Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody is a 1918 popular song written by Jean Schwartz with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. It was introduced by Al Jolson in the Broadway musical Sinbad at the Winter Garden in New York, and Jolson’s 1918 recording on the Columbia label reached No. 1 that year. The tune centers on a Dixie melody and reflects early 20th century American pop and vaudeville style. It has been recorded many times, including Jolson again in 1932 with Guy Lombardo and in 1946 with Morris Stoloff; other notable versions by Dean Martin (1950), Judy Garland (Miss Show Business, 1955, later featured in The London Sessions), Jerry Lewis (1956 Top 10; gold record), Connie Francis (1959), and Aretha Franklin (1961 The Electrifying Aretha Franklin, reaching No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100). The song has appeared in several films and its 1918 sheet music was published in New York by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, with Jolson pictured on the cover.
