Bye, baby bunting

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"Bye, baby Bunting" is a nursery rhyme. There are several variants. One of the more common is:

Bye, baby Bunting,

Father's gone a-hunting,

Mother's gone a-milking,

Sister's gone a-silking,

Brother's gone to buy a skin

To wrap the baby Bunting in.

The earliest published version, as identified to date, appeared in England in 1784, with opening line "Cry baby Bunting," a title by which the rhyme is sometimes called:

Cry, baby Bunting,

Daddy’s gone a-hunting,

Gone to get a rabbit skin

To wrap the baby Bunting in.

Yet another (longer) version is:

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

To get a little rabbit skin

To wrap his baby Bunting in.

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

To get a little lambie skin

To wrap his baby Bunting in.

Bye, baby Bunting.

Daddy's gone a hunting,

A rosy wisp of cloud to win

To wrap his baby Bunting in .

Also known as Cry Baby Bunting.

One version (dating to 1842) may be of American origin:

Bye, baby bumpkin

Where’s Tony Lumpkin

My lady’s on her death-bed,

For eating half a pumpkin.

Bye, baby bower

My mom has plenty power

Eyes and ears and momic

Are all in her stomach!

The rhyme was memorably and sardonically illustrated by the great British artist, Randolph Caldecott.

Bugs Bunny uses a line of the Nursery Rhyme in a cartoon.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen contains the song "The Bunting Song" based on this Nursery Rhyme.

In the horror movie Black Christmas the killer Billy sings it to his dead victim wrapped in a plastic bag while rocking her in a rocking chair. The Version from "Black Christmas" is as follows

Little Baby Bunting Daddy's gone a hunting Gone to fetch a Rabbit's Skin To wrap his baby Agnes in.

The dystopian novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley contains the adapted reference "Bye baby Banting, soon you'll need decanting".