Parent-child/baby-themed songs

[Nobody Girl]

I want to make a mix CD for a friend who's expecting her first child, but I'm drawing a huge blank. All I can come up with is "My Darling," "Teach Your Children" and "Long-Haired Child." The people of Via Chicago seem to be good at this sort of thing, so... any suggestions?

[sonicshoulder]

I want to make a mix CD for a friend who's expecting her first child, but I'm drawing a huge blank. All I can come up with is "My Darling," "Teach Your Children" and "Long-Haired Child." The people of Via Chicago seem to be good at this sort of thing, so... any suggestions?

If they are going to name the baby Clare or Claire I think "Long Time Ago" by Golden Smog would be more than appropriate. Then there is always Cracker's "Guarded By Monkeys".

[Synthesizer Patel]

memo to my son - randy newman

 

What have you done to the mirror?

What have you done to the floor?

Can't I go nowhere without you?

Can't I leave you alone any more?

 

I know you don't think much of me

But someday you'll understand

Wait'll you learn how to talk baby

I'll show you how smart I am

 

A quitter never wins

A winner never quits

When the going gets tough

The tough get going

 

Maybe you don't know how to walk baby

Maybe you can't talk none either

Maybe you never will, baby

But I'll always love you

I'll always love you

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Loggins and Messian --- Danny's Song

 

John Lennon --- Beautiful Boy

 

Bruce Springsteen --- Living Proof

 

Stevie Wonder --- Isn't She Lovely

 

David Bowie --- Kooks

 

Paul Simon --- Mother and Child Reunion

 

Radiohead --- Sail to the Moon

[uncool2pillow]

Ben Folds wrote songs for each of his twins. Still Fighting It is on Rockin' the Suburbs. Gracie, probably not appropriate unless it's for a girl who shares that name, is on Songs For Silverman. Still Fighting It is kind of sad, but awfully good.

[LouisvilleGreg]

Here's a great one on the new DBT's album by Mike Cooley called "Eyes Like Glue"

 

I see you watching me

Your eyes are just like glue

Stuck like glue to every

Foolish thing I say and do

But there's a safer distance

Still not out of touch

If Daddy's quiet it probably means

He's thinking way too much

 

Someday you'll be a man

You'll have a big old brain

You won't need it but

You'll try to use it just the same

But it's like any house lonely people roam around

Wasted empty space a maze

With only one way out

 

Nobody ever told me half the things

I'm telling you

Even if they had I'd have had

The same look that you do

Sometimes you think it and

You just want to hear it said out loud

If no one else does then it's up to you

To shout it out

 

You'll want to do it all

And you'll believe you can

But when the best that you can do

Becomes all you can stand

You'll know you're just a man

When you feel all the weight press down

Next time you're watching me

Remember that's all I am now

[dagwave]

Maybe "I Will Take You Home", a brent tune from the grateful dead with earnest, sweet sentiment.

 

I've heard a slower version of "Kid" somewhere by the Pretenders, not to mention Chrissies slower rendition of "Lovers of Today".

 

"Blackbird" by the Beatles is appropriate, too.

 

Best of luck!

[PopTodd]

While it is about being a parent, and talking to your kid (directly), i'm not sure if, thematically, it's what you're looking for. But also, anything from P.M. Dawn's Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry For Bringing You Here. Love, Dad would qualify... technically.

 

Also, check PMs.

[tinnitus photography]

Giant Sand - Stuck

 

The car stopped running in the middle

of the road. . .

Beyond any phoneline or 911 code

Hopes were dismal we'd ever get towed

and if we slept in that ride we might awake

upon explode.

It was as dark as night when the sun went

down, long after we left the last little town.

Not even the endless heat of day

cared to stick around

It got as cold as it gets here

Then got colder we found.

The linkage must've jammed

'cause now the Chevy won't budge

The kid sleeps on your lap

and won't wake when you nudge

You left a whole world of light behind,

Now you hold a grudge. . .

And as you carry the kid out

you curse the clutch

It'll be a wonder if you both can

avoid the death of cold

This stuff used to be cake

But now takes its toll

How can you be this unlucky just

to get this unlucky old?

And you wonder what else lives

in this slice of road

And you lie to your hands

you lie to your heart

you lie to your liver

and tell them they will survive.

Ironically, as you lie there by the side of the

road and can't wait for the sun to come and

burn off the cold.

When you awake it's still dark,

and the thunder could mean rain

You check the childs breathing

and curse the clutch again.

It seems impossible that no one has passed

or crashed into your ride

And as the lull of sleep again attacks

the rain finds where you hide.

Somewhere there's a bar filled with the

careless and content, somewhere folks are

happy and don't care which way you went,

somewhere it's even warmer

than the day you just spent,

and wish them away with deplore and lament.

