clouds, and cut-glass vases leaning out of the clouds at odd angles -- Magritte could have done it justice. No wonder I'm in such a mess today!

I suppose Mom's version isn't quite the same as yours, Noreen. What other lullabies do you rmember? I have a vague recollection of "lula-lula-lula-lual-bye-bye", as sung by Paul Robeson, but it mightbe Paul Robeson that I recall. (Not that he ever sang me to sleep!)

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:40 AM

Aah, and Roger too!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:30 AM

Oh, thanks Steve- any idea of its history? I've never thought of where it came from before, it was always just there... I wonder if you know any of the others that I sing too? :0)

Noreen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:56 AM

Yes, Noreen's version was used on me, er, 50-odd years ago as well.
So soon you forget!
RtS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:41 AM

Wow! My mother used to sing Noreen's version to me nearly fifty years ago, and I used to sing it to my kids, too.

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,Wendy
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 01:14 PM

There are a couple of mp3s, more along the lines of the Lomax Souther Journey & O Brother versions mentioned by guest above, in the The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip section at the Library of Congress site.

One is by "Aunt Florida Hampton" here .

And one by "Aunt Caroline & Frances Horne" here .

You can find the lyrics in the fieldnotes.

Subject: Lyr Add: GO TO SLEEP, MY BABY
From: Noreen
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 12:25 PM

This is the version my parents sang to me, and I in turn sang to my children... and still do on occasion, though they're 9 and 13...

Go to sleep my baby,
Go to sleep my dear,
Great big moon is shining,
Stars will soon appear.
Close your little eyes,
Now you must not peep,
Fot it's time for little piccaninnies
To go to sleep...
Time for little boys/girls to go to sleep.

(Tune seems to be very similar to that in the clip that Mary in KY linked to above.)

Subject: Lyr Add: A CHRISTMAS LULLABY (Pat Garvey)
From: Barry T
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 01:24 PM

The lyrics to this song reminded me of A CHRISTMAS LULLABY by Pat Garvey... from a Cherrybell Music songbook of New Christy Minstrels' stuff...

Go to sleep my dearest one
Baby don't you cry
May a host of angels sing
Your Christmas lullaby.

'Round the world and back again
Ride a red balloon
See the stars and visit Mars
And ring around the moon.

Refrain
When you wake on Christmas day
There'll be joys to see
All in red and green array
Beneath the Christmas tree.

Repeat first verse.

'Beautiful tune in 3/4 time. I sang it for years to my son at bedtime. Now infant nieces and nephews are my audience.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 10:21 AM

This lullaby was new to me, so I searched for a sound file. The best I can come up with is a short clip here. (http://www.kidsmusic.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Playtime_Cassettes_10.html) I had to download it and then listen to it.

I found some really nice lullabies on this search!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 05:24 AM

MMario I'm off to try and buy it from somewhere today. I'm almost certain that I've got the tune right in my head, but if not, I may be requesting your help again! Do you know where it comes from? Maybe a film, or, knowing my great grandma, there's probably some Irish influence.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 07:36 PM

MMario My Mum sang that to me sixty years ago; lovely to be reminded!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,tiggerdooley
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 04:41 PM

To MMario Thank you so much!!!!!! That's the one! You don't know how much it means to me to finally have all the words. And thanks for replying so quickly. How on earth do you know that song? Nobody else I asked knew what I was talking about!! To GUEST Thanks for letting me know how I can finally hear this tune after so many years. I'm going out to find it A.S.A.P!!

I haven't heard that tune since I was about five years old, and not even my Nan could remember it properly. It seemed as though it had gone forever when my great grandmother died. Thanks a lot, folks, tiggerdooley

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 04:23 PM

I think there are lots of versions of this. 2 recorded versions I've heard are as follows-one is on Alan Lomax southern journey's series Rounder records, I believe volume 1 voices of the south. the other is brand new allison krause and some other folk on the soundtrack to " oh brother where art thou." Some of the lyrics aren't as gentle as the ones Mario offered,

Mama's gonna away
pappa's gonna away
didn't leave nobody but the baby
you and me and the Devil make three
don't need no one else little baby.

Subject: Lyr Add: GO TO SLEEP MY BABY
From: MMario
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 04:17 PM

Could this be it?

Go to sleep my baby,
Close your pretty eyes.
Angel's up above you,
Watching my sweetie from the sky.
Great big moon is shining,
Stars begin to peep.
Time for sleepyheads like you
To go to sleep.

close variant also found...

Go to sleep, my baby.
Close your pretty eyes.
Angels watching o'er you,
peeping at you, darling,from the skies.
Great big moon is shining, high up in the sky.
Time to go to sleep, my pretty one.
Go to sleep

Subject: Go to sleep my baby
From: GUEST,tiggerdooley
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 03:55 PM

I'm trying to find the lyrics/tune to a lullaby that my Great Grandma used to sing to me. It begins "Go to sleep, my Baby/ Close your pretty eyes..." It then has something about the moon or the stars and ends something like "It's time for (insert child's name) to go to sleep".I would be so grateful if somebody could tell me how it goes. Thanks!