Lyr Req: Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby

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: 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: 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 - 08:36 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: 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:
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: 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: 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: 12 Dec 05 - 12:49 PM

Thank Q!

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: 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,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: 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,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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 / 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 / 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,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,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: 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,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: 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
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: "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,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: 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,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,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
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,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: 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,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,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,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,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,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,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,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 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: 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 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: 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
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,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,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,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".