Old Time Song
Rock the Cradle Joe is certainly one of those tunes that has that “old-time” flavor. It can get your foot tapping along quietly while you listen to it.
Later, it’ll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, no matter what you do to try and get rid of it. You’ll be whistling away while making a sandwich in the kitchen, or singing it quietly while driving to work.
There are words to the song, I’ll print them out below the tab. At least, I’ll print out what seems to be the most common lyrics. I’m guessing there’s probably a lot of different versions. And, they’ve probably changed several times over the years. I’m not sure how old this tune really is.
The Tune
Rock the Cradle Joe sounds good on the mandolin, and it can be fun to play. It also sounds good on the clawhammer banjo. I guess it just adds to that “old-timey” sound.
One of my favorite versions of this tune, as an instrumental, is on Adam Steffey’s Album “New Primitive”. I believe his wife plays banjo on that album. It has some other great tunes as well – Chinquapin Hunting, Squirrel Hunters, New Five Cent Piece.
My version of “Rock the Cradle Joe”, tabbed out below, is definitely influenced by Steffey’s playing on that album.
Listen to “Rock the Cradle Joe” for mandolin:
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Lyrics – Rock the Cradle Joe
Gotta go to bed, gotta go to work,
Gotta get up in the morning
What ya gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
What ya gonna do when the baby cries
I don’t know
What ya gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy learning this tune.
Cy…
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