Lullabies U-Y

Up the wooden hill

Upstairs to fairyland

Wake up, little sparrow

Waltz round the moon

Warm kitty, soft kitty

Way up high in the cherry tree

Welcome, little stranger

Where do you sleep?

Where should a baby rest?

Which is the way the wind blows?

Winkum, winkum

Wishing star

Yea ho, little fish

Also see:

Maranoa lullaby an Aboriginal song

Last updated: 8/1/2022 7:42 PM

The songs below are compiled, illustrated and sometimes adapted by Dany Rosevear

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Up the wooden hill O

A rhyme for bedtime; the wooden hill is the stairs and Sheet Lane / Blanket Fair are the bedding.

It encourages reluctant young children on their way to bed, though staircases are nowadays invariably carpeted.

The first couplet can be found in the Opie’s ‘The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book’; the second two are possibly an older rhyme that can be found in ‘My very First Mother Goose’ edited by Iona Opie!

Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire;

And down Sheet Lane to Blanket Fair.

Up the wooden hill to Blanket Fair,

What shall we have when we get there?

A bucket full of water and a pennyworth of hay,

Gee up, Dobbin, all the way!

Upstairs to fairyland 🔊

A ‘going to bed’ song written by Stanley Galpin.

It featured on BBC radio in 1928.

Upstairs to fairyland,

Mind how you go.

Hold tight to mummy's hand,

Walk on tiptoe.

Get your tickets ready to

Pass through the nursery gate,

Quiet as a mouse.

Then you'll be in Fairyland

At the top of the house.

Wake up, little sparrow 🔊

Words and music by Ella Jenkins who said, ‘This is another of my compositions, one I wrote it for a dear friend, Bernadelle Richter, who is as gentle as a sparrow.’ It feels very much a song for those on the street who have nowhere warm to rest.

Wake up, wake up, little sparrow,

Don't make your home out in the snow,

Don't make your home out in the snow.

Little bird, oh, don't you know,

Your friends flew South, many months ago,

Your friends flew South, many months ago.

You're just a babe, you cannot fly,

Your wings won't spread against the sky,

Your wings won't spread against the sky.

Hum chorus

Repeat first verse

Waltz round the moon 🔊

To the nursery rhyme orchestra…

Sleep is a place where all sorts of mad things can happen as we all know. Dreams here are set in a land where nursery rhyme characters cheerfully accompany a dance round the universe.

Words and music by Dany Rosevear.

Let’s go a-waltzing way up in the sky,

Me and my teddy to dreamland will fly;

1,2,3, 1,2,3, dance round the sun,

Waltzing in time for some nursery rhyme fun;

Hey, diddle diddle, we’ll dance round the moon,

Where cow bangs the dish, 1,2,3, with the spoon.

Little dog laughs as we waltz off to Mars,

Cat’s lost her fiddle so she plays a guitar,

Out where the little stars twinkle and shine,

Old King Cole calls for his fiddlers nine;

Little Boy Blue is blowing his horn.

As the nursery rhyme orchestra plays until dawn.

Little Miss Muffet her spider has fled,

She’s under the duvet in my little bed;

Waiting til sunbeams drive darkness away,

For me to wake up with my teddy to play.

1,2,3, it’s time to open our eyes,

For morning has come and we’re ready to rise.

Warm kitty, soft kitty O

This song makes a good introduction to adjectives.

As a lullaby sing this song more quietly each time to send a child to sleep.

It also will work well as a calming down song as children sit in a circle and make actions to accompany the words: 1.Cross arms and hold upper arms. 2. Stroke back of the hand. 3. Make a ball shape with cupped hands. 4. Put hands to cheek. 5. Draw smile on face. 6. Brush whiskers on face.

Warm kitty, soft kitty,

Little ball of fur,

Sleepy kitty, happy kitty,

Purr! Purr! Purr!

Way up high in the cherry tree 🔊

A hand play or lullaby.

Music arranged by Dany Rosevear.

Verse 1: Look up at outstretched hands. Hand to brow. Open and close thumb and forefinger, raise three fingers on the other hand. Look up at tree.

Verse 2: Cup hands. Gently move from side to side. Open and close thumb and forefinger. Put hands to cheek. Verse 3: As before.

