“Dodo Titit” is a widely known lullaby in Haiti. It means “sleep little one”. It sounds like “titit” comes from the French petit.
Dodo Titit
(Haitian Creole)Dodo titit*
Si ou pa dodo,
krab la va manje ou
Dodo titit,
krab lan kalalou**Sleep Little One
(English Translation)Sleep little one,
If you don’t sleep,
The crab will eat you
Sleep, little one.
Crab in Okra Gumbo**
*Alternatively, this line can be “Dodo ti titit” – “ti” means “small”. Sometimes “mamman” or “papa” is at the end of the line – making it “Sleep mommy’s little one” or “Daddy’s little one”.
**Kalalou means both “okra” and “gumbo”. Kalalou in the Caribbean often have okra and crab in them. Kalalou is sometimes spelled: “calalu”, “calalou”, or “calaloo”. The word comes from Africa.
You can find variations of this lullaby at: Caribbean Living – Dodo ti pitit manman and The Lullabologist – Dodo Titit – with recording.
If anyone would like to share their version, and/or a recording, feel free to in the comments below or by emailing me at lisa@mamalisa.com .
Thanks and enjoy!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Creole, English, Haiti, Haitian Children's Songs, Haitian Creole, Haitian Lullabies, Kalalou, Languages, Lullabies, Mama Lisa, Words & Phrases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
3 Responses to “A Haitian Lullaby: “Dodo Titit” – Sleep Little One”
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January 17th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Does anyone have sheet music for the Haitian Lullaby, for our chior to sing?
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Thanks for publishing this! I’ve been looking for this lullaby like forever (it was sung to me as a kid by my haitian nanny).
September 22nd, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I was under the impression that it was “Dodo ti pitit”. Non?