Rock-a-bye Baby

Rock-a-bye baby
On the tree top.
When the wind blows,
the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
the cradle will fall.
And down will come baby,
cradle and all.

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of the song "Rock-a-bye Baby." While it's got a catchy tune, I've never understood how you can sing lyrics to a baby about a bough breaking and the baby falling down. It never made sense to me how this was appropriate for children. But we've all heard it, and we've probably all sung it anyway. This aversion on my part led me to look up the meaning of the song and hopefully ascertain how it became a children's song in the first place. And this is what I found (from Wikipedia)...

Origin Theory #1
One theory suggests the rhyme narrates a mother gently rocking her baby to sleep, as if the baby were riding the treetops during a breeze; then, when the mother lowers the baby to her crib, the song says "down will come baby."

Origin Theory #2
Another identifies the rhyme as the first English poem written on American soil, suggesting it dates from the 17th century and that it may have been written by an English colonist who observed the way Native American women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles, which were suspended from the branches of trees, allowing the wind to rock the baby to sleep.

Origin Theory #3
In Derbyshire, England, local legend has it that the song relates to a local character in the late 18th century, Betty Kenny (Kate Kenyon), who lived with her 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.

Origin Theory #4
Yet another theory is that the song is from the 17th-century British navy to describe the 'tree top, or cradle' (now commonly referred to as the crows nest) the powder boys (or cabin boys) had to climb up too to keep a look out. If you keep in mind this was the highest point in the ship and read the lyrics with this thought the Nursery Rhyme makes perfect sense. "When the wind blows, the cradle will rock", The highest point of the ship will rock the most. "When the bough breaks,the cradle will fall". The Bough is the front of the ship, and the bough breaking describes the front of the ship breaking over a wave. "And down will come Baby,Cradle and all". It was almost common place that the cradle would break during a storm.

Origin Theory #5
Yet another theory has it that the lyrics, like the tune "Lilliburlero" it is sung to, refer to events immediately preceding the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The baby is supposed to be the son of James VII and II, who was widely believed to be someone else's child smuggled into the birthing room in order to provide a Roman Catholic heir for James. The "wind" may be that Protestant "wind" or force "blowing" or coming from the Netherlands bringing James' nephew and son-in-law William of Orange, who would eventually depose King James II in the revolution. The "cradle" is the royal House of Stuart. The earliest recorded version of the words in print appeared with a footnote, "This may serve as a warning to the Proud and Ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last," which may be read as supporting a satirical meaning. It would help to substantiate the suggestion of a specific political application for the words; however, if they and the "Lilliburlero" tune could be shown to have been always associated.

I feel that Origin Theory #5 is most likely the truth, as we often throughout history have had "fun" and "harmless" children's songs or books that masked political or historical things going on in culture at the time (see origin theory about the Great Plague for the song "Ring-a-round the Rosie" or hidden meanings in The Wizard of Oz). Writers would hide meanings so as not to come under direct scrutiny or aim of the exact "powers that be" that they were writing about. Also, it's too coincidental that both had the same tune.

That being said, my favorite theory has to be Origin Theory #2. I like the idea of Native Americans rocking their babies to sleep by hanging them in trees and letting the wind blow the cradles. This one also seems plausible since the timing of it lines up with the first published copy of this song in Mother Goose's Melody in 1765.

Having done all of this research and dug into the history of the song more, I now have a deeper respect for it. I have always liked historical "mysteries" like this, and it makes me see the song in a whole new light. I still might not sing it to my son, but at least I have an answer if he ever asks me about its meaning!