Way up high in the cherry tree,

If you look, you will see,

Mother robin and babies three,

High, high in the tree.

See the nest in the treetops,

Swinging, swaying;

Mother robin is singing,

Singing her babies to sleep….

Way up high in the cherry tree,

If you look, you will see,

Mother robin and babies three,

High, high in the tree.

Welcome little stranger 🔊

There is nothing more amazing than the arrival of a new born child and we hope so fervently that this child will be equally amazed by the possibilities it will find in its new home.

We so need to ensure that our world is a welcoming place for future generations so they are able to survive, prosper and make the most of their time on Earth.

At its best our one and only home is truly a wonderful place to be.

Words and music by Dany Rosevear.

Welcome, little stranger, to our wonderful world!

To our beautiful big family,

Welcome, little stranger, for here you will find,

Good friends and company.

Waves to rock you, a sun to shine,

A blue sky above you, it’s yours it’s mine.

Welcome, my little one, we know you’ll go far,

Just follow that morning star!

Where do you sleep? 🔊

This song comes from Maurice Sendak’s wonderful ‘Lullabies and night songs’. The beautiful words are by William Engvick and the music by Alec Wilder. I have added an end couplet, a wishful plea for all those sleepless parents of young babies. The chord arrangement is also mine.

The green worm sleeps in silk,

The turtle sleeps in sand,

And the bluebird sleeps in a feather bed,

The yak prefers to stand.

The white lamb sleeps in wool,

The ermine sleeps in fur,

But the monkey sleeps in his mommy's arms,

All warm and close to her.

And my baby sleep in my arms, so sweet,

Sleep soft and do not stir.

Where should a baby rest? 🔊

Or ‘Little Margaret’s lullaby’ from the ‘Infants’ annual or A Mother’s offering’, published 1834.

Where should a baby rest?

Where but on its mother's arm -

Where can a baby lie

Half so safe from every harm?

Lulla, lulla, lullaby,

Softly sleep, my baby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby,

Soft, soft, my baby.

Nestle there, my lovely one!

Press to mine thy velvet cheek;

Sweetly coo, and smile, and look,

All the love you cannot not speak.

Lulla, lulla, lullaby,

Softly sleep, my baby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby,

Soft, soft, my baby.

Which is the way the wind blows 🔊

An old Dutch cradle song.

Which is the way the wind blows,

Over the silver sea?

Bringing a ship for father

And a golden dream for me.

Which is the way the wind blows,

Over the silver sea?

Bringing a gown for mother

And a silver shoe for me.

Which is the way the wind blows,

Over the silver sea?

Bringing a moon for mother

And a tiny star for me.

Winkum, winkum, shut your eye 🔊

This popular traditional lullaby was published in “The Most Popular Mother Goose Songs” compiled and arranged by Carrie Bullard in 1910; there have been only slight variations of the words since that time.

Winkum, winkum, shut your eyes,

Sweet, my baby, lullaby,

For the dews are falling soft,

Lights are flick'ring up aloft,

And the moonlight’s peeping over

Yonder hilltop, capped with clover.

Chickens long have gone to rest,

Birds lie snug within their nest,

And my birdie soon will be

Sleeping like a chickadee;

For with only half a try,

Winkum, winkum shuts her eyes.

Wishing star O

A rhyme from the Waldorf Curriculum. Melody added by Dany Rosevear.

Draw a star, sun and moon on your child’s back; with a kiss goodnight of course!

A star for you to wish on,

A sun so warm and bright,

A moon for you to sleep on,

Happy dreams,

A kiss goodnight.

Yea ho, little fish O

This gentle lullaby has travelled worldwide with sailors and fishermen from its Portuguese origins in the Cape Verde Islands off the East African coast and became a familiar one in Australia’s North Queensland.

The version below is from ‘The Revels book of Chanteys and Sea Songs’ by John Langstaff and George Emlem. To find more comprehensive information about the song visit Mudcat: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8689.

Come all ye bold fishermen, listen to me;

I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea.

Yea ho, little fish, don't cry, don't cry;

Yea ho, little fishies, you be a whale by and by.

You go to fish school and can learn from a book

How not to get caught on a fisherman's hook.

Watch out, little fish, we're out after you,

But you can escape away deep in the blue.

You just swim around the fisherman's bait

And you won't end up on that fisherman's plate.

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