All the Pretty Horses (lullaby)
"All the Pretty Little Horses" (also known as "Hush-a-bye") is a traditional African American lullaby from the southern United States.
Meaning
It was originally sung by an African American slave who could not take care of her baby because she was too busy taking care of her master's child. She would sing this song to her master's child (Lacy 1986, p. 76). Originally, the lyrics were "birds and butterflies, peck at his eyes" but were changed to "birds and butterflies, flutter 'round his eyes" to make the lullaby less violent for younger children. This theory is backed by the reference to "wee little lamby...cried for her mammy" as slaves were often forcibly separated from their own families in order to serve their owners. This verse is in a very different emotional tenor to the rest of the lullaby, suggesting a particular significance.
[[File:==Lyrics== The oldest surviving set of lyrics are as follows:
- Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
- Go to sleepy little baby.
- When you wake, you shall have,
- All the pretty little ponies.
- Blacks and bays, dapples and greys,
- Go to sleepy you little baby,
- Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
- Go to sleepy little baby.
- Daddys boy mamas joy
- go to slumberland my baby
- When you wake, you shall have,
- All the pretty little ponies.
- hush your crys
- close your eyes
- dream of pretty little poniess
- hush a bye dont you cry go to sleep my little baby
- darkness falls and man calls
- go to sleep my little baby
- When you wake, you shall have,
- All the pretty little ponies.
- up and down round and round
- dream of pretty little horses
- hush a bye dont you cry go to sleep my little baby
- go to sleep my little baby.
Musical and literary adaptations
"All the Pretty Little Horses" has inspired a variety of recordings (both direct performances of the known lyrics and adaptations thereof). Some of the singers who have recorded adaptations of "All the Pretty Little Horses" include (but are not limited to):
- Barbara Dickson
- Becky Jean Williams
- Caroline Herring
- Calexico
- Charlotte Church
- The Chieftains with Patty Griffin
- Coil, as "All the Pretty Little Horses", for their album Black Antlers
- Current 93, two versions as "All the Pretty Little Horses", for their 1996 album of the same name, one sung by Nick Cave
- Esther Ofarim
- Friends of Dean Martinez
- Grant Campbell For The Burrowers
- Holly Cole, as "All the Pretty Little Horses", for her 1997 album Dark Dear Heart
- Joan Baez
- The Journeymen on their 1963 album "New Directions in Folk Music"
- Judy Collins, for her 1990 album Baby's Bedtime
- Suzanne Langille & Loren Connors, as "Horses Blues" on "Suzanne Langille & Loren MazzaCane Connors 1987-1989" CD, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKOiHGEFDr0&feature=related
- Kenny Loggins, as "All the Pretty Little Ponies", for his 1994 album Return to Pooh Corner
- Laura Gibson, as "All the Pretty Horses", for her EP Six White Horses
- Odetta, as "Pretty Horses"
- Olivia Newton-John
- Peter, Paul and Mary, as "Hush-A-Bye", for their 1963 album In the Wind
- Sam Cahoon as "All the Pretty Little Horses", on his 2008 album The Dismal Stars and the Clouds Afar
- Shawn Colvin
- Shearwater, as "All the Pretty Horses", for their 2004 split album Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral
- The New Christy Minstrels, on their album "Live From Ledbetters", recorded live on April 10, 11 & 12, 1964, released in 1999.
It has also inspired several pieces of literature, including Cormac McCarthy's award winning novel in 1992 (All the Pretty Horses), a young adult short story in the 1998 Here There Be Ghosts collection by Jane Yolen and David Wilgus, as well as Lisa Saport's 1999 children's picture book adaptation (All the Pretty Little Horses: A Traditional Lullaby).
Sources
- American Folk Traditional: According to Living Documents in American History from Earliest Colonial Times to the Civil War, edited by John A Scott, (Trident Press 1963), the song was collected by Alan Lomax, who learned it from his mother, who took it from North Carolina to Texas after the Civil War.
- National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services (http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/prettyhorses.htm)