lullaby help?

[rivendellrose]

Okay, lovely folks of my friends-list - I have a question.

What songs have you heard or used as lullabies? Best I can find online, so far, is this, and none of those are really what I'm going for. Plus, now I'm just curious - some of those are songs I would never have thought of as a lullaby. I mean... Clementine? Depressing much? o_O And maybe it's just me, but I've always associated Amazing Grace with funerals...

...No, I'm not keeping a squalling little secret from all of you. I'm trying to write a fic. ;)

Comments

[coramegan.livejournal.com]

Erm, the ones I remember are "Rock a'by Baby" and the one that goes "Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird won't sing..." But I don't think I could give you lyrics for either.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I hadn't even thought of "Rock-a-bye Baby"... which is strange, since I'm pretty sure that's the lullaby I had sung most to me, too. Weeeird. Lyrics aren't a problem, I can always search them up - I'm just trying to get a broad selection to choose from! Thanks!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

yeah, rock-a-bye baby, twinkle twinkle ltittle star, the mockingbird one (which I think is called hush little baby), lullabye and goodnight, those are all ones I sang to you. I can't think of others right at the moment. Alot of times it comes to just humming random soothing tunes. I can see how amazing grace would work although I don't think I ever sang that one to you. It has a very calming sound though and that is certainly the whole point.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I like Amazing Grace quite a bit, I'd just always associated it in movies and all with funerals. Which I guess doesn't make a lot of sense, but connections like that do happen.

Anything soft and repetitive works, I guess, wouldn't it?

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Exactly, and it's better if it's something Mom likes, cause baby is just listening to the calming music. I always really loved hush little baby (or the mockingbird lullabye, or whatever the name of it is.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess it doesn't matter much to the baby! Except for the fact that whatever it is, the kid's going to have some funny reactions to it when they're older - I'll never forget my surprise the first time I heard "Bushel and a Peck" as a semi-adult!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahahaha!! I bet!

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

The ones I remember my mom singing to me in my childhood are: "You Are My Sunshine" and "Barges."

What's the fic's fandom? Firefly? *gets hopes up*

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

And in case you don't know what on Earth I'm talking about with "Barges," it's a song from my mom's Girl Scout years, and the lyric and music can be found here: http://www.bc-girlguides.org/02members/02music/02musicpopup.html

Hope any of this is useful!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

You're one step ahead of me, thank you! Awesome - a look at the lyrics makes me think that might be exactly what I'm looking for!

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

Haha - after you said it was for Zoe and Wash's baby, I was like, "yeah, Barges!" Glad I could help!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I ended up not finding a space for the lyrics, sadly, but with luck something will come up in a later fic!

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

That's too bad, but don't worry about it. It gave me a reason to discover just how wrongly I'd been remembering the lyrics. It wasn't quite as bad as the National Anthem, but I was definitely off in a few spots!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know "You Are My Sunshine," of course, but... "Barges?" I've never heard of it... *Runs to Google*

Yeah, it's Firefly... I'm predictable as all hell. ;) Baby Washburne, of course.

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

I remember Rock-a-Bye, which isn't exactly cheery either! Actually, I still have my wind-up teddy bear that plays that song *hugs teddy* /off topic

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm getting the impression that pretty much all lullabyes turn out to be a bit morbid when you look at them as an adult. I wonder what's up with that?

Thanks!

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Hush-a-Bye-Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Lullaby and Goodnight, Puff the Magic Dragon, Baa Baa Blacksheep, uh... damn, I know there's more. Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I wouldn't have thought of Puff! This is interesting, just seeing what different people grew up with, honestly, outside of the research aspect. Thanks!

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

My younger brother used to have a CD of soothing bed time songs. Sung by a woman in a high, airy voice, it included renditions of well-known tracks such as "the last unicorn" and "we will rock you." Yes. The Queen song. A high, airy, We Will Rock You.

I never really understood how they go about choosing the songs for these things.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

...Okay, I can understand "The Last Unicorn," but I would never in a thousand million years have guessed "We Will Rock You" as a lullaby. That is just beyond the pale.

I mean... even as Queen goes you could make better choices than that! Sarah Brightman has a rendition of "Who Wants to Live Forever," and "Dust in the Wind," but the idea of her singing "We Will Rock You".... wow. *Boggles*

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

My mom used to try and sing Clementine to me and I'd cry until she stopped.

Rock-a-Bye Baby is good, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star too. My grandpa also used to sing in Slovenian, but I don't think you want that. ^^

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I would think so! That song's always kind of bugged me - it's awfully light-hearted to be about a girl dying! I guess Rock-a-Bye Baby really isn't that much better, though, when you think about it...

I never thought of Twinkle Twinkle as a lullaby, I don't think, except in toys and stuff, but it does make sense. It just seemed like a song that kids sang.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

I think I got Hush, Little Baby too.

So many lullabies seem sad! The Brahms one is really pretty, though. I had a lamb pillow that played that. :)

[ellid.livejournal.com]

My mother was weird. She didn't sing to me, she recited Alfred Noyes' poem The Highwayman to get me to go to sleep.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That's awesome - I love that poem so much. Loreena McKennit has a lovely sung version of it (it omits only one verse, somewhere toward the beginning), but I really should memorize the poem, too. Easier than trying to match pitch with a soprano, for my voice. ;)

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Rock-a-Bye, You Are My Sunshine, and my dad made up a song he calls You Are My Little Peanut. It didn't contain too many lyrics beyond that, I don't think. XD Itsy-Bitsy was a crowd pleaser as well.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I might have gotten You Are My Sunshine, too; I'm not sure. I know I knew it really early on... The peanut one amuses the heck out of me. :D

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

I think almost everybody gets You Are My Sunshine. Its got to be a requirement or something.

Yeah, that's my dad. Though when Anna was born she offically became the Peanut, as she was a premie and I was already the Bear. ^_^

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

"Baby Mine" - the song from "Dumbo". Um...there is a really nice Alison Krauss version out there, but alas I don't have it.

[diea.livejournal.com]

I have it! Here it is for download at YouSendIt: Baby Mine. It's a beautiful song even if you don't decide to use it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Wibbles* Awwwww... that song always makes me kind of weepy. And I love Alison Krauss' voice! Thanks so much!

[diea.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I saw the comment and thought "Hey! I have that song!" It's on my Best of Country Sings the Best of Disney CD which I rather love actually. :)

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Baby Mine! I used to sing that one too!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely song... and Alison Krauss has such a beautiful voice. I've been in love with her singing ever since I heard "Down to the River" off the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. *g*

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

There's this one lullaby my mom used to sing to me, and I have no idea where she learned it, I've certainly never heard it from anywhere else. But to me, it seems like the kind of lullaby that would fit into the Firefly 'verse. Let's see if I can remember the words...

I gave my love a cherry without a stone
I gave my love a chicken without a bone
I gave my love a story without an end
I gave my love a baby with no cryin'.

How can there be a cherry without a stone?
How can there be a chicken without a bone?
How can there be a story without an end?
How can there be a baby with no cryin'?

A cherry when it's blooming, it has no stone
A chicken when it's pippin, it has no bone
The story of 'I love you', it has no end
A baby when it's sleepin' has no cryin'.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

That is an old, uhmmm, I want to say Peter, Paul, and Mary song, but I might be totally off. That's a good one too though.

[ursula]

Well, it's a folk song. You're probably right, and there is probably a Joan Baez version, and anything else you can think of . . .

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oooo... I like that one a lot. I didn't end up using lyrics in the fic, as you saw, but I may have to save that one for later use. *g*

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

Well, if you ever want to know the tune, just ask. XD