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Lullabies

Go to Sleepy

 

Go to sleep, go to sleepy,

Go to sleepy little baby.

Hush little baby and don’t you cry.

Go to sleep, go to sleepy,

Go to sleepy little baby.

 

All the Pretty Little Horses

 

Hush a-bye, don’t you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake, you shall have,

All the pretty little horses.

Blacks and bays, dapples and grays,

All the pretty little horses.

Hush a-bye, don’t you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby.

 

Shady Grove

 

Refrain:  Shady grove, my little love

                Shady grove, my darlin’

                Shady grove, my little love

                I'm bound for shady grove

 

Cheeks as red as a bloomin’ rose

Eyes of the deepest brown

You are the darling of my heart

Stay till the sun goes down

 

Peaches in the summertime

Apples in the fall

If I can't have that pretty little girl

I have no one at all

 

If had a needle and thread

Fine as I could sew

I'd sew that pretty girl to my coat-tale

And down the road I'd go

 

Irish Lullaby

 

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

Oh, too-ra-loo-ra-lie.

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra.

Hush now don’t you cry.

 

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra

Oh, too-ra-loo-ra-lie.

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra.

That’s an Irish lullaby

 

 

Little Red Bird

 

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

Lonely moor, lonely moor,

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

O where did you sleep last night?

Out on a gorse-bush dark and wide,

Dark and wide, dark and wide,

Rain kept falling on ev'ry side,

O hard was my sleep last night.

 

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

Lonely moor, lonely moor,

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

O where did you sleep last night?

Did I not sleep on a swaying briar,

Swaying briar? Swaying briar?

Tossing about as the wind grew higher,

O hard was my sleep last night.

 

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

Lonely moor, lonely moor,

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

O where did you sleep last night?

Did I not sleep on a cold wave's crest,

Cold wave's crest, cold wave's crest,

Where many others have taken rest,

O hard was my sleep last night.

 

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

Lonely moor, lonely moor,

Little red bird of the lonely moor,

O where did you sleep last night?

Wrapped in two leaves I lay at ease,

Lay at ease, lay at ease,

Just like a babe on its mother's knees,

O sweet was my sleep last night.

 

(An english translation of a gaelic song “Ushag Veg Ruy” from Manx ballads, 1896.)

 

 

Lady, Lady, Buy a Broom for My Baby

 

Lady, lady, buy a broom for my baby,

Lady, lady, buy a broom for my baby,

Sweep it high, sweep it low,

Sweep the cobwebs, out of the door,

Lady, lady, buy a broom for my baby.

 

Learned from Jill Trinka “Folksongs, Singing Games, and Play Parties, Volume 1”

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