Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Cribside karaoke

While humming an Elvis Christmas tune to the slanted walls of the empty playroom and slathering on a final layer of mud over the tape lines, I further attempted to fill the quiet and stillness permeating the environment by tuning my portable to NPR's The Takeaway. A roving topic this morning centered on the lullaby in contemporary culture.

The guest was speaking of an online poll she had conducted examining the popular lullaby's of modern parents. The story was intriguing, the results are humorous and the discussion inspired me to jot down a note to my future daughters (the reason this blog exists) revealing the off-key top 10 tunage favored by their loving parents during their early childhood sleepy time rituals.

Out of necessity, our repertoire developed vigor and girth with our first arrival. Combine inexperienced and paranoid parents with a light sleeper and creaky hardwood floors (the arrival of area rugs accelerated the crib-sneak-away ritual immensely) and you have two tired parents with a karaoke list that challenges even the first season of American Idol.

I've included some YouTube links for the more obscure songs listed.DADDY'S FAVORITES
Yellow Submarine - Lennon/McCartney
In my life - Lennon/McCartney
Suspicious Minds - Elvis
I saw her standing there - Lennon/McCartney
That'll be the day - Buddy Holly
American Pie - Don Mclean (yes, I know all the lyrics)
Puff the Magic Dragon - P,P & M
Norwegian Wood - Lennon/McCartney
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis
In the ghetto - Elvis
Jamaica Farewell - Belafonte
Ma-na-me-na (do-doo-do-do-do)

MOMMY'S FAVORITES
Just about any Pi Beta Phi sorority song you can think of, ad infinitum.

So how'd we do? Well, here we are, 9 years post our first child, and going on 5.5 years for our second and all I can truly state with any surety of fact and candor is that both of my daughter's can pick out an Elvis tune when played on the radio.

Thank, ya...thank ya very much.

2 comments:

AMomof2 said...

We sang constantly to our son. He loved it, calmed him down no matter how long he'd been in a car seat or how much he wanted to stay up in the crib. Funny thing is now he doesn't like singing that much.

Our daughter on the other hand hated to be sung to. We assumed that like her brother, it would calm her. We were wrong. She would screech angrily at the top of her little lungs until we quit.

She however is the performer who sings along with every thing on the radio and tv with feeling, correct tempo and pitch. I guess she's the performer who wants to be the won in the spotlight, not the audience with no patience for the amateurs. This explains a lot.

Anonymous said...

I used to babysit the son and daughter of a woman who sang with me in the choir at my old church. The little girl had picked up her mother's love of music. I don't remember how this got started, but whenever I came over to babysit, her favorite ritual involved me tucking the kids into bed and telling them bedtime stories that were actually the storylines of various Broadway musicals. I'd sing the songs at all the right points in the stories.

As I recall, the kids were really into Phantom and Les Mis ... odd choices for bedtime stories, but I was madly in love with the Phantom myself, so I always made him sound dashing rather than scary.

The little girl wound up starring in a local production of "The Secret Garden" when she was 13, so I guess I was a good influence. :)