Mockingbird

Title: Mockingbird

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Mallen Bischoff was born in San Francisco, California on August 28, 1999. She has lived in San Francisco her entire life. Mallen has an older brother, Liam, who is twenty one and attends Boston College. The Bischoff family is very close. Mallen attended a private Catholic school in San Francisco for her entire education. She is currently a freshman at Dartmouth College (Class of 2021), where she plays on the volleyball team and is interested in studying government.

Contextual Data:

Mallen recounted that her mother used to sing her this lullaby before bed. Her mother is a good singer and Mallen says that to this day she still gets nostalgic when she hears her mum sing this lullaby. It’s very simple but repeats several times so Mallen would always be asleep by the end. She thinks that her mum also sang it to her older brother but she isn’t sure. Mallen says that her mother sang it to her each night before bed throughout her childhood starting when she was about five until she was eight or nine. Prior to being asked about it, Mallen hadn’t thought about this nursery rhyme for many years; she thinks the last time she heard it was when she was twelve or so. Mallen associates the rhyme with fond memories of being tucked into bed by her mother and being sung to sleep.

Item:

The lullaby “Mockingbird” is as follows:Hush, little baby, don’t say a word / Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird / And if that mockingbird won’t sing / Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring / And if that diamond ring turns brass / Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass / And if that looking glass gets broke / Mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat / And if that billy goat won’t pull / Mama’s gonna buy you a cart and bull / And if that cart and bull turn over / Mama’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover / And if that dog named Rover won’t bark / Mama’s gonna buy you a horse and cart / And if that horse and cart fall down / You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town

Transcript:

“My family is really close so we used to do things like this all the time, but I completely forgot about this one until right now. My mom is a really good singer and she used to put me to sleep by singing that lullaby Mockingbird to me. It isn’t very long but it repeats for a while and it worked every time. She probably sang to Liam too but I don’t really remember.”

Informant’s Comments:

Mallen was happy to recount this memory and thinks she will sing it to her kids when she is older.

Collector’s Comments:

I liked this collection item simply because of how excited Mallen got when she told me about it, it was obvious that it was something she really enjoyed doing with her mother and something that still resonates with her today.

Collector’s Name: Elise Petit

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive