The description is somehow abstract, but nevertheless there is a lot of information. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall When the wind blows, the cradle will rock There must be a meaning! Let’s have a look at the songtext. From a historical point of view we can’t say that words don‘t have any meaning. We can therefore assume that a long, long time ago this song had a meaning. When the word “love“ for instance showed up for the first time in history, it had a meaning, but then it becomes a box where people put in everything they believed bore a relationship to the word. At the beginning, when they show up or are used for the first time in history, they have a meaning, but after that, they are just a box where people put their emotions and ideas (often very strange ones). Therefore, we can say that this song is good illustration what words actually are. We are going to discuss that topic once again when we talk about the song Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond. People die for instance for their fatherland, for a religion or for a flag because they are pushed by the energy of a word, but in fact a word for a human being plays the same role as petrol for a car. People think (nobody knows why), that words refer to something in the real world, that they MEAN something, although it is obvious that words means nothing, they just create emotions or energy. A nightmare would be more probable! But all of that is no problem at all and the idea that this song could be a problem if used as a lullaby arises from the completely misleading conception of language. If the baby really understood what the song was about, it is unlikely that he or she would have sweet dreams. We can therefore assume that the baby would fall at least 5 meters.

If the bough breaks, it must be a certain thickness, it must be a strong tree, otherwise it would just bend. In order to fasten a cradle there, the treetop must be a certain size and therefore the tree must be a certain high, at least 5 meters. The song is about a cradle, rocking on a tree top. Because, if the baby understood what mummy, daddy, aunt, grandmother or whoever was singing, she or he would be SHOCKED. Perhaps there is a deep truth in the song, never revealed until known, words are misleading, far away from the melody of life and it is all about emotions. A baby doesn’t really care what the words are about, or if they mean something or not. Sometimes it is much more fun to look at someone while he or she is talking - looking at his or her face, to the emotions expressed by the movement of his or her hands or to his or her smile -without paying any attention to what she or he is actually saying. We see very clearly that very often the best communication is not to have any communication at all. He or she understands exactly what the song is about. Concerning the adult the situation is more complicated. If they are young, words like treetop, bough or cradle would have no meaning for them. Concerning the baby or the little child, that’s not very surprising. It would seem, however, that neither the baby / little child or the adult singing the song is really aware of what they are hearing / singing. The question is: Do words matter? You can read everywhere (and there is no doubt that the nursery rhyme is used in this way), that this song is a lullaby, used to help little children to fall asleep. Well! This nursery rhyme contains a real philosophical question, maybe one of the most important questions in philosophy. History, origin and meaning of Rock-a-Bye-Baby Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond - The last battle of the House of Stuart Skye Boat Song - The escape of Charles Edward Stuartĩ. Mary Mary Quite Contrary - 'Bloody Mary', Queen Mary IĨ. Sing A Song Of Sixpence - King Henry VIIIħ.

Rock-A-Bye-Baby - From Charles II to James IIĦ. Three Blind Mice - Queen Mary and the prosecution of English ProtestantsĤ. Georgie Porgie - Charles II defeated by Oliver Cromwellģ. Humpty Dumpty - Defeat of Charles I, King of England and ScotlandĢ. Historian and linguist Andres Ehmann wrote an essay about historical nursery rhymes that are directly or indirectly related to Kings and Queens of the Stuart and Tudor families: Rock the Kings!īy means of these truly historical nursery rhymes he explains the meaning and the fascinating stories of English Kings and Queens throughout the centuriesġ.

Words rock a bye baby