Parents! Songs to sing your kids to sleep with?

Cafe Society
21

Your voice is enough. I used to sing Gilda Radner’s “Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals”, which he loved. My sister’s eldest liked “He Plays the Violin” from “1776”, and her youngest insisted on “Stars and Stripes Forever” sung by the whole family, with Pop-Pop on sax part, Mom on trombone part, Baba on clarinet part, and Yours Truly on piccolo.

Weird…but whatever works.

I also used to sing “Part of That World” or whatever it’s called from “Little Mermaid”…the big advantage of that one is that I knew all the words at the time.

22

My daughter likes the lullaby that Billy Joel wrote for his daughter, Goodnight My Angel as well as a slow rendition of Elton John’s Blessed but her favorite is simply Rock-a-Bye Baby, with these lyrics:

Rock-a-bye baby
Here in my arms
Watching your sweetness
And all your charms
As the night breaks
The baby will lay
Safe in her cradle
Until the new day

23

My boys liked folk and traditional with a couple soundtrack tunes thrown in for zest. The big two are:

Warning: Lavender Blue is one of those songs that can go on and on and on forever. They like the ‘dilly, dilly’ part.

They also like the Beatles I Will, Golden Slumbers, and Blackbird.

24

Hush Little Baby
Author and copyright unknown

Hush, little baby, don’t say a word,
Mama’s going to buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird don’t sing,
Mama’s going to buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Mama’s going to buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,
Mama’s going to buy you a billy goat.

And if that billy goat won’t pull,
Mama’s going to buy you a cart and bull.

And if that cart and bull turn over,
Mama’s going to buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won’t bark,
Mama’s going to buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,
You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

25

Mostly I make up songs with my kids names in them. When I feel creative I sing them some Elton John songs or even the odd 70’s AM soft rock hit. I always make sure I slide their name in somewhere.

26

I routinely sang everything from the “Live Bullet” Album by Bob Segar. Or how about “Tiddly Winky”?

Tiddly winky winky winky
tiddly winky woo
I
love
you
Tiddly winky winky winky
Tiddly winky woo
Love
me
too.
I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon
I love you in the evening
and underneath the moon.
Tiddly winky winky winky
tiddly wink woo
I
love
you

Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Don’t foget to tip your waitress!

27

This is not going to help one damn bit, but when my daughter was young, the song that calmed her down the most was the old NBC News theme written by John Williams and used in the early/mid 80s. We taped a long version of it and played it back whenever she was fussy.

You might just try humming something with a moderately fast beat and punctuate it now and then with “BOMP BAH” and similar horn-sounding things.

28

My son always calmed down with monotonous hummings at a more or less low pitch. I think babies like the vibrations. An old Welsh tune called “The Eagle’s Whislte” used to be a favorite.

Lyllyann, I know the song you’re singing! but I sang with a “skidamarink a dink a dink, skidamarink a doo”

29

Lilly, Queen of the Universe, has always liked “If You Will Marry Me”

I’ll give to you a pacekt of pins
And that’s the way our love begins
If you will marry me, me, me
If you will marry me

Add as many verses as you need.

30

I often used to be the one to put my younger brother and sisters to sleep. I’d just sing any old thing that I knew the words to, from Puff the Magic Dragon and Veteran of the Psychic Wars, to You Don’t Own me and Witch Wolf.

31

That’s awesome and hilarious. Is there a recording floating around the web somewhere of this a capella masterpiece?

(I thought I was the only one who loved singing the piccolo part from the Stars and Stripes…)

32

This applies to slightly older children since I can actually remember these events. Dad only did 3 songs: Take Me Out To the Ballgame, I’ve Been Working On the Railroad, and a German song called Pferdchen, Pferdchen. None of them really lullabyes, but those were the options. Mom, being a singer, was more versatile and would sing just about anything I asked for. My favorites were the lullabyes from Mary Poppins.

33

When I was a young’un, my aunt used to sing me to sleep. There was one song with the chorus, “Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds.” For years and years, I thought it was “measuring the miracles.” Actually, that would be kind of a cool song, too.

I’ve always liked the Riddle Song, too:

*I gave my love a cherry that had no stone
I gave my love a chicken that had no bone
I gave my love a ring that had no end
I gave my love a baby with no crying

How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a ring that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying?

A cherry when it’s blooming, it has no stone
A chicken when it’s pippin, it has no bone*
A ring when it’s rolling, it has no end
A baby when she’s sleeping has no crying*

*I’m pretty sure this means when it’s still in the egg.

