Know any Good Lullabyes a Daddy can Sing?

The video above is from almost a year ago, when Mackenzie was only 3 days old, and on our first night home I was singing to her in an attempt to put her to sleep.  She instead was watching me interestedly, and didn’t end up going to sleep until much later, but we at least got to share a pretty precious moment together as father and daughter.

The video above is from almost a year ago, when Mackenzie was only 3 days old, and on our first night home I was singing to her in an attempt to put her to sleep.  She instead was watching me interestedly, and didn’t end up going to sleep until much later, but we at least got to share a pretty precious moment together as father & daughter.

I unfortunately got the idea in my head though, that she doesn’t go to sleep when I sing to her, so I’ve barely tried to sing her to sleep since then.  But tonight, she was climbing all over the bed (climbing on EVERYTHING, really) so I gave it another whirl and sang her “A Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night“.   She fell asleep during the last verse.  It was just too precious, and was another one of those awesome father-daughter things where she was beaming at me all the way until her eyelids fell down and she went to sleep.

Now, while that was indeed wonderful — I’m in a bind.  What other great songs are there that a daddy can sing as a lullaby?   Good, memorable folk tunes would be best — i.e. not just Metallica’s One sung softly.  🙂   Definitely am open for suggestions.

28 thoughts on “Know any Good Lullabyes a Daddy can Sing?

  1. I can’t make any recommendations along the lines you’re looking for but I can tell you that Frere’ Jacques was my son’s sleep song. It’s one of the few children’s songs he will let me sing to him as he’s all about listening to grown up songs. He did go through a phase in which he liked to listen to Avril LaVigne sing “Keep Holding On” before he fell asleep.

    1. That’s pretty funny. I’ve tried Frère Jacques, but unfortunately it’s a bit too short for my daughter as she goes through all sorts of contortions & such before finally falling asleep, so I’d need to learn some additional verses. 🙂

  2. Go to a bookstore (in your town, or on the internet such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon) and buy a book of songs meant for singing to children. If you can’t afford to buy a book, check out your local library. It’s just amazing what resources there are out there in the world…

    1. “Close Your Eyes” from the album Cranberry Red Balloon is a beautiful lullaby written by a dad and sung by a dad. The album is a Parent Choice award winner. Every song is like an old friend. Beautiful songs for beautiful beings. Enjoy!!

  3. I do a medley of Frere Jacques, Au Clair de la Lune, Hush Little Baby and Barney’s I Love You song. And repeat if necessary. If all else fails, I make stuff up to whatever melody is gentle enough but keeps me from falling asleep!

    1. I loved your reply, just wanted to say that, as I don’t know many songs and just humm or make things up! I should look into the ones you mention though as I should probably learn some now that my baby is nearly 7 months old! Hahaha!

  4. My daughter’s favorite song was Baby Beluga. I know these are not the typical lullabies but we’ve been singing This Old Man and The Ants Go Marching (probably because we have a three year old and a seven month old).

  5. Tad,
    One of my favorites–that my mom used to sing to me and that I’ve sung to my girls in turn–is “Chi-baba Chi-baba”. Check out the Perry Como version. Easy to learn, easy to sing. Perfect stuff.

    1. I’ll have to check that out! Ran out of songs /again/ on our trip down to Chincoteague Island, so was singing random songs from Fiddler On the Roof to improvise. 🙂

  6. Oh, Fiddler on the Roof is great! Especially “Sunrise, Sunset”. Hooray for random improvisation!

    1. Funny you should mention that one — “Sunrise, Sunset” was the song my mom used to sing to me, and which my sister sang at my wedding. 🙂 Definitely a family favorite.

  7. I like taking my favorite poems and singing them to a simple melody. My children and grandchildren got to listen to “The Moon’s the Northwind’s Cookie”, with starlight and a couple of other moon and star theamed poems sung to a melody that just was there. Writing something specificly for them can be fun also.

  8. Puff the Magic Dragon always worked for me. My kids are gown now with babies of their own – and are singing “Puff” to their kids now. The legacy continues…

  9. this may sound funny, but the only song my husband ever sang to our kids was Pretty Woman (they are both girls). It also happened to be the only song he knew the words to, but that’s okay. I have six songs I sing one after another in a row, and they were the songs sung to me by my mother and to her by her mother. To be very honest I don’t know the names to most of them, never seen them in writing, etc. But if you pick five or six of your favorite songs and just sing them one after another, that gives you a nice long song. If by chance my girls weren’t asleep by the end, I had a few I threw on (Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Wizard of Oz and Tomorrow from Annie). I saw someone say Puff the magic dragon, which I have also sung but could only sing the first two verses because the rest was so sad my youngest would get upset. night time was never a good time for sad songs!

