Kooks on Hunky Dory.

"Don't pick fights with the bullies or the cads
'cos I'm not much cop at punching other peoples' dads..."

"...and if the homework brings you down
then we'll throw it on the fire and take the car downtown..."

I wanted Dave and Angie to be my parents.

Rufus is a Tit Man.

and My Baby Girl from Sunday's Child managed to just steer clear of mawkishness.

On the other hand the nadir of songs for the artist's child is reached by Bruce Springsteen on Human Touch with Pony Boy.

About the frontman's newborn daughter being in intensive care. Hard to hear without welling up, I find.

It may be because it came out around the time my daughter was born, but this just says it all to me:

Simple, ingenuous and really lovely.

You can't fool me, I saw you when you came out
You got your momma's taste but you got my mouth
And you will always have a part of me
Nobody else is ever going to see
Gracie girl

With your cards to your chest walking on your toes
What you got in the box only Gracie knows
And I would never try to make you be
Anything you didn't really want to be
Gracie girl

Life flies by in seconds
You're not a baby Gracie, you're my friend
You'll be a lady soon but until then
You gotta do what I say

You nodded off in my arms watching TV
I won't move you an inch even though my arm's asleep

One day you're gonna want to go
I hope we taught you everything you need to know
Gracie girl

And there will always be a part of me
Nobody else is ever gonna see but you and me
My little girl
My Gracie girl

This means a lot to me, being the father of daughters.

How do you feel now
We've got a reason to go on
Newly born
Seems like I've waited for a lifetime
But honey I believed in you
When I saw her face I had to cry
I don't know why
Is she real?
Seems like I've waited for a lifetime
But honey I believed in you
To make my dreams all come true
We've got a child
I tried and tried to talk it over
Seemed like we'd waited a million years
Then you conceived our child was born
And we were one
Picked her up put her by your side
Saw the smile that you couldn't hide
I tried and tried to talk it over
Seemed like we'd waited a million years
Then you conceived our child was born
And we were one
Picked her up put her by your side
Saw the smile that you couldn't hide
How do you feel now
We've got a reason to go on
Newly born
Seems like I've waited for a lifetime
But honey I believed in you
To make my dreams all come true
We've got a child

beaten to the Ben Folds - he played this in Southampton and was reminded how lovely it is.

No video for this marvellous songs from Costello's patchy 'Momofuku' LP

'My Three Sons'

Day is dawning
Almost sounded like a warning
Wind was rushing through the trees almost roaring
I never thought that I'd become
The proud father of
My three sons

Here's a fragment
Between the shame and the sentiment
For all the years that I might have been absent
I can't do what can't be undone
Oh no, my three sons

I love you more than I can say
What I give to one
The other cannot take away
I bless the day you came to be
With everything that is left to me

Here's your pillow
Go to sleep and I will follow
May you never have any more sorrows
That's not something you can count upon
Still I want it for my three sons
My my
My three sons

Deep in the night I turn cold and sick
But I only curse arithmetic
I bless the day that you came to be
With everything that is left to me

Day is closing
Old men and infants are dozing
That's the kind of life I've chosen
Just see what I've become
The humble father of my three sons
The humbled father of my three sons

Ever wondered what the meaning of life is? It's all there in four handy lines...

Build me a cabin in Utah
Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout
Have a bunch of kids who call me “Pa”
That must be what it’s all about

The first line just kills me...

"We carried you in our arms, on Independence Day"

‘Soft Spot’ by Clem Snide is a record which seems to have been written following the birth of a little ‘un.

Some lovely songs on it - ‘Fontenelle’ is a good one. As is ‘Find Love’

And ‘Happy Birthday’ contains some nice wishes for his son...

“...I hope that your friends are true and funny, and your girlfriends are sweet and wear tight pants, and after your heart is gently broken, I hope that you get a second chance...”

For his daughter.

From his rather magnificent new album with Jon Hopkins "Diamond Mine".

album Lustre is largely devoted to this topic. The final track "Fears of a Father" is beautiful:

Oh blood of my blood
You have my heart
Love of my life
You caught us off guard
Oh the fears of a father don’t scare me I’m ready to love

Although not public knowledge Kevin was in his last month's when he wrote and recorded this.
Baby Billy (Kevin Coyne - Andreas Blüml) (UNDERGROUND)

I see your little face, watch your little smile.
Oh it lights up the room, you’re a little wild.
Kickin’ and pullin’
at the world that you see,
and let’s, let’s face it, you look a little like me.

Memory plays tricks and lets me down.
Don’t want it dark and gloomy when you’re around

Bring in the sunlight.
Takes the shadows from my face.
If I’m sad tonight, it’s just memory.
I’m thinkin’ positively about you and I, I hope you realise
When you get old enough you’ll see the love in my eyes.

Memory plays tricks and it gets me down.
I don’t want gloom and doom to come on round.
Go away.

This is happy occasion, all of us in this room
Every generation represented, represented here.
Oh the laughter when you tumble and you roll on the floor.
I’m full of emotion, I could cry, I can’t take much more.

Memory plays tricks and it gets me down.
Banish all the gloom and the doom. I don’t want it around.
Go away.

A little star, I know.
That's what you'll be.
When you get much older
I hope you’ll remember my memory.
Because when you're way up there, now don’t look down
Just remember the man with the grey hair who sometimes cast a frown

Memory plays tricks and it makes me sad.
Go away old memories, can’t all be bad.

Little boy, little boy, little boy, this is for you.
Oh! little boy, little boy, you know this is for you.
Little boy, oh! Little boy, this song is for you
Oh! Little boy, little boy, this song is for you.

It’s for you, just for you
Nobody else, just for you.
It’s for nobody else,
But you.

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), by 1/4 of the HJHs.

"Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here."

Made slightly more poignant by the realisation that less than a month after the song was released the last line of the first verse ceased to be true- in a physical sense, at least.

Has nobody mentioned Richard Thompson's (hilariously bleak) 'End of the Rainbow'?

Come on chaps, our reputation is at stake.

Sarah

"Your mother and I we did this act
In some hotel 'bout nine moths back
Now, it's love that brings you here
A love that will not disappear
Georgia, honey, you can count on that"

Ok so it is a bit hard to take the 'Luverly, luverly, luverly Bertie' first time - you feel she's overdoing it (even by her standards)

But that wonderful baroque arrangement and that exquisite 'You bring me so much joy, you bring me so much joy, then you bring me - more joy!' is just so damn artless, clearly ecstatic and obviously genuine that you, yet again, find yourself seeing things from inside Kate-world.

But perhaps that's just a Dad speaking!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Not many I have heard before so plenty of new listening for me.

Some of the lyrics posted are really moving and express how I feel about my little one. Just wish I had the ability to articulate myself even half as well!