Unusual lullaby
Posted by Charlie Gordon on 28 October 2008 - 8:26am.
I was trying valiantly to get little nipper to sleep last night gently crooning all sorts of nursery rhymes and finally found a slightly more unconventional one worked a treat: Bob Dylan's Every Grain of Sand
Any other Dads hit upon unusual kip inducers?
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The very apt
'Hard Days Night'...she loves it
Misplaced Childhood
The Marillion CD did it for me when my daughter needed rocking to sleep.
The first 3 tracks nearly always worked; Pseudo Silk Kimono, Kayleigh & Lavender. If that failed then forget it. She's 23 now and probably scarred for life and must avoid Marillion in the car whilst driving...
Ah yes...
but did you sing them to her yourself?
I obviously attempted to replace the early 80s nasal whine with my heavenly murmur
Goodnight
The Beatles' "Goodnight" always works a treat for me, complete with my Ringo impression, guarantees peace and luv at bedtime.
'Erm
The initial use of contraceptives.
Always works
Gas Man
Oh how I laughed...
Nobody
...by Tom Waits - growled in middle of the night strangled voice, did the trick. You do sometimes get something in your eye too.
Visulizer
I've managed to send off the odd grandchild (yes that reads grandchild!) by gently pacing around the PC in front of the I tunes visulizer. Something "new ageish" in the background (Oldfield, Floyd etc). Massive success rate. They nod off, I lay them down and then poor the wine.
Sorted!
Martin
So far...
The little one is eight weeks old and there were two songs I sung to lullaby effect when she first came home from hospital: Splt Enz's "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" and Godley & Creme's "Little Piece of Heaven". I'm not sure why though...
Leaky Boat
As you may well find out for yourself in 2 years' time, Tim Finn appears on one of the Wiggles' DVDs singing Leaky Boat.
I once found myself singing The National gently to my little nipper only to realise that what I was singing was "I won't fuck you over, I'm Mr November". Luckily he was too young at the time to repeat it. I wouldn't dare make the same mistake now or I'd be shot.
Something about the Finn brothers, clearly...
my lullaby of choice is "Four Seasons in One Day" by Crowded House (although I still haven't found a satisfactory replacement lyric for "Smiling as the shit comes down"... that'll get me into trouble one day...
Loads
I had a routine lasting about half an hour including Sweet Baby James (obviously), Never Never Land(Todd's version), Trust in Me from the Jungle Book (Holly Cole's version) and Close to You. If Lorna didn't join in at the 'diddly-da, diddly-da' bit, I knew I could safely retire having carried out my paternal duties to complete satisfaction.
Here's a tip to any Dads who are at the end of their tether when being asked to sing - this time might be the last so enjoy it. If you're like me you'll miss that intimacy and tenderness when all they want to do is watch X Factor and MSN their mates.
Lullabies R Us
Here are the ones we find successful. Sometimes.
Stay Awake (from Dumbo?)
When You Wish Upon A Star
Golden Slumbers
Dream A Little Dream Of Me (or "Stars Shining" as our little one calls it) - maybe it's all those blue notes
I can also recommend a recording that worked wonders for calming her down at any time of day: Cool Water by Joy Askew, from her album Tender City. I think it was a combination of the slow, hypnotic drum pattern, and the gorgeous harmonies. Link below.
http://www.emusic.com/album/Joy-Askew-Tender-City-MP3-Download/10815199....
I've tried them
Lovely lovely songs, but I can't sing them without crying (I'm a sentimental sort) which wasn't the desired effect....!!!!
Pink Floyd For Babies anyone?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pink-Floyd-Lovely-Songs-Babies/dp/B000H7JE0S/ref...
Don't
get the lullaby video by Suzi Quatro(if it's still available).
I bought it years ago when my boys were small. I couldn't believe a *singer* could sing so flat and tunelessly.
Erased every imaginative memory I had of her immediately.
We had that
A fascinating insight into the 80s home* of a 'what the feck can I do now?' former rock star. Yes, she couldn't sing a bleedin note!
* plenty of peach colours and those 6 inch strips of wallpaper halfway up the wall.
Blimey....
What timing! Trying to get grand-dter off as I read - well, she is but 5/12. Reggae, esp deep bass dub, seems to work a treat. her mother don't approve......
Marvin Gaye's
'What's Going On' album never fails to work!