Lullabies for the music students

My office-buddy at Elphinstone Institute, Irene Watt, gave the first of a series of lectures to the Music Department at the University of Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago.


Introduced by Professor Jonathan Stephens, Irene gave a summary of her research into the folkloric power of lullabies. (Muggins was operating the powerpoint slides!) Elphinstone was well-represented by Dr Tom McKean, Norman Mackenzie (MLitt) and departmental secretary, Alison Sharman (two of whom you can see either side of the top of the harp!)

Irene accompanied herself on her clarsach - the small Scottish harp. (Tom looks like he's nodding off there!)

Now, I can vouch for the fact the harp has been in a bad way! After suffering on the way to Cardiff, apparently it had to go to harp hospital as far away as Germany!!

Anyway - the substance of this research is fascinating. Lullabies, far from just being pleasant little ditties to put babies to sleep are actually an outlet for the mother's fears - anyone whose tried to get a grumpy, greety bairn to doze off will know that some days the poor mother will feel more like wringing the wee monster's neck!

Irene explained how many lullabies mask in their soothing melodies the mother's annoyance at the child taking over her life, anger at being abandoned by her partner (common problem in folksong!) and fears for what may happen if the partner is involved in a dangerous occupation, such as being a fisherman or soldier.

The most obvious example is the song Can Ye Sew Cushions? With its rapid tempo changes into the refrain, the song swings back and forth between the mother's annoyance with the situation and her love for her children.

These lyrics are taken from the 'Scots Musical Museum' collection of 1803:

O Can ye sew cushions? And Can ye sew sheets?
And can ye sing ba-la-loo When the bairn greets?

cho: And hee and baw, birdie, hee and baw lamb
Hee and baw birdie, my bonnie wee lamb.
Hee, O, wee, O, what would I do wi' you?
Black's the life that I lead wi' you!
Mony o' you, little for to gie you
Hee, O, ee, O, what would I do wi' you?

I biggit the cradle all on the tree top
And the wind it did blaw, and the cradle did rock.

Now hush-a-ba lambie, and hush-a-ba, dear
Now hush-a-ba, lambie, thy minnie is here.

The wild wind is ravin', thy minnie's heart's sair;
The wild wind is ravin', and you dinna care.

Sing ba-la-loo, lambie, sing ba-la-loo, dear,
Does the wee lambie ken that his daddie's no here?

Ye're rockin' fu' sweetly upon my warm knee
But your daddie's a-rockin' upon the saut sea.

Other lullabies tell of historical events to train the child in its own culture, stories from the Clearances, stories to warn of their enemies - the brutal tale of the murdered lover in the Gaelic song Grigoal Cridhe, others are warning tales of women gone astray and what they are capable of The Cruel Mither kills her twins born out of wedlock yet when she sees them playing outside, not knowing they are the angels of her murdered bairns, offers them milk and treasures, but they know her crime and damn her to Hell. Lullabies have even taught of nature's power, which generations have learned to beware, e.g. the Tsunamis of the Pacific.

Ending her lecture with the haunting verbal images from a journalist in Afghanistan who is more moved by a poor Afghan woman singing lullabies to her baby in a refugee camp than any of the horrors he has seen on the battlefield, Irene got a well-deserved round of applause!

So ... the next time you sing 'Hush a bye-baby' pay closer attention to the words, you may be in for a shock!