Hello, my name is Tomcat and I’m a newbie dad. I also predict that this post will be short-lived. I mean, how many SDMB’s actually sing to their kids and hold discussions about it? Well, I guess we’ll see…
My daughter is a daddy’s girl, and seems to calm down a lot when I hold her. So that means I put her to sleep many times. I’ve been trying to sing to her, but I know no songs. Well, ok, maybe the first lines to a few. I generally just make things up and add a bunch of ‘yeah’s’ and ‘mmm-hhhmmmmmm’s’
What songs do you sing? Where are the lyrics? How does the tune go? Should I avoid M. Manson songs?
My 3-year-old son likes “Silent Night,” “Little Boy Blue,” “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,” and, inexplicably, the title tune from “Hair.” Daddy does that one.
Well, I’m a dork, but I used to sing “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “Cry to Me” by someone whose name escapes me, but the song is on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I think any slow song that you like would be nice. Babies don’t know the words, they just like the vibrations on your chest and the soothing voice.
If the answer is no, then any gentle song, coupled with some rocking if the baby responds to rocking, will do - okay, rocking involves rhythm, but not in a big way.
But if your daughter is a “she only goes to sleep in the car” or a “she goes to sleep when we put her bassinet on the dryer” kind of baby, then she is rhythm sensitive.
My son very much was, my daughter far less so. It really varies.
If the answer is yes, try this - hold the baby up against you with her head in the crook of your elbow, and your hand cradling her bum. Then sing a rhythmic song and lightly but firmly play the drums with both hands on her bottom.
Yeah, I know: Bongo Butt - Howard Stern would be so proud, but this isn’t about porn, it’s about getting the kid to sleep. Seriously - it works. I tended to sing “You’ve really got a hold on me” - slow but with a beat.
All right - get the kidding out of your system. But when you are a new dad, this stuff is critical!
I sing “Dream a Little Dream of Me” a lot. If only I sounded as good as Mama Cass. Its funny, I was singing it one night while my mom was visiting, and she told me she used to sing it to me when I was a baby too.
Whatever you choose to sing, make sure you like it. You will have to sing it over and over and over…
I can’t say that I’ve had kids before, but I do sit the kids for my sis a lot. She just gave me this For the Kids cd that has Sarah Mclaughlin, Remy Zero and Barenaked Ladies singing kids stuff. Very, very tame and sweet. I think you’ll like it.
Weird, but the soft tones of Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street” always worked for my girls. Maybe it was just that I could sing it without destroying it. grin
I looked on amazon for the For the Kids CD…it releases Nov. 5, I’ll try and pick it up then…
Thanks for the info, and keep 'em coming! I’ll try spanking her Wordman, that’ll teach her not to go to bed on time! Joking of course. She is a rhythm child though…I’ll try it.
I’ve had very good luck with Dylan’s Tangled up in Blue, followed if necessary by Simple Twist of Fate and If You See Her, Say Hello, all from the Blood on the Tracks album. Hell, buy the album…it often did the trick when I was tired of singing, or when the little guy was alone with my wife, who can’t remember lyrics.
*Blackbird singing in the dead of the night . . . *
*Swing looow, sweeet, chariot . . . . *
The old Lawrence Welk theme song: Good night, sleep tight, and pleasant dreams to you . . . You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
Almost any James Taylor song.
Almost any Cat Stevens song.
I don’t have kids, but I sang to my niece and nephew when they were infants (which may be why their parents blame me for the weirdness of their offspring). I sang all sorts of odd things to them–anything gentle and/or rhythmic seemed to work for them. Some examples:
I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing Eleanor Rigby Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (softly) The Mingulay Boat Song (The lyrics I learned were a bit different, but close enough.) The Sailor’s Prayer (This should explain their parents’ viewpoint.)
My Dad used to sing (to the tune of "I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover):
I’m looking over my dead dog Rover,
Who I overran with the mower.
One paw is missing, the other is gone,
The third paw is splattered all over the lawn.
The fourth remaining is overhanging
The back of the kitchen door.
I’m looking over my dead dog Rover,
Who I overran with the mower.
Never did much to put me to sleep, though. Then there was “The Other Day My Doggy Died.”
Mom, on the other hand, used to sing “White corral bells upon a silver stalk” and “When my little ships come sailing home to me.” That put me right out.
I also second the vote for Joh Lennon’s “Good Night, Sleep Tight.”
Eleanor Rigby? Tabgled Up In Blues?
I thought I was gonna be subversive with Wagner’s Seigfreid Idyll.
(Warning: may be too German for some children.)
Sleep little baby, sleep.
On the hill there are two sheep.
One is black and one is white.
anf if the little baby does not go to sleep,
the black one will give it a bite.
Gee, and I thought I was the only parent in the world who knew so few actual lullabies that she had to resort to pop songs!
I used to sing Joni Mitchell’s Morgantown and Circle Game, Neil Young’s Sugar Mountain (as a companion piece), Wendell Gee and Good Advices (R.E.M.), This Must Be The Place (Talking Heads), and The Blood of Eden (Peter Gabriel) to my children when they were little. Nowadays, if I try to sing to them, they just roll their eyes.
You could also try inventing your own song…nothing difficult, it’s a baby and unless you screech he/she won’t mind. Worked for my grandparents and my parents when they were trying to make me sleep.
Joking of course. She is a rhythm child though…I’ll try it.
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