But None Can Escape The Call Of the Sirens

Among a superb combination of classic folk songs on the soundtrack of the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? is a lullaby/field-holler called "Go To Sleep Little Baby". The movie is based on Homer's The Odyssey in which three convicts escape prison and embark on a search for a treasure beyond any of their wildest dreams. Along their journey, the trio encounters many characters who aim to help or hurt them, a group of the latter is the infamous Sirens. They attempt to entice the men into a drunken state of helplessness and this is the song that the writers wrote as their call of seduction.

Every line in the song is meant to draw the men in and convince them that everything would be okay if only they did what the Sirens wanted. They repeat the line "Go to sleep little baby" lulling the men into a hypnotic slumber and mix in lines of sweet attractions, luring them in with insidious convictions.

Everybody's gone in the cotton and
the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby

You're a sweet little baby
You're a sweet little baby

Honey and a rock and the sugar don't stop
Gonna bring a bottle to the baby

Don't you weep pretty baby
Don't you weep pretty baby

Within the first line listed here, the Sirens convince the men that no one will find them and they are safely alone to indulge. The "baby" is each individual man. The Sirens appeal to each man's desire for connection and closeness. "Honey from the rock and the sugar don't stop" is both a sexual allusion promising a full completion of their lust. "Gonna bring a bottle to the baby" provides groundwork to the song, rounding out the seduction with a continued promise of nourishment. The repetition of the lines "Go to sleep little baby" and "Don't you weep pretty baby" serve to lull the men further and further to sleep.