Performed by Bessie Wentworth (1873-1901)įrom. Written and composed by Hattie Starr - 1893 Thank you, my mother at 99.5 has been singing this lullaby which her mother used to sing to her. Such a beautiful lullaby and so sad that offensive meanings have attached themselves to simple descriptive words that it's innappopriate today to pass this on. Go to sleep my little pickaninny, mumma's going to smack you if you don't (and she used to whisper 'no she won't') Hush a bye, don't you cry, mumma's little baby, mumma's little Alabama coon. it takes me back to the cotton fields, to the rough and the tumble in the snow (snow? where did you get that from mum?) where my dadda picked the cotton and my mumma watched me grow, and this is the song she sang. I remember seeing a big white moon, I remember hearing one sweet song. She's mumma's little Alabama coon, and she's not been born very long. She smiled and remembered it and joined in with me, a very special moment. I sang it to my babies 20 years ago and today sang it back to my 86 year old mum who is now like a child again. It's one of my most treasured memories of childhood bedtimes. I was born in SE England in 1964 and my mum sang this to me.
![hush little babby hush little babby](https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/0ce2c222298163.56045d834db80.jpg)
When I's big, I's gwine to wed a yellow gal,ĭen dat yellow gal shall rock ‘em on her bosom, Rock a by! hush a by! mammy's little baby,ĭey's gwine to christen me h'yar very soon! Slumber on de bosom of yo' ole mammy Jinny, While my daddy pick de cotton, mammy watch me grow,Ĭhorus: Go to sleep, my little picaninny, When dey tote me down to de cotton field,
![hush little babby hush little babby](https://img.memecdn.com/hush-little-baby_o_6681003.jpg)
Mammy’s picked the corn and daddy picked the cotton She took my mother as babe in arms to the cinema to watch Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927) so I know she was familiar with some minstrel music.įried fish potato chips, sausage and prolong ' Hush Little Baby ' is a Sesame Street lullaby performed by the Pointer Sisters. Grandma lived in Newcastle, played the piano and sang in a quavering voice. I sang it to my daughters and now to my grandchildren. My grandma sang a version of this to me and my brothers in the 1950’s.