In the last four weeks, I’ve found myself singing far more often than I ever had before. (Sometimes it settles down my newborn daughter, and sometimes it just helps block out the “no I’m not tired!” crying.)
But I find that my lullaby repertoire is, well, atypical. I’ve sung the “Mockingbird” song, but I can never remember what the billy goat won’t do and what comes next.
Given my high school obsession with the band, it’s not surprising that I’ve drawn on the Beatles for several songs. “Goodnight,” from the White Album, is a genuine lullaby, of course. But my daughter is also fond of “Drive My Car,” “All Together Now,” and “Yellow Submarine.” (“Yellow Submarine” is a family tradition, actually; my father, no Beatles fan, used to sing that to me when I was little. Until I was about 16, I thought the Beatles were just covering an older folk song.)
Beyond those, it gets weird:
“Folsom Prison Blues.” I think I got started on this because of the “When I was just a baby” line, but a little Johnny Cash has started to put a smile on my daughter’s face. I’ll deal with the violent repercussions later, I’m sure.
The “Gilligan’s Island” theme song. Basically because it’s not 30 seconds long and I know all the words. Which makes me think I’ll be queuing up the “Brady Bunch” theme before long…
“When I Was a Baby,” a Donner Party song covered by the New Pornographers. The lyrics cover such topics as poking soft spots in baby’s head and being sung lullabies by the Devil. Demented and funny. Cracks up mom.
When our moms babysat for an hour and a half, they ended up singing military songs to her. I don’t think this is that unusual, but it was still funny.
I know I can’t be the only one who doesn’t sing “Rock a Bye Baby” to my baby. What strange songs have you sung to wee ones in need of sleepy time?
Have you tried “Moonshine Lullaby”, from the musical Annie Get your Gun? All I remember of it is “So count your sheep, I’m a-singin’ you to sleep / with the Moonshine Lullaby”.
I’m surprised a Beatles fan hasn’t done “Cry, Baby, Cry” yet.
I used to sing some of the gorier bits of Sweeney Todd to my friends’ kids. A nice sweet, soft lullaby about cutting people up and serving them to others.
I tried once, then realized that I was completely lost in the lyrics – I think I know all of the words, but not in the right order. I keep meaning to look up the lyrics, memorize them, and insert it into the rotation
I remembered another one I’ve done several times: Neko Case’s “No Need to Cry,” which is really a love song, but works very well as a lullaby: “You’ll be in my arms tonight/ There’s no need to cry.”
I was babysitting my cousin’s daughter awhile ago, and ended up singing that “Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” song from O Brother, Where Art Thou to her. Which is pretty creepy if you listen to the lyrics. But hey, it stopped her crying!
While I sing fairly normal baby songs or just make up things, my husband’s favorites seem to be “Baby Likes to Rock it Like a Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo Train” (of which that’s all the words he knows) and “Country Trash” by Johnny Cash. She actually gets quite a lot of Johnny Cash, but that is the main one he sings. She seems to love it!
“Blackbird”, “Dear Prudence”, “Julia”, “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, and “Michelle” are all nice slow-to-mid-tempo tunes by the Beatles you’re likely to know the words to.
I usually just make up random words to *Brahm’s Lullaby * or Mockingbird (I don’t know anything but the first two lines to that one). I also sing songs from the Sound of Music…especially Edelweiss, Favorite Things, and Do a Deer.
I just usually make up words to tunes, or sing lots of "la"s. Poor kid is going to be so confused when she grows up and finds out it’s NOT “Super Caileigh’s Fragile Tickles, Makes Her Mommy Notice!” (Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) (And no, my version doesn’t make any more sense. I am aware of that. Away with you!)
The O, Brother lullaby is great, but creepy. Than again, “Rock-a-Bye Baby” sounds like it’s about crib death, so there you go.
We have a bunch of lullaby CD’s with compilations from around the world. I’ve noticed the Celtic ones are the creepiest - full of ghosts and monsters. The African ones, when translated, mostly consist of “Oh baby. Oh baby, please stop crying. Your mother will be back soon.”
My favorite one is a traditional lullaby from Guinea. Translated, it means:
Oh, dear God, why is the baby crying
Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do since I don’t have any help and I alone
I’ll gently place the baby on my hip
I’ll move the baby to my left side
The baby want to be on my back
The baby’s father is not here, I don’t know why the baby is crying
The baby’s mother is not here, I don’t know why the baby is crying
Baby, stop crying
My mom used to hum Plaisir d’amour (sp) when we were kids. I still love the Joan Baez version. Also why not try to hum the lullaby from Rosemary’s Baby?
I didn’t catch that when I typed it - I actually went back and forth on whether it should be Do or Doe. Hee.