There's songs that come to mind

when the mud turns blood to ice

A dance that shows itself

when the night becomes so spiced.

A realm you never felt

that steals away the life, out of your heart, out

of your soul, it takes a slice.

With the dull grey thud of morning

You can't believe you're not dead

The child wakes with a smile

and just wants to be fed

There were no ghosts of the past

nor visions of the days ahead

And as you stand to stretch

you flag down a blue flat bed.

[Winston Legthigh]

Sit Down By The Fire

 

By Shane MacGowan (1988)

 

Sit down by the fire

And I'll tell you a story

To send you away to your bed

Of the things

You hear creeping

When everyone's sleeping

And you wish you

Were out here instead

 

It isn't the mice in the wall

It isn't the wind in the well

But each night they march

Out of that hole in the wall

Passing through on their way

Out of hell

 

They're the things that

You see when you wake up and scream

The cold things that follow you

Down the Boreen

 

They live in the small wing of

Trees on the hill

Up at the top of the field

 

And they dance on the rain

And they dance on the wind

They tap on the window

When no-one is in

And if ever you see them

Pretend that you're dead

Or they'll bite off your head

They'll rip out your liver

And dance on your neck

They dance on your head

They dance on your chest

And they give you the cramp

And the cholic for jest

 

They're in the things that

You see when you wake up and scream

The cold things that follow you

Down the Boreen

 

They live in the small wing of

Trees on the hill

Up at the top of the field

 

They play on the wind

They sing in the rain

They dance on your eyes

They dance in your brain

 

Remember this place

It's damp and it is cold

The best place on earth

But it's dark and it's old

So lie near the wall

And cover your head

Good night and God bless

Now fuck off to bed

[tinnitus photography]

it's an instrumental, but a beautiful one...Loren Connor's "Mother and Son" which can be found on the newly-reissued _Hell's Kitchen Park_.

[Atticus]

I know elton john gets beaten up at times, but the live version of the greatest discovery is pretty moving. lyrics:

 

Peering out of tiny eyes

The grubby hands that gripped the rail

Wiped the window clean of frost

As the morning air laid on the latch

 

A whistle awakened someone there

Next door to the nursery just down the hall

A strange new sound you never heard before

A strange new sound that makes boys explore

 

Tread neat so small those little feet

Amid the morning his small heart beats

So much excitement yesterday

That must be rewarded must be displayed

 

Large hands lift him through the air

Excited eyes contain him there

The eyes of those he loves and knows

But what's this extra bed just here

 

His puzzled head tipped to one side

Amazement swims in those bright green eyes

Glancing down upon this thing

That make strange sounds, strange sounds that sing

 

In those silent happy seconds

That surround the sound of this event

A parent's smile is made in moments

They have made for you a friend

 

And all you ever learned from them

Until you grew much older

Did not compare with when they said

This is your brand new brother

[froggie]

um, 'Father & Son' from cat stevens?... although it hasnt got a happy theme

 

 

 

what about 'The Ocean' from led zeppelin? (its about Plants daughter)

 

[Count-In: John Bonham] - "We've done four already but now we're steady

And then they went: One, two, three, four"

 

Singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain

Hitting on the moonshine, rocking in the grain

Ain't no time to pack my bag, my foots outside the door

Got a date, I can't be late, for the high hopes hailla ball.

 

Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar

Play for free, play for me and play a whole lot more, more!

Singing about good things and the sun that lights the day

I used to sing on the mountains, has the ocean lost it's way.

 

Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day

Used to sing on the mountains but the mountains washed away

Now I'm singing all my songs to the girl who won my heart

She is only three years old and it's a real fine way to start.

[Somnambulist]

Metal Baby - Teenage Fanclub

[Nobody Girl]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I haven't heard all of these, but I'll definitely check them out.

[WilcoFan]

John Lennon - "Beautiful Boy"

[dtram]

My Special Child - Sinead O'Connor.

 

Stunning song

[anthony]

"I Wish My Baby Was Born" - Traditional (Uncle Tupelo)

[theologian]

James- Bubbles

Ron Sexsmith- Speaking with Angel

[bigshoulders]

The last time I really listened to Springsteen's "Long Time Coming" I thought of my best friend who is now the father of two. These lines choke me up when I think about his personal situation:

The sparks of the fire are left burning

Lie 2 kids in sleeping bags

I reach under your shirt and feel your belly

There's another one kicking inside

I promise I ain't going to fuck it up this time

Not sure if that's the kind of sentiment you want to send in your mix... but part of parenthood is the waiting, esp. if this is to be a firstborn child. I can only imagine what it might feel like to carry a baby for 9 mos. but if I had to sum it up, it might feel like a "long time coming".