lullabies
The other night, my child had a nightmare in the middle of the night, so I stayed by his bed and sang him songs until he fell asleep. But I quickly ran out of songs past Jingle Bells; Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer (his favorites since last Christmas); Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; and the ABCs. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, but I just couldn't think of any others besides Mormon hymns and primary songs. I couldn't pull a single lullaby out of my head. I remembered Brahm's lullaby existed, but I couldn't think of the tune to hum it.
Even though primary songs are the songs I sang to myself when I was kid and wanted comfort, I just couldn't bring myself to sing them to my son that night. But needing some songs, I ended up humming the tunes to I Am a Child of God, Teach Me to Walk in the Light, and Love is Spoken Here. They don't even make good lullabies.
Why is it I have no lullabies in my repertoire? Because my parents rarely (never?) sang to me? Because if they did--or more likely, my older siblings did--they sang primary songs? I am conditioned so that primary songs soothe me, but now they also frustrate me. The lyrics, the indoctrination about reverence, relying on God, obedience, repentance. I don't want to give that to my son.
Any recommendations on nice bedtime songs for little kids?
11 comments:
I like to sing the kids a lot of basic children's songs: ba ba black sheep, I had a little nut tree, Paul McCartney's "golden slumbers" etc. But some that also soothe the adult spirits- "Shanendoah" (A lovely wistful song); the old Irish "Whiskey in the Jar"; sea shanties like "Donkey Riding" or "Way, haul away". I also like "Jimmy Crack Corn" and "the Big Rock Candy Mountain" (I grew up with a several Burl Ives records- he's done some great versions of classic old American songs.)
I know how tough it can be trying to leave a group that once encompassed so much of your life. I'm happily atheist now- but whatever your way is, I hope you find it and some peace and happiness- good luck!
My mother in law sings a lullaby that goes "Bye o baby bye o" which I don't really know the words to. It's very calming.
I like Summertime by Gershwin and The Circle game by Joni Mitchell.
I have been known to sing old mormon hymns or songs and just hum during certain words. This wouldn't work for a song like, say, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam. But Abide with me, for example, works okay.
I love to give this CD at baby showers or when close friends are having babies. It's called Dreamland and it's a collection of lullabies from all over the world. I think it's a really beautiful CD. I am pasting the link (I'm not sure it will show up but you can buy it at Putamayo's website). Hope all is well with you.
http://www.putamayo.com/catalog/item.php?item_number=212
Thanks for all the suggestions, aerin, rob, and julie!
rob- Welcome! It's always nice to meet other happy atheists.
julie- Got your wedding invitation yesterday. Congrats! I wish I could make it. :( I'm sure it will be wonderful.
You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey.
You'll never know dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.
"A Dream is a Wish" from Cinderella
"So this is Love" from Cinderella
"Once Upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty
I love you truly,
Truly dear.
Life with it's sorrows,
Life with it's tears,
Fades into dreams
Whenever I feel you near.
For I love you truly,
Truly dear.
There's a long, long trail a winding
Into the land of my dreams.
Where the nightengale are singning, and a pale moon beams.
There's a long long trail a winding, where all my dreams will come true.
Someday, I'll go a winding down that long, long trail with you.
Lots of stuff from the 30's and 40's (even 1920's). Do a google search. My mom was a concernt pianist, and my dad played as well. Try a google search with "crooning" or something like that. I can't give you links to the tunes, but maybe this will help. My parents had more music than I could ever think of. Another good place to start would be Elvis. Or try "old love songs."
Hope this helps.
One of my favorites was Five Speckled Frogs - that site actually has an .mp3 so you can hear the tune. =D
When I was fairly small, we had a cassette of lullabies that my parents would play for me and my younger sister. The only song from it that I can really remember is "Hush Little Baby" and "All the Pretty Little Horses". I think I liked those bes because they mentioned animals. I found this site with a good number of kids songs, and a few are lullabies. They even have embedded .midi files in the lyrics pages (which can make for some oddness - "All the Pretty Little Horses" sounds like a dirge, and "Hush Little Baby sounds like a pop song on my machine. :( But at least you can hear the basic tune if you want.
I used to sing "Goodnight Sweetheart" to my sisters. They liked it. My dad (a musician) made up a short song for each of us when we were born, so those were almost the only lullabies we ever heard.
Thanks, everyone. I'll check those out.
James Taylor sings a couple of gorgeous ones- All the Pretty Little Horses and Sweet Baby James.
I agree with Sheer Exhaustion's top suggestion of "You Are my Sunshine" -- that's probably the one I use most often.
Others I've used include:
"Beautiful Boy" (John Lennon)
"Bed" (They Might Be Giants)
"Monster Lullaby" (Sesame Street)
Cool! Thanks.
Post a Comment