Bye, Baby Bunting
"Bye Baby Bunting" is a lullaby and a nursery rhyme that dates back to the late 1700's.
Bunting is a term of endearment. It means plump, especially the derriere.
Bye, Baby Bunting
Lullaby
Bye, baby bunting,
Daddy's gone a-hunting,
To get a little rabbit skin*
To wrap the baby bunting in.
Notes
*Or hare skin (which is the old way to say it).
Here's a slightly different version from Traditional Nursery Songs of England with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, edited by Felix Summerly (1843):
Bye baby bunting,
Father's gone a hunting,
To get a little rabbit-skin,
To lap his little baby in.
Here's the version from Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1815, Glascow):
Lullaby Baby Bunting,
Your father's gone a hunting,
To catch a rabbit for a skin,
To wrap the Baby Bunting in.
Nancy sent the 1st recording with the following note (from the U.S.): "Here's Bye Baby Bunting. When I was having my children in the 1980's some people criticized this lyric because it was pro-fur. It's traditional and I don't see any reason to change it or omit it. Nice tune too."
Sung by Nancy Membrez. Nancy wrote the following about her tune, "My great-great grandparents on my mother's side immigrated from Northern Ireland in the 1830s (before the famine) to eastern Pennsylvania so maybe the tune is Irish."
The 2nd recording was sung by Ruth G. from England. Notice the different tune.
Sung by Ruth Golding.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The 2nd illustration comes from Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1815, Glascow - earliest edition 1744). Thanks to Monique Palomares for the midi and score.
Thanks so much!
