The mother's (or father's) frame of mind is one of my
interests too. Lots of Scots lullabies as well as songs that function as
lullabies (if indeed that distinction can be made!) are anxious if not downright
creepy too e.g. Can Ye Sow
Cushions?
Whit will I dae wi ye?
Hard's the life that I spend wi you.
Mony o ye little for tae gie ye
- not that cheery - and Hishie Ba, noo I'm yer ma, is
from the viewpoint of a mother who's been abandoned by the father. And there's a
bit of poisoning going on in My Bonnie Wee Croodin Doo. I
think Lynn Wollstadt and Luisa del Giudice have a point about the therapeutic
value of a creepy lullaby for the parent singing it. Relatively modern
compositions like Matt McGinn's Miner's Lullaby would fairly guilt trip a baby
if the soul could understand . . .
Your daddy's doon the mine my darling
Doon in a three foot seam
So you can coorie doon my darling
Coorie Doon and dream
It's a bit depressing but I suspect a lot of folk use those
syrupy Disney songs as lullabies. I'll bet Celine Dion has a hand in there
somewhere too. Well we'll see.
I'm also interested in the impact of the children's
literature/CD industry nowadays? I suspect (and a trip to any big bookstore
confirms this) that a lot of Scottish parents today are singing sanitised
versions of lullabies and dandling songs from printed English sources - minus
distinctly Scots references.
Hey, I'd love to come to the next ballad conference esp. if
there's a lullaby panel - how do you go about that?
Very many thanks for weaving such a grand thread - I'm keeping
notes here . . .
Karine Polwart
