Strawberry Moon: Lyrics and the Story Behind the Song

One afternoon at my day job (by day I’m a website designer, by night I’m a Folk musician), a co-worker shared with me the story of her past. She asked if I might somehow be able to create a song out it. It was a difficult conversation. How much should she share with me? Should I ask her questions or would that be too personal?

It was not an easy process to create this song. I couldn't just let the writing process take hold of me and take me wherever it would lead. I had a responsibility to relate someone else's experience. There were lots of false starts. I felt I didn't have enough to go on. So, I emailed her a bunch of questions. These questions may have seemed completely unrelated and bizarre. I asked her about things that she remembered with her senses—sights, sounds, smells. Was there a song that she remembered from that time? From these questions came some of my favorite details of the song. For example, she remembered that the porter had left a bottle of wine outside her door. She remembered how she felt when she saw the beauty of the Berkshires. At that time in her life, she was not yet a painter, as she is now, but she remembered that she wanted to become one.

The song is a journey song. I documented the route that the train took from Indiana to Massachusetts and described the sights along the way. I also thought about how her two young children might have felt during this journey and wanted to put something comforting in it for them, like a lullaby. When I discovered a nursery rhyme called "Hush, Here Comes the Dream Man," with its train imagery, it felt like a perfect fit.

In most of my songs, I have included some reference to the moon. Since this journey took place in June, that puts this song under the Algonquin Strawberry Moon. I thought of how strawberries are hidden treasures and felt that this mother and her two young children were exactly that—hidden treasures.

Song Lyrics

Boarded an eastbound train
in South Bend, Indiana,
near the golden dome of Notre Dame.
We passed the southern beaches
of Lake Michigan in June
carved from glaciers long ago.
There were sleeping children
near the Mohawk River
and stars above the great canal.
I’ve hauled some barges in my day.
Know every inch along the way.
There was nothing you could say.

Chorus
So, rock-a-bye now don’t you cry.
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby.
*The Dream Man’s coming in his train of cars
with moonbeam windows and with wheels of stars.
So, hush you little ones and have no fear.
The man-in-the-moon is the engineer.
The railroad track is a moonbeam bright
that leads right up into the starry night.

New York’s narrow lakes
look like fingers on a hand.
When the ice retreated, there were deep scars upon the land.
Took a deep breath when we crossed the state line.
The night porter left a bottle of wine.
Waved from my window to the pines.
We rode through the Berkshires in the early hours.
And, if I were a painter, I would paint those flowers
in Cadmium Yellow and Phthalo Blue.
But, colors run and flowers fade.
And, clouds roll in and cast a shade.
Best call it an even trade.

Chorus
So, rock-a-bye now don’t you cry.
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby.
The Dream Man’s coming in his train of cars
with moonbeam windows and with wheels of stars.
So, hush you little ones and have no fear.
The man-in-the-moon is the engineer.
The railroad track is a moonbeam bright
that leads right up into the starry night.

The wise Algonquin nation
kept track of the seasons.
They gave each moon a name.
Inching towards the railway station,
minutes from our destination,
seven hundred miles from where we came.
Time moves not by months but moons.
Strawberry is the one for June.
Hidden treasures tangled in the ground.
Harvest in the silver light.
We made our journey through the night.
Rocking on the rails so safe and sound.

Chorus
So, rock-a-bye now don’t you cry.
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby.
The Dream Man’s coming in his train of cars
with moonbeam windows and with wheels of stars.
So, hush you little ones and have no fear.
The man-in-the-moon is the engineer.
The railroad track is a moonbeam bright
that leads right up into the starry night.
So, rock-a-bye now don’t you cry.
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby.
So, rock-a-bye now don’t you cry.
I’m gonna sing you a lullaby.

Song Credits

* (Nursery rhyme by R. P. Weston, F. J. Barnes, and Maurice Scott, 1913 - “Hush, Here Comes the Dream Man”)

Holly Hanson: vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar
Steve Hayes: acoustic guitar, electric guitar
David Eure: violin
Sven Larson: upright bass
Zeke Martin: percussion

Written by Holly Hanson. © 2011 Wild Braid Music (BMI). All rights reserved.

Strawberry Moon appears on the album Strawberry Moon by Neptune's Car.