Hush, Little Baby

DESCRIPTION: "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing. Papa's gonna buy you...." And so forth, through many objects, ending "And if that () won't (), you'll still be the prettiest little baby in town."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: lullaby bird commerce gift
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Randolph 359, "Mamma, Mamma, Have You Heard?" (1 short text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 196, "Swapping Songs" (4 text plus 2 excerpts, with most texts being "The Swapping Boy," but "E" and "F" are this song)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 196, "Swapping Songs" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes; the "A" version is "The Swapping Boy"; the "E" version is "Hush Little Baby")
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, p. 100, "(Mama, Mama, don't say a word)" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, p. 96, "Hush, Li'l' Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 234, "The Mocking Bird" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Peacock, p. 15, "Lullaby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #558, p. 228, "(Hush, little baby, don't say a word)"
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 113, "Mockin' Bird" (1 text, described as a parody, but it's basically this song except that eventually father gets so angry with all the disasters that he is likely to spank the boy)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, p. 164, "Hush, Little Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, p. 61, "Hush, Little Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, pp. 224-225, "Mockingbird" (1 text, with some unusual verses; the ending may be a parody)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 409, "Hush Little Baby" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 322, 342, 389, "Hush Little Baby" (notes only)
OneTuneMore, p. 38, "Hush, Little Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #351, "Mother, mother, have you heard?" (1 text)
DT, HUSHLIL*
Roud #470
RECORDINGS:
Texas Gladden, "Hush, Baby, Don't You Cry" (AFS 5233 A4; on USTGladden01)
Mrs. Frank Tompkins, "Lullaby" (on PeacockCDROM)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Say, Darling, Say" (lyrics, tune)
cf. "Mamma's Goin' to Buy Him a Little Lap Dog (Come Up Horsie)" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "I Would That I Were Where I Wish" (format)
cf. "Three Little Angels" (tune
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Mockingbird Song
Papa's Going to Buy Me a Mockingbird
NOTES [104 words]: An Ozark version of this song ends "If that lookin-glass doesn't shine, Papa's going to shoot that beau of mine!" -- referring to a belief that mirrors only shone for chaste women.
Although this particular song seems to have become popular only recently, the form with progressive items is old; Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784), for instance, has a version of the item we index as "There Was a Man of Double Deed" beginning
A man of words and not of deeds
Is like a garden full of weeds;
And when the weeds begin to grow,
It's like a garden full of snow;
And when the snow begins to fall,
It's like a bird upon the wall.... - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: SBoA164

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