Charlie's Lullabies

[marydell]

Charlie likes me to sing to him, which is fun, particularly because I haven't learned any proper lullabies to sing to him.  That means I get to sing things that are full of blood, death, and/or values I don't actually want him to learn.  Right now these songs are in rotation:

Lonesome Valley
Wayfaring Stranger
Roddy McCorley
Dark as a Dungeon
Blood On The Saddle
Bonny Charlie
Sound the Pibroch

He loves to hear this stuff and it makes him go right to sleep after a song or two.   The other day I played some Pentangle for him in Itunes and he cracked a big smile.

I like this kid.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Begin as you mean to go on. :-) Don't forget "Parcel of Rogues."

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I almost attempted that tonight, but the melody is a bit more uppy-downy than I can handle without help (as you may recall). My best mode of singing is "along with." But with some practice I may manage it.

I had to keep him calm during an EKG (all's well, fortunately) recently and I felt a little odd singing about mayhem and death in front of the medical tech. But Charlie may as well get used to it; it's part & parcel of having a Celt for a mom.

[(Anonymous)]

Hehe - my guy loved The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Hallelujah (the Leonard Cohen version with all the verses), and, more recently, Skullcrusher Mountain. Age-inappropriate entertainment makes for way more fun kidlets.

Sarah

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Proper lullabies are highly overrated. The absolutely foolproof one for my daughter was "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead. Also, when she was three, one of her favorite songs was Tempest's "Dark Lover." (Another was the Mamas and the Papas' "Monday, Monday." On which she followed the high harmony line. Startled me a little.) She also got quantities of Broadway show tunes. She was very fond of Les Mis and Sweeney Todd.

She is almost thirteen now, and starting to land good roles in school plays and theater camp productions, and writing her own songs on guitar.

I think Charlie will be well served by the Celtic trad.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

We sang Bobby "Molly Mallone." Actually, we sang this every evening during the third trimester in the hopes that it would be particularly familiar and therefore comforting after he was born. This didn't work at all--his favorite is a set of alternate lyrics to "Pomp and Circumstance" that start out: "My reindeer is purple; Your reindeer's pea green..." He also got a lot of Kipling.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

My older son, Roger's, taste for classical music was developed when he started singing along to the Hallelujah Chorus on an LP of Handel's 'Greatest Hits' at the age of 14 months.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Ooo, "Ripple!" I'll try that tonight. Part of my trouble is trying to remember which songs I know...since my brain is still mostly tapioca because of tiredness. I also know bunches of Les Mis, will try those too.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Ooo, can you post the rest of those lyrics for Pomp & Circumstance? That sounds fun.

I need to come up with better lyrics to "hush little baby."

[marydell.livejournal.com]

One of the nice things about adoption is that your kids have the potential to inherit talents you lack. We're hoping Charlie is musically talented, because we aren't particularly, and we'd enjoy having a singing or violin-playing youngster in the house. (If he's good at buying and selling stock that would also be nice).

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

:-)

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

My reindeer is purple,
Your reindeer's pea green.
My reindeer's in college,
Yours is in the marines.

That's as far as it goes. Since I work at a college, my associations with the tune are very strongly with the pride and solemnity of graduation. I wandered in one day to find A. singing this to a squalling Bobby, and fell over laughing.

I always made up new lyrics to Hush Little Baby as I went along, usually with some desperation while changing a diaper.

BTW, when do we get to meet Charlie in person?

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Soon! I can bring him up for a visit on a weekend as soon as you like--or you can come down here, but that will have to wait a couple of weeks until the house is safe for human habitation. Right now it's an obstacle course thanks to all the enormous baby furniture (his swing has about the same footprint as mike's recliner; WTF?).

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting together but I didn't want to bug you while you were out of town or transitioning.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

I understand completely about the obstacle course--it's amazing how much space all that stuff takes up. This weekend is full up for us, but we're free the weekend after that. It's entirely up to you whether it's more convenient for you to come here or us to go there.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Let me email you after this weekend, once I have an idea what state the house is in. If the house is a shambles, coming to your place will be more convenient, but if we manage to straighten up* this weekend it'll be easier to get together down here.

*as in, make it so there are places to sit...it still won't be exactly "tidy."

[unhappytriad.livejournal.com]

Mine liked the Coventry Carol (go to sleep, little baby, while Herod kills all the other little babies!).

Also my eldest kicked and danced vigorously to Bach's Cantata # 140 from a VERY early age. (Same kid used to burst into tears at the sound of a violin--e.g. in "The Cricket in Times Square"--before she was old enough to talk. She also cried at Gonzo the Great singing "I Did It My Way." Now she plays the violin. And acts. And sings. And does stunt work....)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow!

A friend of mine showed me an interesting trick: to soothe a crying baby give them a segment of lime to suck. It works. And they'll keep on doing it instead of wanting sweets.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Ooo, cool! I'll try that once he's a little older. I don't want him to have a sweet tooth like I do...mine is CRAZY.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

It works at about 10 months, that's when my friend John gave Roger his first segment of lime.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I get to sing things that are full of blood, death

That reminds me of Connie Willis's story "All Seated on the Ground", where one woman in charge of guiding aliens around Denver starts worrying that they'll take Christmas Carols literally.

[msmet.livejournal.com]

I used to sing "Wayfaring Stranger" to mine, too. When he started asking for "car song" (over and over and over) the only thing I could think of was "Dead Man's Curve." He doesn't ask for "car song" very often anymore. :-)