What's the origin of Rock-a-bye-baby'?

Question

When and where was it created. Who created it and what is the meaning behind it?

Answer 1

"The author of this well-loved lullaby was reportedly a pilgrim who sailed on the Mayflower. The Wampanoag Indians, who befriended the colonists, carried their infants in cradleboards on their backs. In temperate weather, they suspended the cradles from tree limbs so that passing breezes could rock the babies while their mothers tended the maize and beans. With typical motherly indulgence, the cradles were decorated with shells, beads and porcupine quills. For sober-minded puritans, the sight of a birch tree festooned with such cradles must have been very memorable indeed. "

Answer 2

Rock-a-bye Baby is an American nursery rhyme, whose melody is a variant of the English satirical ballad Lilliburlero. Originally titled "Hushabye Baby", this nursery rhyme was said to be the first poem written on American soil. Although there is no evidence when the song was written, it may date from the 1600s. It is rumoured that it was written by a young pilgrim who sailed to America on the Mayflower. He was said to have observed the way Native American women rocked their babies in birch bark cradles, which were suspended from the high branches of trees, allowing the wind to rock the baby to sleep.

Another source reports that Effie Crockett, a relative of Davy Crockett, wrote the lyrics in 1872 while babysitting a restless child.

In Derbyshire, England, local legend has it that the song relates to a local character in the late 1700s, Betty Kenny (Kate Kenyon), who lived with her charcoal-burner husband Luke and their eight children in a huge yew tree in Shining Cliff Woods in the Derwent Valley, where a hollowed-out bough served as a cradle
-wikipedia

The words and lyrics to this nursery rhyme are reputed to reflect the observations of a young pilgrim boy in America who had seen Native Indian mothers suspend a birch bark cradle from the branches of a tree enabling the wind to rock the cradle and the child to sleep. The rhyme also hold a warning on the choice of bough!
-famousquotes

Answer 3

I wish I could help you with the origin, but unfortunately, the only thing I can tell ya is that I always worried about the baby falling and getting hurt when the bough breaks.

Answer 4

Now, this is just something I heard years ago, so don't count it as gospel, but I had heard it was a song about indians and how they would rock their babies. They would but them in something that rocked and when the wind blew, it soothed the babies.

Answer 5

it was about politics
the politician at the the top of the tree was childlike
when something went wrong (the wind blows) it would all come crashing down because the "baby" had no controll

Answer 6

my mom sang it when i was a baby does that count!
rock a bye baby on a tree top when the wind blows the cradel will rock somethin somthin

Answer 7

To get the baby to go to sleep.
http://www.nursuryrhymes.com

Answer 8

it is a lullaby. that is the meaning and does it really matter? i mean who cares right?