The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Your mama's gone away and your daddy's gonna stay
Didn't leave nobody but the baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn
Didn't leave nobody but the baby
You're sweet, little babe (You're sweet, little babe)
You're sweet, little babe (You're sweet, little babe)
Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna' bring a bottle to the baby
Don't you, weep pretty babe (Don't you, weep pretty babe)
Don't you, weep pretty babe (Don't you, weep pretty babe)
She's long gone with her red shoes on
Gonna' need another lovin' baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
You and me and the Devil makes three
Don't need no other lovin' baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones
And be my ever-lovin' baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Your mama's gone away and your daddy's gonna stay
Didn't leave nobody but the baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn
Didn't leave nobody but the baby
You're sweet, little babe (You're sweet, little babe)
You're sweet, little babe (You're sweet, little babe)
Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna' bring a bottle to the baby
Don't you, weep pretty babe (Don't you, weep pretty babe)
Don't you, weep pretty babe (Don't you, weep pretty babe)
She's long gone with her red shoes on
Gonna' need another lovin' baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
You and me and the Devil makes three
Don't need no other lovin' baby
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Go to sleep you little babe (Go to sleep you little babe)
Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones
And be my ever-lovin' baby
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It is a lullaby that was sung by slaves. It has a sweet melody for the baby, and is a way for the singer (most likely an older slave that can no longer do hard labor) to express what has happend (just as if you were singing to a baby and making up the words as you go.) The words are more for the singer than the baby. The song is sung to the baby but is truly a way for the singer to express.
go to sleep little babe go to sleep little babe
your momma's gone away and your daddy's gone to stay (actual lyric is gone to stay) didn't leave nobody but the baby (the mom has left and the dad has died)
go to sleep little babe go to sleep little babe
everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby (everyone else has gone to work and the singer is left with the baby)
you're a sweet little babe you're a sweet little babe
honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop gonna bring a bottle to the baby (honey in the rock means to fill with delight from the truths of faith, the 'sugar' is the sweetness of the 'honey')
don't you weep pretty babe don't you weep pretty babe
she's long gone with her red shoes on gonna need another loving babe (this line is explaining where the mother has gone, alot of people think this means she is a harlot, but i think the red shoes are a symbol for the blood on her worn feet. she is a slave and made to work. the next line refers to the fact that she has lost her baby and woman that have lost a baby need the hole left by the loss filled)
go to sleep little babe go to sleep little babe
you and me and the devil makes three don't need no other lovin' babe (the 'devil' here is the slave owner. Its just the singer, the baby and the slave owner left. The second line is expressing her love for the baby)
go to sleep little babe go to sleep little babe
come lay bones on the alabaster stones and be my everlovin' baby (Alabaster stones are used for healing,they have to heal themselves. The singer has now taken on the role of mother, the second line refers to her inviting the baby to be hers forever)
@mysong25 Amazing breakdown of the lyrics. Just listening to Another Day, Another Time as Gillian Welch, Carey Mulligan and Rhiannon Giddens sang the shit out of this song.
Thank you. Reading the other answer almost made my head explode. Like if you don't know just STFU pls. The question was whay does it mean not what can you make up about it
Freaking baby killer fantasies and crap. Lol. It is clearly a slave song about everything you said
this is one of my favorite songs ever just because its so haunting and resonates within my soul. if i were to guess what it is even about(it was originally a black folk song), i would imagine that maybe it's a lullaby that a grandma would sing to a little baby who's mom just died. it's maybe in the mom's point of view saying "i'm gone, but you still have your father and one day you can lay your bones on the alabaster stone and be my everlovin baby" or perhaps a mother singing to her child that was about to be taken away from her during the slave days. either way it a beautiful song and i could think of any other 3 women that could pull this off like those 3 did.
Hmmm....
I heard this song and thought it was great. But the more I listened the deeper, darker meaning it seemed to have.
I may be wrong, but I think it may mean that the mother died or ran off, the father has run off and is going to stay gone. The red shoes makes me think that the woman has run off to be a harlot, perhaps the baby was an illegimate birth at a time when any extra mouths were impossible to care for. So the mother ran off, the father may have been unknown or uncaring. Everyone else was in the field working, or had gone away in search of work to work distant fields.
The verse
Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop Gonna bring a bottle to the baby
May mean that the singer was mixing a bottle and adding honey and sugar (and lots of it) to hide the taste of poison. The remaining verses then become obvious.
Go to sleep little baby Got to sleep little baby
You and me and the devil make three Don't need no other lovin' babe
come lay bones on the alabaster stones and be my everlovin' baby
The singer is basically saying, drink this, go to sleep, your mamma ain't coming back, now there's only me and the devil to care for you, as if the singer knows that what she is doing is immoral but necessary. And the last verse, "and be my everlovin' baby" refers to live hereafter. As if the singer is professing everlasting love to this poor child she had put in the ground because there was no one to care for it.
