Lullabies
Let's make a list. Do you have any favorite songs that make good lullabies, or compilations of lullabies?
posted by bethany @ 3:49 PM
8 comments
rantum scoot
a journey without a set destination...
a journey without a set destination...
Let's make a list. Do you have any favorite songs that make good lullabies, or compilations of lullabies?
posted by bethany @ 3:49 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I felt like the biggest idiot when Andrew was born because I didn't know many lullabies ....
I would sing Frere Jacques to him, sometimes in French, sometimes in English, and change the words: "Are you sleeping, Are you sleeping, Andrew, dear. Andrew, dear. Mamma needs a nap now, Mamma needs a nap now. Go to sleep. Dammit."
With Liam, I looked up songs and geekily googled "lullabies." I've since added "You are My Sunshine" to my repetoire, as well as "Hey Jude." I end up singing all kinds of Beatles for some reason.
I also sing the ABCs a lot. It doesn't take much thought, lol.
So here are some of my favorites:
Be Still My Child: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Common Threads: Bobby McFerrin
Pretty Little Horses: Anyone
Frere Jacques and Alouette
Kumbaya
Twinkle, Twinkle
We found that singing anything we knew most of the words of was a kind of lullaby and sang a lot of carols and beatles songs too - however, one of our favorite CDs of lullabies was called The Planet Sleeps - an international compilation - there is a link below.
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/ThePlanetSleeps/welcome.html
Hang in there - pregancy sucks, but kids are a lot of fun (just not right away - when really, they're not much more fun than pregnancy...not to be discouraging) - my other words of maternal wisdom include "natural does not mean easy or comfortable" which is obvious applied to childbirth, but is also true for nursing, worth the effort if it works out but VERY uncomfortable at the beginning and
"you'll be amazed what you can survive, that will (much) later appear funny; try to take the long view!"
hope you're both still doing ok - we think of you often - feel free to call/email anytime for parental support! Hilary
Doesn't "You Are My Sunshine" have a bunch of heartbroken lyrics and something about "come back to me; I'll take all the blame" lol?
Good God, yes a lot of the lullabies have sad and/or scary lyrics. YAMS's second verse is "The other night, dear, while I was sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms/ When I awoke / I was mistaken / and I hung my head and cried." and the classic "Rock-a-bye Baby" has the kid falling out out of a tree! American lullabies are odd that way. The Clementine song has people dying in the mines!
Will adds the Paddywhack song to the list.... he sings that one to Liam.
The other thing I remembered is that when my sister set the house up with music when we brought A home, she said that most of the music is for the parents not the child..... when you are up feeding/rocking/singing for hour 8, you'll want to hear something you like, believe me.
I unexpectedly got my favorite 1-year-old most of the way to sleep by singing Wire's "Up To The Sun". The Lucksmiths have also written a ton of songs that can be sung as lullabies and are already lurking in your home.
Stewball.
When I was 9, I could get my baby sister to sleep by singing about... gambling!
Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine/ he never drank water, ha always drank wine...
and oops, drinking!
Shannon
ooh! I just wandered over here from furia, and I'm so excited to see that someone else used "Stewball" as a lullaby, haha. My father always sang that one to me as a child, along with "Puff the Magic Dragon".
I wandered over from furia, as well. Lullabies do take on greater importance than I ever anticipated. Better to (re)learn a few in advance rather than stumbling through endless repetitions of Rock-a-Bye-Baby when the time comes. After 11 months I still occasionally stumble over the third and fourth lines in Twinkle, Twinkle -- is it high/sky or bright/night? -- not something you want to worry about when sleep-deprived and the baby is frantic.
I recently came across this interesting piece on lullabies: http://www.balladtree.com/articles/020425a.htm
One of his main points is that you just have to keep singing -- it doesn't really matter what, so pick what you like. Edelweiss is one of my favorites, because I know all the words, it's easy to sing lying down, and it withstands repetition.
In addition to lullabies, you will also need a repertoire of please-stop-yelling (distraction) songs. We like Rubber Duckie -- not just for bathtime -- and I've Been Working on the Railroad.
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