All the Pretty Little Horses

DESCRIPTION: "Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep you little baby. When you wake, you shall have All the pretty little horses." The horses are described. Another verse describes a baby (lamb) left in a meadow at the mercy of the birds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: lullaby animal horse
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (26 citations):
Randolph 269, "Black Sheep Lullaby" (2 short texts, both rather far removed from the usual form; 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 96, "Bones" (1 short text, 1 tune, probably this); p. 101, "The Little Ponies" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Curtis-Burlin-NegroFolkSongs-TheHamptonSeries (IV), pp. 149-152, "Lullaby" (1 text with variants, 1 tune with variants)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 115, "Hush-a-Bye, Don't You Cry" (3 text plus mention of 1 more); also 117,
"Poor Little Lamb Cries Mammy" (3 short texts, perhaps related to the Randolph version)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 115, "Hush-a Bye, Don't You Cry" (1 tune plus a text excerpt); 117, "Poor Little Lamb Cries 'Mammy!'" (1 tunes plus a text excerpt); pp. 508-509, "Old Witch" (1 short text, 1 tune, too brief to identify but with rhymes reminiscent of this)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, pp.145-148, "Lullaby," (no title), "Go to Sleepy, Little Baby," "Got to Sleep, Little Baby," (no title), (no title), "Ole Cow," (no title) (8 texts, most short, 2 tunes); also probably pp. 148-149, "Baa-Baa Black Sheep" (1 short text, one tune, which is much like this piece except for the first line)
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, p. 100, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, p. 267, "Go to Sleepy"; Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, p. 268, "Go to Sleep" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, p. 179, "Go to Sleep Little Baby"; p. 181, "Go to Sleepy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 454-455, "Go To Sleepy" (1 text, 1 tune, in which the child is promised rewards upon waking -- but seemingly also threatened with the "booger man" if it won't sleep)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 233, "Mammy Loves" (1 short text, 1 tune, with a first verse that might be something else, e.g. "I Love my Love (II)")
Trent-Johns-PlaySongsOfTheDeepSouth, pp. 20-21, "Go To Sleepy, Little Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 204-205, "Hushabye (All the Pretty Little Horses)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 2, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 304-305, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 265, "Black Sheep" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingingFamilyOfTheCumberlands, pp. 217-218, "[Horsey Song]" (1 text, 1 tune, partly repeated on page 223)
Warner-FolkSongsAndBalladsOfTheEasternSeaboard, p. 39, "Go to Sleep" (1 text)
Botkin-TreasuryOfSouthernFolklore, p. 704, "You Shall Have a Horse to Ride" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cray-AshGrove, pp. 15-16, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 224, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (1 text); also probably p. 235, "Go to Sleepy, Little Baby" (very short fragment)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 407, "All The Pretty Little Horses" (1 text)
Tobitt-TheDittyBag, p. 122, "Go To Sleepy" (1 text, 1 tune, from Sandburg)
Tobitt-YoursForASong, p. 10, "Go To Sleepy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ALLHORSE
Roud #6705
RECORDINGS:
Texas Gladden, "Whole Heap a Little Horses" (on LomaxCD1702)
Kate W. Jones (TX), "All Those Pretty Little Horses" (AFS 02590a04, 1939)
Pete Seeger, "All the Pretty Little Horses" (on GrowOn2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lost Babe" (theme of young one at the mercy of birds)
File: LxU002

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