The Origin of the Lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby"

The lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby" is perhaps one of the most famous lullabies throughout history. Originally entitled "Hush-a-bye Baby", this poem is thought to be one of the first to be written in America and perhaps dates back to the 1500's. Of course, like most historical poems or nursery rhymes there is more than one theory to where it derived.

The most popular story about how "Rock-a-bye Baby" came about is the American version about a pilgrim who came upon a Native American and saw the way she had suspended her baby from a tree in a birch bark cradle. The idea was for the wind to sway the suspended cradle and rock the baby to sleep. However, as with any tree branch, there is always the chance a branch may break causing the cradle to fall.

In English history "Rock-a-bye Baby" refers to a family called the Kenyon's. The Kenyon's had a tree house within a huge yew tree. The Kenyon family had eight children and had hollowed out one of the boughs of the tree to be a cradle for the children. This Yew tree at the time was thought to be at least 2000 years old. Today it still stands but has been damaged by vandalism by fire during the 1930's.

Now on to the less popular theories, one of which would be that Effie Crockett (yes, related to Davey) had written the poem while tending to a restless child.

The last theory refers to the baby as King James II, of England. King James II was believed to be a child who was smuggled the birthing room in order to look like he was the legitimate heir of James. The wind is referred to as William III of England (William of Orange) who disposed of James II during the revolution. Finally, the cradle would be the house of Stuart, Stuart Monarchy.

We all know the lyrics to "Rock-a-bye Baby" as,

Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree top

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall

And down will go baby, cradle and all.

The second set of lyrics are found in the real mother goose, published in 1916

Rock-a-bye baby, the cradle is green

Fathers a nobleman, mothers a queen

And Betty's a lady, and wears a gold ring

And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the king.

I have always known that "Rock-a-bye Baby" had a history, but what I didn't know was that there were so many different theories about where the lyrics actually came from. Now that I have found a bit of insight on this rhyme I hope as readers you were as thrilled as I was.