Please note that we’re talking about songs you sing yourself, not recordings by professional artists.
I’ve been singing “Little Bunny Foo-Foo” to kids I’ve been putting to bed since my baby sister was a literal baby, but that’s just me. Anybody else?
The Davy Crockett theme song. I started singing it to my son and had no clue how it popped in my head. I’ve never seen the show!
Harry Chapin’s Taxi, and James Taylor/Carly Simon’s Mockingbird. It’s been around 20 years, and they still choke me up now that the babes are all grown.
Sleep Eye (Woody Guthrie)
Now It’s Time to Say Goodnight (Beatles)
Stay Awake from Mary Poppins musical
All Through the Night (welsh folksong)
Autumn To May (Peter Paul & Mary)
My daughter is in grad school now.
By chance, do you mean Chapin’s Cats in the Cradle? Taxi is more like the song you sing yourself to sleep with, after you’ve been drinking alone all night.
James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James
“You’ll be in My Heart” from Tarzan. From the first moment I saw her, I thought “For one so small, you seem so strong” and it stuck.
I bet you saw it as a child and simply don’t remember it. I know that song too but couldn’t tell you anything about the show other than it starred Fess Parker.
I can’t imagine anybody singing Cat’s in the Cradle as a lullaby. It’s far more depressing than Taxi.
Ahh, yes, this is my absolute favorite. Such a lovely, lovely song. I also love to sing the one I made up for him. His favorites are “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, “The ABC Song” (he digs that tune, I guess), and “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”. But sometimes he asks me to sing mine, and it makes me so stupidly happy.
Back when my daughter was a baby, I used to sing “Good Night Sweetheart” to her.
MilliCal is too grown up now, but Pepper Mill used to sing I’d Like to Visit the Moon from Sesame Street:
Believe it or not, my 19-month-old daughter loves “Dumb Ways To Die” as a lullaby.
When mine were very little they made me sing a bunch of songs every night but I only remember three. Amazing Grace, Rock-a-bye Baby and Betcha By Golly Wow.
I sang that to my son. After he had grown up a bit, he asked me, “Who’s Emma Barr?” What? "You know, “killed Emma Barr when he was only 3.”
My favorite lullaby to sing to her, was ‘St. Judy’s Comet’.
Not my favourite song or anything, but the one that always ended up coming out of my mouth was the one that starts “Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird”. Often with improvised lyrics.
Hah! I’m such a freaking liberal pacifist that I used sing “caught 'em barr”, cause I didn’t want to sing to him about killing. :smack:
I got over it by the time the second kid came around!
There’s a lot of good ones here… I always liked* Puff The Magic Dragon *best.
I’ll be a first time uncle in about a month. My incoming niece will be several states away, so I won’t get many chances, but being me, I’ll go with the immortal “Free Bird”.
I like to sing Lullaby by Ben Folds Five to my son.