Harry's Greatest Hits

An article on NPR about music and newborns got me thinking about music we have played for Harry since he was born. Being musicians, we like things that are off beat and not necessarily kid-related, but on the other hand we've found many great recordings of kid-friendly tunes in unlikely places.

Harry always responded well to music of all kinds and it usually soothes him to sleep. I remember playing Horowitz encores for him at maybe 4 months old and just watching him lay quietly and listen. Later, we started using an old-timey AM radio station to put him to sleep. They played everything from Big Band to 80s techno and it would knock him right out.

We also had a couple of iPod play lists that worked really well for a while. One was an hour long play list of very varied slow-ish songs with artists ranging from Paul Robeson to Carole King, a lot of which are lullabies, but not all. Another was called "11 up and down" started out with 30 minutes of upbeat tunes followed by 30 minutes of slow tunes and that worked for a long time. In between play lists, we depended on music from the "Baby Loves Jazz" series. "Charlie Bird" was particularly effective in the car and Hubby and I re-created it a capella at least once when we forgot the iPod adapter. (Even the two of us singing is better than a screaming baby, I promise!)

These days, Harry loves anything with drums or just plain old Mommy singing one of his favorite tunes. I have a few regular lullabies in rotation, including "Hushabye Mountain" (guaranteed out in 1 run through) "Stay Awake" (reverse psychology anyone?) and "Baby Mine" (Hmmm. All from Disney movies?). We also sing some nursery rhymes, the alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinke. He lets me know very physically and vocally if he is not in the mood for a particular song by covering my mouth and saying "DA!" (his word for done).

When Harry was younger, though, we sang a lot of made up words to famous tunes. Here are a few favorites.

B-B-B-Baby! (Sung to the tune of "K-K-K-Katy")
B-B-B Baby!
Beautiful Baby!
You're the only b-b-b-boy that I adore!
B-B-B Baby!
Beautiful Baby!
You're the only b-b-b-boy that I adore!

Other verses included M-M-M-Mommy, D-D-D-Daddy and K-K-K-Kitty with some made up words for the 3rd and 6th line that I cannot remember. Possibly "M-M-M-Mommy loves her b-b-b-baby boy" or something similar.

Baby Can-Can (Sung to the tune of the "Can-Can" by Offenbach) This one is a form that can take many verses, depending on the situation.
1. Harry, Harry Joseph Steinberg
Was a little baby
And he liked to cry and cry and cry and cry and
Harry, Harry Joseph Steinberg
Was a little baby
And he liked to cry and cry and cry

2. Harry, Harry Joseph Steinberg
Was a hungry baby
And he liked to nurse and nurse and nurse and nurse and
Harry, Harry Joseph Steinberg
Was a hungry baby
And he liked to nurse and nurse and nurse

And so on. Other verses included:
Sleepy baby...liked to nap
Busy baby...liked to play
Stinky baby...pooped and peed
Happy baby...liked to smile
Silly baby...liked to laugh
Fussy baby...liked to whine
Lovey baby...liked to hug (or kiss, or both)


Twinkle Baby (Sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle")
Harry Joseph, I love you.
And your Daddy loves you too.
It is time to go to bed.
You must rest your sleepy head.
Harry Joseph, I love you.
And your Daddy loves you too.

I suppose we'll have to come up with some new ones for baby Nathan, but we may be too tired to be creative. Time will tell. I know we will just keep singing, though. I swear there is something instinctual about singing to your child. And really, infants don't care what you sound like or what you sing. So, while it's interesting to read the NPR article and all the comments (including mine somewhere in there), the best thing for a newborn to hear is its parents voices. As long as it's coming from Mom and Dad with love, it's the perfect sound.