Lyrics for Rockabye Baby by Traditional

Album: Rockabye Baby (1872)

songfacts ®

Rockabye baby, on the treetops.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall.
And down will come baby, cradle and all Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 9

Selena Logan from CaI don’t know the original meaning of the song but here’s how I like to think of it: it’s a birthing song.
Before birth the baby is rocking gently in the tree top, where the tree is the placenta. If you have never looked at one it has a pattern like a nest of branches and have been referred to as a”tree of life”. “When the wind blows” is the storm of birth and the breath of mama. “Down will come baby” is the decent through the birth canal. And “cradle and all” is again the placenta et al. that comes with it. You could even include the let down of milk.
Angie from TexasI always thought it was speaking, roughly of course, of childbirth and the baby being born.
Alvira from UsaListen to "Rockabye Baby" in defferent versions: http://lullabies-for-babies.com/lullabies/collections-of-lullabies/rock-a-bye-baby
Blake from TexasHey! Could you tell me who the publisher is please?
Emily from Around Chicago, IlI love this song...When the baby falls though, I like think it means into it's mother's arms. And even though it's probably not, I'm not ruining such a sweet melody with such vulgar lyrics. Too many songs have that now...
Richard from Newman Lake,, WaMoher would sit by the old pot bellied stove and rock us and softly sing through the hours of the night when one was sick. One song she sang was "Rockabye Baby" which had two verses and more to the chorus. I recorded her singing some 30 years ago and have copied the words as best I can hear them (bad recording). I don't know where she got the rest of the song but someone somewhere wrote a beautiful song.
Mgjghh from Hghfghfg, MtSure I may have loved this song when I was just
a little boy, but when I grew old enough to actually unterstand the lyrics, they terrified me and made me wonder how any person could write such a song.
Annabelle from Eugene, OrI could never stand the lyrics to this song! Especially when sung by my Grandma Dorcas! Blaaaaaaand! She couldn't carry a tune! However, I love the melody and have written a few songs that are set to this tune. Very sweet and tender.
John from Millersville, MdI love this song. The dichotomy presented by the melody and lyrics presents a depth that many modern artists cannot achieve, yet this tune is perpetually contemporary. Furthermore, the influence hereof can clearly be seen in the work of such cultural phenomena as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Elvis, Bob Dylan, and transitively almost every group out there. The lone exception, of course, is the Mafia Waffle Rebellion, who are in no way linked to this song.