  10. Tad, I sing Iz’s version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow to my daughter and she loves it. She doesn’t fall asleep during it but it calms her and she goes to sleep when I put her down after this. Sometimes I give her a baby massage using lotion while I sing – she really likes this. If you don’t know which version of the song I’m referring to, go to YouTube and search the song title, looking for a version by a large Hawaiian singer named Iz. It’s beautiful!

  11. I love “Puff The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary, Paul McCartney’s version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and The Beatles’ “Good Night” from The White Album. I sang them to my children and now to my grandchildren.

  12. I sing Garth Brooks “To make you feel my love” and The Beetles “Let it Be”. I really like George Gershwin’s “Summertime” too. I have a lullaby version of Let it be on my phone thast has put Jace to sleep tons of times 🙂

    1. Awesome. Mackenzie now requests her own songs. If she doesn’t approve, she yells at me, “No daddy! No singing!” …and then requests which she wants. Current favorite is repeated singing of the “Mr. Moon, you’re up too soon” song.

      1. TAD – i know mackenzie is getting to be a big girl now, but for my son i sing “goodnight” by the beatles or even play the song for him and sing along.

  13. Beatle songs are cool. Not sure of your age but 60s generation folk like myself know the words to most Lennon/McCartney music. But really anything a father sings to a child is cool beyond belief. Make up your own songs too. That’s easy. Just put your child’s name in the song a few times and she’ll want you to sing it over and over so try to remember what you think up.

  14. ((Smiling – “The fox” was one of my standard repertoire. -I still recall a comm with a friend’s infant many years ago (even before I met Scientology -) I was sitting for her while parents went to a movie for private time (she was a few months old) – it was a naptime and I put her in crib to nap. – I thought I would sing for her, so I started singing “The fox” …….. about TWO VERSES INTO THE SONG I heard “in my mind” CLEAR AS YOU READ THIS: …..”don’t just sing the words, dummy – SHOW ME THE pictures!” So I did. and we both were enJoyed with the communication much much more. – For my son’s childhood I had several others, usually adding up to a cycle guaranteed to bring child to sleeping – in a pinch, I could of course begin again/re-cycle. I have loved singing long ballads since the “folk music period of the [’60’s] – including some of the songs from “Lord of the Rings” trilogy which I have put to music. A favorite of these, from the Fellowship of the Ring – The Troll song – actually is written to the same music as “The Fox” – you may wish to hunt that up- let me know if I can help. Another favorite was “Ray Nelson’s Lullaby” – written by a Science Fiction writer – I do not think it is currently available – Sunrise in the morning / Moonrise in the evening / Stars rise when my baby’s asleep. Papa sun is sleeping/Momma moon is keeping watch so the baby stars don’t weep.
    Brother frog will sing/Granny clockbell will ring/Sister cat will see all is well. Friend puppydog is near and Teddybear is hear and the wind has a story to tell……………… – this would lead into one of my story songs – e.g. The fox or The troll song………
    I also wrote my own for Daniel….. “Dreamponies” ….DO continue your action – those times are such pleasure moments for the children!

    1. Ooops! and I forgot a very, very favorite: The complete and unabridged version of “The Cat & the Fiddle/The Cow Jumped Over the Moon” as found in Fellowship of the Ring written by JRR Tolkien. one advantage of longer lullabies: one time through the program and baby’s asleep !:D

  15. I recently started following Scientology Parent and just today saw this post.

    I know a great lady who is a Scientologist. She wrote a great lullaby and it is posted here: http://www.myspace.com/sallynutter/music

    It is called Nanna’s Lullaby and I think it is way more positive than most you find out there.

    My grandson was born a year ago and sometimes he would rather play than sleep if I sing but sometimes it works well.

    He also likes,
    “The lion sleeps tonight”

    Grandma sang to my mom and my mom to and with us and I sang to my kids and we sing with the grandkids too. Now my grandaughter sings with us to her baby brother. It is a great tradition!

    With great respect, Susan Aldrich

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