About English Lullabies
In a BBC radio programme in the 1970’s, the presenter, O. Michael, introduced the lullabies with these words: “Of all folk songs, probably those with the greatest staying power are the lullabies created to do the special and subtle job of sending an unwilling baby to sleep. Some melodies, even those used by highly developed societies seem hardly to change in the course of thousands years. There’s a theory that the kind of lullabies that people hear in infancy may determine the whole course of a nation musicality”.
An inspiring work on lullabies is The Lullaby book by Leslie Daiken, a well-known English writer and broadcaster on lullabies and baby play. He explains that the Roman nurses used the word lalla to quiet their charges. It has aural connections with the Greek laleo and the Latin loquor, and also the Greek lalle, the sound made on the beach by the sea. There is a suggestion that lullaby is a contraction of lulla-baby. A case is made for its derivation from the Nordic root, to lull, of which there exists a very early record. However, variants on the syllable strengthen the theory that lullaby’s origin comes from the Latin lullare. Lullabies, whatever language they use, vibrate with soporific noises. As Spanish mother’s infuse their singing with the delightful aroro, of an undoubted Andalusian flavour, in the same way, the English mothers create primitive repetitive notes, such as ba-ha ba-ah ba-ha ba-ha. Words of such caliber help us to place an atmosphere, a culture; they are the pigments of ‘local colour’. The power of monotony is an intrinsic element in lullabies. It has the almost physical nearness of a metronome. The rhythm of one and two remind that of the mother’s heartbeat, the rhythm that all living beings hear from their first spark of life in this world, from ancient times as well as today.
There are English lullabies connected to ‘singing inward’ and those connected to a ‘singing outwards’. The ‘Singing Inward’ kind of song affirms the unpredictability of existence. It is a kind of a dialogue with the child who understands more than we think. The ‘Singing Outward’ lullaby affirms all-rightness of the world. Everything described is placid and reassuring. Father may have gone hunting, fishing, tending sheep, or milling flour. But he will be home soon. When parents are not present, the lullaby consoles them. Their absence is always explained. Gifts and rewards play another role subject. Bribes for good behaviour adorn the sweetest lullabies. These bribes range from the simplest comforts to impossibilities of riches and power. Threats and punishments are not missing in the British repertoire and bogeys have been invoked in English lullabies from time to time.
There is another element worth mentioning, which is that of the Sleep Personified from the mythology of the Land of Nod. We find cozy and protective personages: singing birds, host of angels, fairy guardians with magical powers. The German Sandmännchen (Little Sandman) has his English counterpart, who comes on tiptoe to sprinkle gentle sleep-dust upon wakeful eyelids.