What'll I Do with the Baby-O

DESCRIPTION: Song describes various things to do with baby: wrap him up in calico, put him in his cradle, wrap him in the table cloth, throw him in the hayloft, hang him in the tree top, etc. Also, "How in the world do the old folks know I like sugar in my coffee-O?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: drink food humorous lullaby playparty baby floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 228, "What'll we do with the Baby?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 26-27, "What'll I Do with the Baby-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol2, pp. 18-19, "What You Gonna Do With the Baby-o?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 173, "What Will I Do with the Baby-O?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, p. 162, "What'll I Do with the Baby-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 234, "Charlie, Won't You Rock the Cradle" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 407, "Prettiest Little Baby In The County-O"; 408, "What'll We Do With The Baby-O?" (2 texts)
Brady-AllInAllIn, pp. 162-164, "Sew, Sew, Sew"/"(K is for Kathleen)" (1 text, which seems to be related to this, as part of a larger game)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 31, "Mammy, Mammy told me O, You're the sweetest little baby in the county O" (1 fragment, which appears to be of this although Roud files it as a separate item, #25363)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, John Foster West, "Folklore of a Mountain Childhood," Vol. XVI, No. 3 (Nov 1968), p. 166, "(Whatcha gonna do with the baby?" (1 text); article reprinted (with text reset) in Vol. LII, No. 3 (Nov 1968), p. 8
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, W. Amos Abrams, "Time Was: Its Lore and Language," Vol. XIX, No. 2 (Mar 1971), p. 43, "(Whatcha gonna do with the baby?)" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Daun Daemon, "Family Legends and Lullabies: My Gift to John Foster West," Vol. LII, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 2005), p. 6, "(Whatcha gonna do with the baby?" (1 text)
DT, DOBABYO
ADDITIONAL: James P. Leary, Compiler and Annotator, _Wisconsin Folklore_ University of Wisconsin Press, 2009, article "Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin" by Asher E. Treat, pp. 249-250, "What Will I Do with the Baby-Oh?" (1 text, 1 tune, sung by Pearl Jacobs Borusky)
Roud #826
RECORDINGS:
Coon Creek Girls, "What Do I Do With the Baby-O" (Songs from Renfro Valley - Bell, mx. 2002, n.d., postwar)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Sugar in my Coffee" (Crown 3075, c. 1930)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "What You Gonna Do with the Baby?" (Victor V-40268, 1930; rec. 1929)
Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, "Whatcha Gonna Do With the Baby?" (Bluebird B-8391, 1940)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "What You Gonna Do With the Baby-O?" (King 538, 1946)
Frank Proffitt, "Baby-O" (Proffitt03)
Jean Ritchie & Roger Sprung, "What'll I Do With the Baby-O?" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock-A-Bye Baby" (words)
cf. "Sugar In My Coffee" (floating lyrics)
File: R565

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