8 Innocent Songs With Incredibly Disturbing Histories

5. Rock-A-Bye Baby Is About Abducting Children

Rock-a-bye baby...on the treetop...when the wind blows...we'll steal you and pawn you off as our own child. That's essentially the essence of this particular lullaby, which dates back as far as 1765. The tune is believed to refer to events immediately preceding the Glorious Revoluton. The baby is the son of James II, who is widely believed not to be Jame's biological son at all, but was smuggled into the birthing room in order to guarantee a Roman Catholic heir. The wind in question, then, which threatens to dislodge the baby is the approach of the Protestant William Of Orange, blowing in from the Netherlands, who eventually deposed James II in the Glorious Revolution. Why do so many children's songs end in death?