Rock-a-bye Baby

«Rock-a-bye Baby» — колыбельная на английском языке.

Сюжет песниПравить

В этой колыбельной ребёнка пугают, что повесят его колыбельку высоко на верхушку дерева, где дует ветер, и что его колыбелька будет раскачиваться и, когда (не «если», а именно «когда») сук сломется, колыбелька упадёт на землю, всё упадёт: ребёнок, колыбельная и сук и всё остальное^[1].

Как отмечается в докладе Королевской комиссии по вопросам насилия в отрасли коммуникаций (Онтарио, Канада), «как же хорошо, что малыш не понимает слов, которые ему поют!»^[1]

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Первая печатная версия этой колыбельной, — из книги Mother Goose’s Melody (Лондон, ок. 1765), — следующая:

Rock-a-bye baby

On the tree top,

When the wind blows

The cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks,

The cradle will fall,

And down will fall baby

Cradle and all.

ПримечанияПравить

↑ ¹ ² Ontario. Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Violence in print and music (неопр.). — Commission : available from the Publications Centre, Ministry of Government Services, 1977.
In this lullaby, the baby is threatened by being told that he will be put high on a tree-top where, when the wind blows, his cradle will rock. Mother may even be rocking the child as she unfolds this vignette. When (not even the saving grace of an if) the bough breaks — terrifying crack and jolt — the cradle will fall, down will come baby, bough, cradle and all.— The fall is like Humpty Dumpty’s — irreparable and totally damaging. What a very good thing it is that baby has no understanding of the words being crooned at him!
Ontario. Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Report of the Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry (англ.). — Commission : available from the Publications Centre, Ministry of Government Services, 1977.

[Industry1977-1] ¹ ² Ontario. Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Violence in print and music (неопр.). — Commission : available from the Publications Centre, Ministry of Government Services, 1977.
In this lullaby, the baby is threatened by being told that he will be put high on a tree-top where, when the wind blows, his cradle will rock. Mother may even be rocking the child as she unfolds this vignette. When (not even the saving grace of an if) the bough breaks — terrifying crack and jolt — the cradle will fall, down will come baby, bough, cradle and all.— The fall is like Humpty Dumpty’s — irreparable and totally damaging. What a very good thing it is that baby has no understanding of the words being crooned at him!
Ontario. Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Report of the Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry (англ.). — Commission : available from the Publications Centre, Ministry of Government Services, 1977.

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