Besotted New Aunt Seeks Expanded Lullaby Repertoire

[dr_pretentious]

On Monday I'll be heading back to Maryland to help my sister out with the new baby for a couple of weeks. Nearly all my tutoring clients are on vacation through the end of August, so I get time off from paid labor whether I want it (or can afford it) or not. Hazards of freelancing. (Memo to self: Dr. Avery, you need more clients.)

When I imagine helping out with Kate (The Kateling, The Katelet, She Of The Diminutive Toes, etc.), I imagine singing to her. But my memory for lyrics isn't what it used to be, and most of my kiddie-song repertoire has long since vanished from recall. What I remember is what I currently listen to, which is mostly Howling Heartbroken Woman Music. (It's kind of odd, since I'm a mostly contemplative, mostly contented woman. Go figure.) And the songs of my childhood are quirky at best, anyway.

The repertoire really is a problem. Pru and Zach won't care, my extended clan won't care, but Zach's people are Intensely Catholic Republican Beef Ranchers From Nebraska. My musical diet, heavy on Tori Amos and Ani DiFranco, is not so heavy on things that won't shock the other side of Kate's family. Picture it: Kate, age four and increasingly fluent of speech, chasing me down at her birthday party demanding, "Auntie Sarah! Auntie Sarah! Do 'The Cunt Song' again!" Thank you, Ani DiFranco. Picture the kindergarten teacher sending home the note on the first day of school asking why little Kate knows so many songs about strychnine and cyanide. Thank you, Tori. Thank you, Tom Lehrer. And my extensive collection of Pagan ritual chants is Right Out. Pru and I have long since accepted the inevitability that I will be the token Weird Relative. Every child needs one. But I don't want to get the poor girl in trouble.

I need some innocent earworms. I hear They Might Be Giants started recording music for children while I wasn't looking. Thank goodness. (I couldn't very well sing her TMBG's "Youth Culture Killed My Dog." The dogs adore her. No traumatic lullabies!) Aside from TMBG and the old Kingston Trio albums my mother raised me on, I'm entirely at a loss.

Any suggestions?

Comments

Two months late to the party . . .

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

...but I just found you. (Not paying attention, I guess. :-)

*waves from Minneapolis*

I usually wouldn't bother responding to a post so old, but as it happens, this is something of a specialty of mine. I've been collecting "things to sing to the kids at bedtime" for a couple decades, now.

First, I'll stick up for the already-mentioned "Everything Possible," one of the greatest lullabies of all time. I'm also most fond of the Flirtations arrangement I heard first, but there are others. Also, Cat is right on with the Kenny Loggins 'Pooh Corner' albums.

Look at singers with voices like velvet, because they almost always have a slow, soft song or two on any given album, playing to their strengths. Look at divas and crooners you might or might not like to listen to yourself. Bette Midler (I'm particularly fond of "Some People's Lives" and "Baby Mine"), Barbara Streisand (lots of stuff, including half of the Yentl soundtrack), Josh Groban, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Celine Dion, Harry Connick Jr, Enya, Maire Brennan, Loreena McKennitt, etc., etc. (Anuna has a song called "Winter, Fire and Snow" that makes a delightful lullaby, and is hauntingly beautiful in general.)

Oldies of the right type are useful -- see nearly everything the Carpenters ever did, for example, most especially their "Crystal Lullaby", which is one of the most beautiful lullabies ever written.

Also look at showtunes and soundtracks; they often have one or two suitable songs, often even specifically a lullaby. There's a gorgeous little French one in Aspects of Love, for example. Other songs may be suitable (some with minor editing): "Day by Day" (Godspell), "Somewhere" (West Side Story), "No One is Alone"/"Children Will Listen" (Into the Woods), "Not While I'm Around" (Sweeney Todd), etc., etc.

And now we come to the true gold mine. (Hold your breath, you may not like the smell initially. :-)

Some people don't like Disney movies, or children's animated movies of the Disney type -- and there are many legitimate reasons to criticize both the company and the movies themselves. Set all that aside for a moment, wherever you fall on the spectrum, and consider this: the music is generally EXCELLENT, and there's nearly always at least one song suitable for a lullaby. Most of 'em have actual lullabies, as in used to put the children in the story to sleep. Most of them are spectacularly beautiful. And they have one additional advantage -- most of them are, or will be, FAMILIAR to children who watch Disney movies, which helps capture their attention and draw them into the spell of sleep, I've often found. The kids tend to have their favorites, from their favorite movies, that they request over and over.

Many, many of them are exactly what one wants in a lullaby -- a song of comfort and safety to wrap around a child who is frightened of or worried about the situation of their little world, whatever it may be... and if it works on that, it'll work on "mildly grumpy or distressed or crabby from being tired" just fine. :-) There are exceptions, but even those have their uses -- "Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book is delightfully hypnotising, which can be useful in a stubborn child. :-) Sometimes, you can successfully slow down a song that has more energy in the movie, and get something beautiful and sleep-inducing, rather than exciting.

My favorites include:

"Candle on the Water" (Pete's Dragon)
"Hushabye Mountain" (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
"Stay Awake" (Mary Poppins)
"Feed the Birds" (Mary Poppins)
"Flying Dreams" (The Secret of Nimh)
"River Lullaby" (The Prince of Egypt)
"Once Upon a December" (Anastasia)
"You'll Be In My Heart" (Tarzan)

Other good Disney songs (most of which need softening, but that's easy enough):

"Colors of the Wind" (Pochohontas)
"Beauty and the Beast"
"Part of Your World" (The Little Mermaid)
"Reflection" (Mulan)
"Circle of Life" (The Lion King)
"A Whole New World" (Aladdin)
"God Help the Outcasts" (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
etc., etc., etc.

TONS of good stuff out there! :-)

Re: Two months late to the party . . .

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Oh, hi there! Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm totally comfortable with Disney songs. Some years ago...wow, the mid 1980s? I'm So Old! Anyhow, Ken Nordine put together a collection of covers of Disney songs by all kinds of unlikely people--the Replacements, Tom Waits, Natalie Merchant. The craftsmanship is so tight in most of those songs. I mean, from time to time, Disney rests on its laurels--the Aristocats has some impressively lame songs--but for the most part, it's solid.

So, how have you been? Haven't seen you in, what a year and a half? Is that possible?

Re: Two months late to the party . . .

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

Hangin' in there. No FG this year, so I won't see you 'til next, I suppose. :-/

Re: Two months late to the party . . .

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

And hey, if you have an email address that can take 3-5MB attachments, I'll send you MP3s as I run across them. Let me know. :-)

Re: Two months late to the party . . .

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I'm at avery at alum dot vassar dot edu. Thanks!