You Say You Love Me, But You Want Me To Die

I'll be willing to bet, 100 internet points, that most people reading this post will recognize the following lullaby. 

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Rock-a-bye baby is undoubtedly one of the most common lullabies sung to children throughout most of the English speaking world, and the calming melody has helped guide many fussy babies to the land of sleep and dreams. Beautiful song. Sure, that is until you actually read the words and realize you're singing about premeditated MURDER of your innocent child! It's not a beautiful song, it's horrifying and it will forever baffle me as to how anyone could sing that to their children. 

"Clam down Elise, it's not about murder. And the origins of this lullaby/poem are highly debatable at best. Besides, infants don't understand the words anyway." 

"No, you're right. But YOU do, and one day they will, too. Now stop interrupting my rant."

I understand that for the most part,  lullabies and fairy tales are used to teach children principals and important life lessons. But no matter how hard I try to analyze Rock-a-Bye Baby, I still can't get the image out of my mind of someone putting a child in the tree tops on a windy day and letting it fall. To the ground. So, with that ray of sunshine, I knew I could never sing this to my children, but in all honesty, I've always enjoyed the melody. 

Now, being one who complains with the best of them before actually doing something about it, I decided after the birth of my first child, to write my own lyrics. And guess what, it's 100 times better because it's not about murder! It's about love, and feeling protected, and I'd like to share it with you guys. You can sing it to the exact same tune and I even managed to stretch the song out into three verses by simply changing the last couple words. Plus, you can personalized the song by adding the child's name in the beginning. Now
 how cool is that?! Very. (:    

Here's my version: Rock-a-Bye Baby Revisited.

Rock-a-bye [insert child's name here], in mommy's arms,

When you are sleeping, she's never far, 

She loves you dearly, as you can see, 

So don't be afraid, and sleep well baby.

Rock-a-bye [insert child's name here], in mommy's arms,

When you are sleeping, she's never far, 

She loves you dearly, as you can see, 

So don't be afraid, and sleep well for me.

Rock-a-bye [insert child's name here], in mommy's arms,

When you are sleeping, she's never far, 

She loves you dearly, as you can see, 

So don't be afraid, and sleep well chérie.

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You know what the best part of this whole thing is? My kids, who are now 6 and almost 4, will still ask me to sing this song to them (though for my son, I have to leave out the first verse because he doesn't like being called a baby, lol). Anyway, hope you enjoyed this version as much as we do. Feel free to take it, change it around if you want, or not, make it your own but what ever you do, quit singing the old verse to your kids, sheesh!  (:    

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If you guys come up with a different version, let me know! I'd love to hear it. (: