Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an important American fol… Read Full Bio ↴Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an important American folklorist and musicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, the West Indies, Italy, and Spain.

Lomax was son of pioneering musicologist and folklorist John Lomax, with whom he started his career by recording songs sung by prisoners in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. He attended The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and then went on to earn a degree in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and worked on the oral history project for the Library of Congress. To some, he is best known for his theory of cantometrics.

Lomax worked with his father on the Archive of Folk Culture, a collection of more than ten thousand recordings for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress.

Lomax assembled a highly regarded treasure trove of American and international culture. He spent a lifetime collecting folk music from around the world, particularly from the American South. He also recorded substantial interviews with many musicians, including Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, and Jeannie Robertson. He produced radio shows, had a regular television series, and played an important role in both the American and British Folk revivals of the 1950s.

He recorded Irish traditional musicians including some of the songs in English and Irish of Elizabeth Cronin in 1951.

His survey of Italian folk music with Diego Carpitella, conducted in 1953 and 1954, helped capture a snapshot of a multitude of important traditional folk styles shortly before they disappeared. The pair amassed one of the most representative folk song collections of any culture. From Lomax's Spanish and Italian recordings emerged one of the first theories explaining the types of folk singing that emerge in particular areas, a theory that incorporates work style, the environment, and the degrees of social and sexual freedom.

Achievements
Lomax won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award in 1993 for his book The Land Where the Blues Began, the story of the origins of Blues music. Lomax also received a posthumous Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in 2003.

All the Pretty Little Horses
Alan Lomax Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hush-a-by, Don't you cry,
Go to sleep, little baby.
And when you wake,
You shall have,
All the pretty little horses.
Blacks and bays, dapple and grays
Coaching six a'little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and grays

Coaching six a'little horses
Way down yonder
In the meadow
Lies a poor little lambie
And the bee and the fly
Are pickin' out his eye
The poor little thing cried "Mammy!"
Hush-a-by, Don't you cry,
Go to sleep, little baby.
And when you wake,
You shall have,
All the pretty little horses.

Blacks and bays, dapple and grays
Coaching six a'little horses

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Alan Lomax's song "All the Pretty Little Horses" is a lullaby aimed at soothing a baby to sleep. The song begins with the soothing words "Hush-a-by, Don't you cry, Go to sleep, little baby" and continues by promising the baby that they will have all the pretty little horses when they wake up. The metaphorical use of horses as a symbol of beauty and comfort seeks to reassure the baby and bring them hope, as they rest.

The next verse of the song focuses on describing the beauty of the horses, using colors such as black, bay, dapple, and gray to enrich the imagery of the song. The repetition of the line "coaching six a little horses" reinforces the idea of the richness of the visual experience that the baby will have upon waking up. The third verse of the song takes a darker turn and describes a meadow where a little lambie is being attacked by a bee and a fly. The song ends with the reassurance to the baby to fall asleep and wake up again to the promise of all the pretty little horses.

Overall, the song All the Pretty Little Horses is a beautiful and soothing lullaby that aims to lull a baby to sleep by offering images of beauty and comfort. The repetition of the verse reinforces the idea of the baby being cocooned in a comforting and reassuring world, where their needs will be met when they wake up.

Line by Line Meaning

Hush-a-by, Don't you cry,
Be quiet and calm, don't cry,

Go to sleep, little baby.
Close your eyes and fall asleep, little one.

And when you wake,
And when you awake,

You shall have,
You will have,

All the pretty little horses.
Beautiful horses of all colors and sizes.

Blacks and bays, dapple and grays
Black, brown, and gray horses with spotted coats.

Coaching six a'little horses
Pulling a carriage with six tiny horses.

Blacks and bays, dapple and grays
More black, brown, and gray horses with spotted coats.

Coaching six a'little horses
Still pulling the carriage with the six tiny horses.

Way down yonder
Far away in the distance,

In the meadow
In a grassy field,