34

No! Living up to every inch of my “Metal is in my blood” t-shirt I sang Black Sabbath’s War Pigs and Heaven and Hell to my daughter while rocking her to sleep at each feeding. As she got older we progresses to actual CDs by Lacuna Coil and The Gathering. She doesn’t like metal now that she is six but at least she can sing the responsive part to "Generals gathered in their masses…”. Remember to give the gift that keeps on giving… Black Sabbath

In my experience it is your voice that actually soothes them so song lyrics, the alphabet, the periodic table, ingredients from a cereal box, or the platform of the Popular People’s Front of Judea would all work equally well. Good luck and good rest!

NP: Dark Tranquility – Damage Done

35

Don’t laugh.

I sung christmas carols, Walking in a Winter Wonderland most often. (Still do sometimes when she’s feeling really tired and isn’t convinced she needs to go to sleep) I also sang You are my sunshine which really made her happy when she grew old enough to understand the words.

Also I made up a song with her name that she loves. She’ll come cuddle with me and behave better if I sing it a couple times even now.

I know a little girl,
her name is Aleisha*,
Aleisha Marie.
She is so smart and so sweet
And she’s getting sleepy
Repeat ad finitum

It isn’t very creative, I know.
*pronounce like Alee-sha
I recommend picking one or three songs you’re really comfortable singing and sticking with them. Part of what makes them work is the familiarity - they become conditioned to being sleepy or comforted when hearing those songs in that context.

36

I forgot about these.

My mom used to sing this to me and I have sung it occassionally to my daughter:

Where are you going my little one, pretty one
Where are you going my baby, my own?
Turn around you’re a baby,
Turn around and you’re four
Turn around you’re a young girl walking out of the door

Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you,
Where are you going to
Do you know?
Did you get what you’re hoping for
When you look behind you there’s no open door
What are you hoping for
Do you know?

I’ve heard this sung by Diana Ross and I think it’s just beautiful, especially the strings on the track.

Also, there is a book called I’ll Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch, about this woman and her son. The song that she sings to him that he eventually sings to her when she gets old and then to his newborn daughter is this:

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be

It is a really sweet book.

37

That’s exactly what it means. (In the fifteenth-century lyric the song is based on, the line is “Whan the dowve is an ey [egg], than hadde it no bon.”)

My mom used to sing us vaguely depressing tunes like “Scarlet Ribbons” and “Love Makes the World Go Round” and something that starts “Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine…” I’m feeling rather melancholy just thinking about it. Not sure why.

I had an English teacher once who confessed to the class (during a unit on traditional balladry) that he used to sing his daughter to sleep with “Mary Hamilton.” This is a song about a Scottish lady-in-waiting who’s hanged for infanticide. :eek: (It’s a great song, though…)

38

Baby’s Fishing For A Dream

All Aboard for Blanket Bay

39

The lullaby that my daughter liked the best was the one from Disney’s Tarzan. It was written by Elton John I think. The first line goes, “Come stop your cryin’ it’ll be alright”

When she was really small I would sing whatever I could remember at 2 am including “The Lumberjack Song” and Oscar Myer comercial jingles.

The important thing to remember when you are trying to get a little one to sleep is that you need to respond to your child’s actions as you sing them to sleep. When you first start it is often good to sing spritely and bounce gently. That sort of gets their attention and they get into the singing. Then when you see that you have their attention calm it down a little. Then as they put their head down, blinks start getting longer and longer, etc. you start lowering your voice and having gentler movements. And so on.

Singing a little one to sleep works best when it is an interactive process like that.

As you and your child get to know each other you will begin to see what works best for them. Just remember to not just sing the song as you are used to hearing it. When they get distracted you can really swing rock-a-by-baby to get their attention back on you and when they are dropping off “my Bologna Has a First Name” becomes a ballad.

Good Luck and Enjoy.

40

A dad of two strappin’ lads speaking here. My kids always fell asleep when I would sing ‘My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean’. There’s a nice page with the lyrics and the melody at http://www.duchessathome.com/childrensongs/mybonnie.html

Another favourite (puts them straight to sleep) was Tom Dooley:

INTRO (spoken):
Throughout history, there’ve been many songs written about the eternal triangle. This next one tells the story of a Mr. Grayson, a beautiful woman, and a condemned man named Tom Dooley…
When the sun rises tomorrow, Tom Dooley… must hang…

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

I met her on the mountain,
There I took her life;
Met her on the mountain,
Stabbed her with my knife.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

This time tomorrow,
Reckon where I’ll be;
Hadn’t a-been for Grayson,
I’d a-been in Tennessee.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

This time tomorrow,
Reckon where I’ll be;
Down in some lonesome valley,
Hangin’ from a white oak tree.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Hang down your head and cry;
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
Poor boy, you’re bound to die.

Poor boy, you’re bound to die;
Poor boy you’re bound to die;
Poor boy, you’re bound to die…