Origins of the "go to sleep little baby" lullaby?

[Oceanicpuppy]

if you seen o brother where art thou the film you might remember the song sung by the sirens
Where did this song originate? it sounds like an old blues or slave song. But the internet keeps saying it a white bluegrass song. However the lyrics don't seem to reflect that.
go to sleep you little baby
go to sleep you little baby

your momma's gone away and your
daddys gonna stay
didn't leave nobody but the baby

go to sleep you little baby
go to sleep you little baby

everybody's gone in the cotton and
the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby

You're a sweet little baby
You're a sweet little baby

Honey and a rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby

Don't you weep pretty baby
Don't you weep pretty baby

She's long gone with her red shoes on
Gonna need another loving baby

don't you weep pretty baby
don't you weep pretty baby

you and me and the devil makes
three don't need no other loving baby

go to sleep you little baby
go to sleep you little baby

come lay your bones on the alabaster stone
and be my ever loving baby




Source: <a href="GO TO SLEEP YOU LITTLE BABY Lyrics - SOGGY BOTTOM BOYS">click here</a>

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

To me it sounds like a slave killing there baby by the master, you hear stories of slave women killing their babies so they wouldnt be a slave. However the red shoes verse kinda flips that.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

I liked that movie, but wouldn't be surprised if it was from a Blues song by slaves.

This part:
'You're a sweet little baby
You're a sweet little baby'

Sounds like a slave women about to kill the master's baby. But maybe @IllmaticDelta can help us out more.

 

[JahFocus CS]

To me it sounds like a slave killing there baby by the master, you hear stories of slave women killing their babies so they wouldnt be a slave. However the red shoes verse kinda flips that.

That is a frightening and tragic situation

We've been through so much JAH bless the ancestors

 

[IllmaticDelta]

if you seen o brother where art thou the film you might remember the song sung by the sirens
Where did this song originate? it sounds like an old blues or slave song. But the internet keeps saying it a white bluegrass song.

It's not a bluegrass song, it's an Afram folk lullabye

Here are two older versions

 

[Bawon Samedi]

It's not a bluegrass song, it's an Afram folk lullabye

Here are two older versions

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

It's not a bluegrass song, it's an Afram folk lullabye

Here are two older versions

Thanks man rep plus

 

[MostReal]

I should of known it was a black folks song. It has that grit and hurt in the lyrics

 

[IllmaticDelta]

On the OST to that movie there were a number of folk songs of Afram origin that went uncredited to their real origins. I might make a thread on/about/featuring popular Afram folk songs

 

[IllmaticDelta]

On the OST to that movie there were a number of folk songs of Afram origin that went uncredited to their real origins. I might make a thread on/about/featuring popular Afram folk songs

what section would the thread (if I make it) go in?

 

[I Lord Justice]

Hmmm....

I might be wrong, but I think it may mean that the mother died or ran off, the father has run off and is going to stay gone. The red shoes makes me think that the woman has run off to be a prostitute, perhaps the baby was an illegimate birth at a time when any extra mouths were impossible to care for. So the mother ran off, the father may have been unknown or uncaring. Everyone else was in the field working, or had gone away in search of work to work distant fields.

The verse:

"Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby"

May mean that the singer was mixing a bottle and adding honey and sugar (and lots of it) to hide the taste of poison. The remaining verses then become obvious:

"Go to sleep little baby
Got to sleep little baby

You and me and the devil make three
Don't need no other lovin' babe

come lay bones on the alabaster stones
and be my everlovin' baby "

The singer is basically saying, "drink this, go to sleep, your mamma ain't coming back, now there's only me and the devil to care for you", as if the singer knows that what she is doing is immoral but necessary. And the last verse, "and be my everlovin' baby" refers to live hereafter. As if the singer is professing everlasting love to this poor child she had put in the ground because there was no one to care for it.

Dark shyt.

 

[Rhapscallion Démone]

Hmmm....

I might be wrong, but I think it may mean that the mother died or ran off, the father has run off and is going to stay gone. The red shoes makes me think that the woman has run off to be a prostitute, perhaps the baby was an illegimate birth at a time when any extra mouths were impossible to care for. So the mother ran off, the father may have been unknown or uncaring. Everyone else was in the field working, or had gone away in search of work to work distant fields.

The verse:

"Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby"

May mean that the singer was mixing a bottle and adding honey and sugar (and lots of it) to hide the taste of poison. The remaining verses then become obvious:

"Go to sleep little baby
Got to sleep little baby

You and me and the devil make three
Don't need no other lovin' babe

come lay bones on the alabaster stones
and be my everlovin' baby "

The singer is basically saying, "drink this, go to sleep, your mamma ain't coming back, now there's only me and the devil to care for you", as if the singer knows that what she is doing is immoral but necessary. And the last verse, "and be my everlovin' baby" refers to live hereafter. As if the singer is professing everlasting love to this poor child she had put in the ground because there was no one to care for it.

Dark shyt.

Damn.....

 

[Larry Lobster]

Spooky.

 

[Taharqa]

It's not a bluegrass song, it's an Afram folk lullabye

Here are two older versions

 

[Keepya onya toes]

The song is creepy to hear...