B Toelken writes:

  In the American West, it was very common to sing 
  [the broadside ballad] 'Two Babes in the Woods' 
  as a lullaby. 

M Preston adds:

   Not all of us *old* westerners have a "clue" about 
   "Two Babes in the Woods." Some may have, and for them 
   it's presumably important. I'd urge that "sub-cultures" 
   be considered. ... [Still] As Georgina rightly pointed 
   out, there's a clear split between what we consider to 
   be generic lullabies and what are actually used as 
   songs sung to put kids to sleep. 

True. I don't know about the distinction (between ethnic/generic?) mentioned
on this interesting thread introduced by K Polwart, but, from at least a
*philosophical* point of view, there is what (I think since Aristotle) has
been called *a functional definition*. You define a thing by what the thing
*does* (to you): a ballad (from L. ballare) is *for dancing*, a lullaby is
*anything* used to *lull* (ie. soothe to sleep or quiescence, from Latin
'lollare' =  to sing to sleep), etc.

I don't know about Western subcultures, but I was interested in the
reference to 'Two Babes in The Wood'. I guess the source is Cockney? Thus I
read in the memoirs of Anglo-Argentine author Ruth Chiswell, A Moving Story:
>From Place to Place' (London: Minerva Press. The author was born, of
'Cockney' parents, in Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, in 1918:

   My mother often played the piano, and in the evenings
   we would stand round it and sing such old-fashioned 
   ballads as 'Old Folks at Home' and 'Bells of St Mary's'.
   I would plead for 'The Babes in the Wood', a sentimental
   account of babes lost in a wood and DYING AND THE ROBINS
   BURYING THEM UNDER LEAVES, which reduced me to sobs by
   the time it finished (op. cit, p.24).

THE PORTER LULLABY

Now, I think this [broadside ballad] should be distinguished from Cole
Porter's 'Two Little Babes In The Wood' (c) 1928 - in e.g. Warner's 100 Best
Songs of the 20s & 30s). Wonder what *Porter* was having in mind when he
wrote this. I fail to find out if he first used the waltz in a revue or
something. Interestingly, the lyrics make reference to the 'lullaby'
context, with even the word 'lullaby' occurring (in the morbid collocation,
'*last lullaby*), as sung by 'the breeze, hov'ring high':

   There's a tale of two little orphans
   Who were left in their uncle's care,
   To be reared & ruled, & properly schooled,
   Till they grew to be ladies fair.
   But, oh, the luckless pair!
   For the uncle, he was a cruel trustee,
   & he longed to possess their gold,
   So he led them thence 
   To a forest dense,
   Where he left them to die of cold,
   That, at least, is what we're told.
   Refrain: They were two little babes in the wood,
   Two little babes, oh, so good!
   Two little hearts, two little heads,
   Longed to be home in their two little beds,
   So two little bids built a nest
   Where the two little babes went to rest,
   While the breeze, hov'ring high, 
   Sang a last lullaby,
   To the two little babes in the wood.

Good luck to Karine Polwart in her research,

  With best wishes,

     J L Speranza
     Buenos Aires, Argentina
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