Little Boy Blue
Little Boy Blue
Come blow your horn.
The sheep’s in the meadow,
And the cow’s in the corn.
Where is the boy
Who looks after the sheep?
He’s under a haystack.
He’s fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
No, not I,
For if I do,
He’s sure to cry!
First recorded in the 18th century, Little Boy Blue is a traditional English nursery rhyme that tells of a sleeping shepherd boy who neglects his duties while livestock roam free. It’s often interpreted as a gentle lesson in responsibility. In some versions, the boy sleeps under a haystack and cries when woken—suggesting either innocence or irresponsibility.
In our Broken Lullaby, this imagery is turned tragically literal: the sleeping boy is not shirking duty—he is the victim of someone else’s failure to stay awake. Our version becomes not a cautionary tale, but a eulogy.
Little Boy Turning Blue
Little boy turning blue—
Someone blow your horn.
His mother’s passed out,
Her boyfriend’s watching porn.
Where is the boy?
In the bathtub deep.
He’s slipping under water.
He’s fast asleep.
Who will wake him?
No one. Not today.
His breath is gone.
He’s slipped away.
The tragedy in this orphan rhyme isn’t imaginary—it happens with heartbreaking regularity. Addiction, neglect, and abuse are ravaging homes across the country, and it’s the children who suffer the deepest, most irreversible wounds.
Drugs and alcohol don’t just destroy lives—they dismantle families. They sedate the caregivers, cloud judgment, and remove all safeguards, leaving vulnerable children in silent, often fatal, danger.
Too many little boys like this one drown—not just in water, but in a sea of parental collapse and societal indifference. And often, when someone finally blows the horn, it’s far too late.
This is not just a call for awareness—it’s a call for action. Children are dying in slow-motion disasters every day. We cannot keep falling asleep under the haystack while innocent lives slip beneath the surface.
