All The Pretty Little Horses/Jazzy
Arr. Forrest Kinney

The “All The pretty Little Horses” is a traditional lullaby from the United States. It has inspired dozens of recordings and adaptations, as well as the title of Cormac McCarthy’s 1992 novel All the Pretty Horses. The origin of this song is not fully known. The song is commonly thought to be of African-American origin.
The author Lyn Ellen Lacy is often quoted as the primary source for the theory that suggests the song was “originally sung by an African American slave who could not take care of her baby because she was too busy taking care of her master’s child. She would sing this song to her master’s child”. However, Lacy’s book Art and Design in Children’s Books is not an authority on the heritage of traditional American folk songs, but rather a commentary on the art and design in children’s literature. Still, some versions of “All the Pretty Little Horses” contain added lyrics that make this theory a possibility.
One such version of “All the Pretty Little Horses” is provided in Alan Lomax’s book American Ballads and Folksongs, though he makes no claim of the song’s African-American origins. “Way down yonder, In de medder, There’s a po’ lil lambie, De bees an’ de butterflies, Peckin’ out its eyes, De po’ lil lambie cried, “Mammy!” Another version contain the lyrics “Buzzards and flies, Picking out its eyes, Pore little baby crying”. The theory would suggest that the lyrics “po’ lil lambie cried, “Mammy” is in reference to the slaves who were often separated from their own families in order to serve their owners. However, this verse is very different from the rest of the lullaby, suggesting that the verse may have been added later or has a different origin than the rest of the song. The verse also appears in the song “Ole Cow” and older versions of the song “Black Sheep, Black Sheep”.

Lyrics