Go To Sleep You Little Babe

Written By: Gillian Welch, T-Bone Burnett, Alan Lomax, Sidney Carter

Performed By: Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and Gillian Welch

If you have seen the movie, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, you will remember this song from the scene with the "Sirens" (Women by the water).I have seen this movie several times, I have the soundtrack album and have always liked this song. I had never really given much thought to the meaning of the song, until I began this post. In researching the song I have found several very different meanings for this particular song. A short synopsis for each meaning I have found is below:


1.     Some say it is a song about temptation and seduction.


2.     Some say it is about an older women telling a baby that its mother has gone away (with her red shoes 
        on - meaning to be a prostitute) and that the father has died. This older person is planning to poison the                  
        baby (honey in the rock - lay your bones on the alabaster stone). Knowing that what they are doing is 
        wrong, but they are saving the baby from a horrible life with no one to care for it. 


3.     Others say that it is a slave-style song about a mammy/grandmother caring for the baby since the 
        mother is gone and the father is presumably dead. This person is trying to care for the baby but with
        few means of doing so.  


Give it a listen and see what you think!

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Son at Grandparent's House 1985)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).
Your momma's gone away and your daddy's gone to stay,
Didn't leave nobody, but the baby.


(My Son - Lindseyville, Ky. 1987)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Son at Home 1987)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Son at Grandma's 1992)

Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn,
Didn't leave nobody, but the baby.


(Cotton Field - Murfreesboro, Tennessee)

You're a sweet little baby, (you're a sweet little baby).


(My Daughter 8 months old - With Trophy Won in Pageant)

You're a sweet little baby ,(you're a sweet little baby).


(my Daughter - In Beauty Pageant 1998)












Honey and the rock and the sugar don't stop,
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby.

Don't you weep pretty baby, (don't you weep pretty baby).


(Me and My Son - 6 months old - 1986)

Don't you weep pretty baby, (don't you weep pretty baby).


(My Son - 3 months old)








She's long gone with her red shoes on,
Gonna need another lovin' baby.

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Daughter - 1997)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Daughter -2002)

You and me and the devil makes three,
Don't need no other lovin' baby.


(Pluto Statue Inside French Lick Hotel - West Baden, Indiana)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Daughter and My Son - In the Van on the Ride Home From Disney World 2001)

Go to sleep you little baby, (go to sleep you little baby).


(My Daughter, My Son, and the Dog - Christmas Day 2011)

Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones and be my ever lovin' baby.


(Overton Park Memorial - Memphis 2009)






I look forward to hearing what you think about the song and its meaning. For more fun with photos and song head over to Hootin' Anni's Thursday Theme Song.

Below is a video of the scene from the movie.