Pretty dark I know... but...
Thoughts?
of course, you are spot on about the meaning of that song. By the way the whole "O brother" soundtrack if filled with songs about death suffering, and the hope for afterlife. So that extraordinary song is in line with the rest of the selection.
Wow you totally nailed it. I wasn't sure what this song was about until I read your post and I just knew that was the answer! I have read a few books about slavery, incl. Uncle Tom's Cabin, so I know this is not an uncommon thing. Makes me want to cry just thinking about it! What a gut-wrenching decision to make... Such a beautiful song, but I'm not sure I will be singing it to my kids :)
This song is an African American slave song, which was remade by Emmylou Harris. If Emmylou Harris truly understood the nature or meaning of song. She would have never rewrittten the lyrics. The oringinal song does not mention red shoes, bones nor the devil. As slaves sang and played, they used hand-clapping and foot-stamping to create rhythmic beats in the tradition of African music. <br /> <br /> <br /> Oringinal Lyrics:<br /> <br />
@Curtis336 <br /> Go to sleep you little baby.... (Little jessus lay down your sweet head.)<br /> <br /> your mummas gone away and you daddys gone to stay... (mums out and dads gone to stay alive.)<br /> <br /> Your a sweet little baby...( you deserve better.)<br /> <br /> Honey in the rock and the suger dont stop... (Good things to come from hard places Says the bible. Struggle and be rewarded the baby may stuggle but will become good in the long run.) <br /> <br /> Dont you weep pretty baby... (keep your head up)<br /> <br /> Shes long gone with her red shoes on gona need another loving baby,.... Harlot Mums long gone with her red shes on, you need some one to love you.<br /> <br /> Go to sleep little baby.... lay your head down little jessus<br /> <br /> You and me and the devil makes thee dont need no other loving baby....<br /> The one singing knows all this and seems to like the baby and honey from the rock comes back to mind for me but i think it depends what is in your head to how you interoperate the song.<br /> <br /> Come lay your bones on the alabaster stones and be my ever loving baby....<br /> (Come and be heald for the bad you have been through i am all you'll ever need, honey from rock)<br /> <br /> <br />
Not a slave song. Woman waits for baby to sleep. Then she leaves husband and baby at home sleeping in the dead of night to rendezvous with another man. That man's woman left him for someone else (red shoe reference). The first woman is making her move on him and thinks to herself that her husband is a nobody thus saying "ain't nobody (home) but the baby. You & me and the devil make three is the woman and her lover engaging in an affair.
@Moddie you are ignorant as fuck. there is literal slave code in the song. This slave lullaby has been stolen and re-written buy white women. go back and look at these lyrics and think really hard about what she just said.<br />
Does anyone know what this song is talking about? I have a few ideas, but I am not exactly sure.
What a beautiful song. Probably the most pristine and haunting Country melody this decade (bar Kings of Leon's Day Old Blues.)
It's obviously about the maternal seduction of the Sirens in "O Brother Where Art Thou"
Or maybe it's about time travel. Since it was written over a hundred years before the film, time travel would have had to play a key role in writing it to fit that scene.<br /> <br /> As zombie wakeup points out below, this is a slave spiritual from the 1800s.
anyone think it's from Death's perspective? this is a compilation of different things i've heard but! especially the "she's long gone with her red shoes on gonna need another loving babe"
red has symbolized untimely death for awhile, andd the "another loving babe" could mean Baby Jesus, in Heaven?
"come lay bones on the alabaster stones and be my everlovin' baby " you don't talk to a baby about being in it's grave, yea?
Before i saw the movie, i had a mental picture of what was happening during this song. (this is just my personal interaptation, don't hate me!)
I always saw an elderly black slave woman in the pre-Civil war south rocking a newborn baby (because its mother had died during child-birth) and she was singing this lullyabye to the baby. It was her way of saying that she would "adopt" the baby and take the place of the mother, and that life was going to be okay because she would watch out for the baby. (imagine my shock when i saw the movie and saw what was really going on!! :)
Anyway you interprate it, its a beautiful song.
Your personal interaptation was correct. This song is an African American slave song, which was remade by Emmylou Harris. If Emmylou Harris truly understood the nature or meaning of song. She would have never rewrittten the lyrics. The oringinal song does not mention red shoes, bones nor the devil. As slaves sang and played, they used hand-clapping and foot-stamping to create rhythmic beats in the tradition of African music. <br /> <br /> <br /> Oringinal Lyrics:<br /> <br />
It's a lullaby that slaves used to sing in early America. How can you guys not know this?
These lyrics are incorrect in a way that makes the song harder to understand. It's "Daddy's gone to stay" not "Daddy's gonna stay." HUGE difference. The song is sung from the pov of someone caring for a baby whose mother (presumably a slave) has gone to work in the fields. The dad is "gone to stay" so they "didn't leave nobody but the baby."