It may sound silly, but the song “Hush Little Baby” has always made me a little uncomfortable. The lyrics have always seemed so commercial (even as a kid I thought so). I hated singing this to my kids too. It is all I’m going to BUY you this and then I’ll BUY you this and then I’ll BUY you that. As in “Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama/Papa is going to buy you a mockingbird”.
But then a while back I was reading a book to Wesley and I found the answer to my problem. The book If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullan takes a bunch of lullabies and gives them new animal appropriate lyrics. It is a very sweet book. In this book the Mama bunny doesn’t BUY her baby anything she BRINGs the baby a carrot top and clover quilt among other things. It may seem like a small, silly little thing, but it makes me feel a lot better.
I now sing the song to Wesley and Jillian like this:
Hush, little baby, don’t say a word,
Papa’s gonna bring you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don’t sing,
Papa’s gonna bring you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring turn brass,
Papa’s gonna bring you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Papa’s gonna bring you a billy goat.
And if that billy goat don’t pull,
Papa’s gonna bring you a cart and bull.
And if that cart and bull turn over,
Papa’s gonna bring you a dog named Rover.
And if that dog named Rover won’t bark.
Papa’s gonna to bring you and horse and cart.
And if that horse and cart fall down,
Well you’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.
Tags: Hush Little Baby
Ah…just another of the many ways I tortured your little soul in childhood. I sang that to your kids, too. I never thought of it as being commercial, and I’m glad you found a way that you can actually enjoy singing it to your kids. I love your mind and the amazing ways it works. Your blogs show me ever new things to learn about you. Love you,Mom
what is wrong with BUYING a diamond ring?
no discount!
Nothing wrong at all with buying a diamond ring and I would advocate it highly over stealing one. I’m just saying that telling your kids you’ll solve all their problems with money might not be the best way to go. Not that simply bringing them goods is much better, but somehow it seems a little less commercial. Maybe there is a lending library somewhere for all these items and the parent is simply borrowing them one at a time. That would be cool. Wesley would love a dog named Rover and Amber would love to be able to take it back after a couple of days.