All the Pretty Little Horses is a traditional American folk lullaby. The melody and rhyme are beautiful to listen to and it is no wonder it has inspired multiple versions and recordings by celebrated musicians as well as literature and novels.
The lullaby’s origins are unknown, but one theory is that it was sung by an African-American woman to her master’s child, when she herself could not be with her own child because of her enslavement.
This nursery rhyme is also known by the title of Hush-a-Bye.
Lyrics for All the Pretty Little Horses
There are many different lyrics that can be found for this rhyme, but the following is the rhyme at it’s most basic and sweetest:
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
All the pretty little horses.
Black and bays, dapples, grays,
All the pretty little horses.
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
All the pretty little horses.
Some other versions are longer and are a little less innocent such as:
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you’ll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.
Black and bay, dapple and grey,
Coach and six little horses,
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby,
When you wake, you’ll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.
Way down yonder, down in the meadow,
There’s a poor wee little lamby.
The bees and the butterflies pickin’ at its eyes,
The poor wee thing cried for her mammy.
Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you’ll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.
The use of the word pickin’ at its eyes can seem a little morbid, so many instead use the phrase:
flutter round it’s eyes
Which keeps the innocent and sweetness intact in the lullaby.
