Slumber Boat by Alice Riley

Baby's boat the silver moon,
Sailing in the sky,
Sailing over the sea of sleep
While the clouds float by.

Sail, baby, sail
Out across the sea,
Only don’t forget to sail
Back again to me.

Baby's fishing for a dream,
Fishing near and far,
His line a silver moonbeam is,
His bait is silver star.
His bait is shining star.

I recorded this lullaby in Seattle, for the first time, from Jere Hudson (1945) in 2007 at the Northwest Folk Fest. He said that he only heard this lullaby from his mother and grandmother. He described his homeland as “crickets – lots crickets.” It is in Shreveport, Louisiana. When I asked him what sounds make him feel sleepy he said “crickets”, again. Being unfamiliar with American lullabies I started to search through Google for information about “Slumber Boat.” I translated the word “slumber”, it appeared to me as a “silence”, “twilight.” Together this meant “the boat of silence” for me. It sounded a little bit spooky. I remembered world myths of when the boat of  silence crossed the line of life and death. Immediately, the image “Isle of the Dead” by Arnold Boklin (1827-1901) with the symphonic poem of Serhgei Rachmaninov, who was inspired by the painting of Boklin  popped up in my head. When we studied music theory we had to learn about influences and inspirations of compositions by different composers. I continued my journey into the lullaby and found that lyrics were written by Alice Riley. The first page of Google about Alice Riley gave me an astonishing story from American history. Below is the story I found at Google: “The Hanging of Alice Riley" Later, I found that Alice Riley who wrote the “The Slumber Boat” and Alice Riley who was hung in the Wright Square, Savannah are not the same woman. Regardless, my brain continues to combine the two together. I can see the ghost of Alice singing in “The Slumber Boat,” still looking for her baby, when I listen to Rachmaniov's poem.