In an interview before she died of breast cancer, Minnie and her husband said that they wrote the song as a lullaby to their daughter, Maya Rudolph (yes, the chick from snl). In the original version, the last verse of the song is her singing, "Maya, Maya, Maya..." It's a very beautiful song and I think knowing it's true meaning makes it more beautiful. What could be more beautiful than the love between a mother and her child?