# Parents: what's your favorite lullaby to sing to your children? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567 "2014-06-11T20:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/41 "2014-06-13T14:02:26Z")
When my wife was pregnant with our first she heard “[Baby Mine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCgDgJsTR_w)” (aka, that one song from _Dumbo_) on the radio or a TV show or something and burst into tears. Five years later she sings it to the two of them probably weekly, when they’re having trouble going to sleep, there is a storm, etc. Music is such a wonderful thing. (My wife too! But she’s always embarassed when I listen to her sing to the kids. Why? I hear her sing all the time.) ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/42 "2014-06-13T14:58:20Z")
When Lil’ Lebeef was born I didn’t know any lullabyes, so I sang what I knew. [I Wanna Be Sedated](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GAZWrQalQc&t=2m1s) a la Rhett Miller, lots of Roger Miller and Tom T. Hall. Now anytime I sing Ba Ba Ba Ba, a little two year old voice chimes in with “wanna be sedated”. It’s awesome! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/43 "2014-06-13T15:05:09Z")
I sang “Lullaby of Broadway” to my daughter every night. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/44 "2014-06-13T15:47:43Z")
You are my sunshine. It works particularly well because you can slow it down and it still sounds nice. I started singing it when she was in the womb with the idea that she’d recognise some of the rhythms when she was born. Perhaps it worked, or perhaps it just made me feel calm, which helped her; it wasn’t much effort either way. Two of the others were my own made-up tune with the lyrics of two German poems by an acquaintance of mine. I wanted her to learn German (I failed) and they just worked so well as lullabies. I also used to sing “hushabye mountain” from Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang. Plus the usuals - rock-a-bye-baby, etc. But the ones listed above were the standards and You are my sunshine was the one that was so familiar she’d calm down even when she wasn’t calm. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/45 "2014-06-13T15:53:28Z")
Also not a parent, but a long-time singer of lullabies to friends’ children. My top four are: “Distant Melody” from _Peter Pan_ “Back When I Could Fly” by Trout Fishing in America “Lullaby” by Trout Fishing in America “Tell Me Why” (no idea where it originated; I learned it from Pat Benetar on the original _For Our Children_ album) ---
**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/46 "2014-06-13T16:41:21Z")
My 3 are “You Are My Sunshine,” a nonsense one I made up called “The Baby Sleeps” and “[Song for the Mira](http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/03/mira.htm).” By the time I’m to the last verse of that one, my 10-month-old is almost always asleep. It fits well - “sweet be your dreams, and your happiness swell.” ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/47 "2014-06-13T22:28:05Z")
I forgot I Gave My Love A Cherry. One of the favorites as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/48 "2014-06-13T22:57:31Z")
“Away in a Manger” was a big hit with my son. ---
**Author:** ![Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/49 "2014-06-15T22:49:16Z")
Its a long way to Tipperary. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FsynSgeo_Uo/maxresdefault.jpg "It's a Long Way To Tipperary / Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag - Robert Mandell") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsynSgeo_Uo) I t was the only song that calmed our first born, she had to be swung in a hammock and sung this song, and was then a happy sleepy baby. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/50 "2014-06-16T00:21:27Z")
“Little Black Rain Cloud” from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree for my son, and “World of My Own” from Alice in Wonderland for my daughter. I have a thing for Disney movies based on classic children’s books. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/51 "2014-06-16T15:46:28Z")
All sung in a soft drone at slow pace. Longer songs work better. “I’ve been working on the railroad…” – Each verse has a different tune/cadence; I repeat whatever one is most soothing. “Good King Wenceslaus…” – Because of a quirk in my brain, I have all the verses memorized. Who says 7th-grade choir was a waste of time? 😛 “On the first day of Christmas…” – Great long song, especially if sung slowly. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/52 "2014-06-16T20:24:40Z")
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my papa’s lullaby for us: _Riders on the Storm_, much to my mother’s dismay. 😃 We loved it! If my mum complained he always said he only knew the words to that and the Matthäus-Passion. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567/53 "2014-06-16T20:59:37Z")
I’m a terrible singer and once my son figured that out (around age 2), he pretty much ordered me never to sing to him! But when he was a baby, he liked it when I’d sing old Irish ballads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-whats-your-favorite-lullaby-to-sing-to-your-children/690567.md?page=2)