Lullabies are lyrical nursery rhymes designed to soothe crying babies and young children in distress. Famous examples of American lullabies include “Rock a Bye Baby” and “Brahm’s Lullaby,” the latter of which was adapted from an old German lullaby of the same name. Lullabies are by no means a modern, or American, invention. A Babylonian tablet in the British Museum contains what some archaeomusicologists (scholars of ancient music) believe to be the earliest recorded lullaby from roughly 4000 BCE. Etched in cuneiform script, the lullaby chastises a crying baby for waking the house god and pleads with the infant to stop before the house god gets angry and eats it. Many lullabies, though often associated with melodic, soothing sounds and images of mothers cradling children, carry deeper meanings that can hide sinister or disturbing messages.
Some lullaby scholars believe that origins of the lullaby date back to biblical times. Some argue that root of the word “lullaby” comes from the old Jewish term “Lilith abi,” which is Hebrew for “Lilith, go away.” The legendary Lilith is originally found in the Hebrew mythology of the Babylonian Talmud. She was the first wife of Adam, the first man created by God, but unlike the later Eve, she was not created from Adam’s rib. Instead, Lilith was created individually, as Adam was. However, she wanted to leave the Garden of Eden of her own accord. Because Adam and God denied her desire to leave, she swore revenge on Adam’s children before her departure. It was because of Lilith’s overt independence that God chose to make Eve, the next wife, out of Adam’s rib so that he would have greater control over her.
Sheet music cover image of “Creep Into Bed, My Baby: A Pretty Waltz Lullaby” by F. Belasco, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1885. Although “Rock a Bye Baby” is perhaps the best-known of American lullabies, such lyrical nursery rhymes stretch back across thousands of years and miles, often masking deeper folkloric messages than their surface meanings might suggest. (Sheridan Libraries/Levy/Gado/Getty Images)
A secondary theory explaining the connection between the word “lullaby” with Lilith is that she was not a human. Some folklore scholars believe that Lilith was a succubus. A succubus is a female demon (sometimes associated with the vampire) who would seduce men and then spawn children out of wedlock. These scholars see Lilith as a succubus who would sleep with men to bear their children. Upon birthing these children, she would then kill them.
Lilith maintained her dedication to revenge on Adam’s children. She told Adam and Eve that their only means of protection would be to say the names of the three angels over their children before bed and hang amulets of protection over the sleeping babies. This legend behind the origins of lullaby not only explains the origins of the word but also provides some insight into the macabre nature of many lullaby lyrics. Many of these lullabies express fears or doubts on behalf of the singing mother. Additionally, infant mortality rates were very high for several centuries because of lack of medical knowledge, lack of nutrition for infants, and high susceptibility to disease. Earlier cultures may even have attributed sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to Lilith’s desire for vengeance. When a baby died without obvious cause, illness, or physical harm, Lilith was a convenient explanation. The lullaby became the number-one weapon for new and expecting mothers to protect their infants from supernatural harm.
Aside from child protection, the lullaby also served as a form of therapy for the mothers who sang them. Some researchers attribute the morose lyrics and themes in lullabies to mothers’ real-life sadness. Often describing heartache, famine, disease, and death, mothers used the lyrical poetry of lullabies to express their emotions in a safe environment—namely, the home. This was especially critical in cultures that did not give women much autonomy or control over their immediate environment.
In 2013, researcher Nina Perry published an article through BBC News that explores the universal language of lullabies. In this report, she expresses fears that modern technological cultures, especially those of the United States and the United Kingdom, threaten the long history of the lullaby. Modern means of soothing crying children have largely replaced traditional mother-to-child lullabies in these cultures. Furthermore, she presents the idea that television and radio have enabled parents to soothe crying children through third-party means. The article presents an interesting modern take on the current status of the lullaby in American culture. But Perry’s research also suggests that there is something universal about the lullaby that will prevent its extinction: the lullaby is simply an intuitive product of motherhood.
Ashley Szanter
See also Game Songs and Rhymes; Nursery Rhymes
Further Reading
De Pauw, Linda Grant. 2000. Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Parker, Philip M., ed. 2009. Lullaby: Webster’s Timeline History, 1590–2007. Las Vegas, NV: ICON Group International.
Perry, Nina. 2013. “The Universal Language of Lullabies.” BBC News Magazine. January 21. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21035103. Accessed September 10, 2015.