DO you sing your children to sleep...

[MrsBates]

I always sing them a few songs after their story, or just sing if late and lights out. They have special requests so can't be too bad. Anyone else sing as a regular thing and what songs?

Oh yeah, always have done. When he was a newborn it was almost always Brahms Lullaby (in German with bits of lalala when I couldn't remember the words): a folk song called Honey For The Bee that I was obsessed with when I was pregnant (for some reason he hates it now though he loved it when he was little) Apple Blossom by the White Stripes, lots of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, now it's mostly Old MacDonald with DS inventing all sorts of unusual animals (a cuttlefish, a train, a 'sockerel', London Bridge Station etc) or Baa Baa Black Sheep. But we sing most of the day as well: Banana Splits, bits of Supergrass or the Zutons...

I have never sung my dd to sleep but she loved me to read to her, although I am redundant doing that now

But we always sang at bathtimes.

And my dd frequently wakes me during the night singing in her sleep honest!

I am interested in all you mners who sing 'The Owl and the Pussycat'...
I sing it to DD (2.6) to a tune my mum taught me as a child, but, when I looked online for information, I can't find any information at all about the tune, or what its called, or who wrote it even!

Now how can I convey to all you out there how my tune goes, and I want to know if you all use the same one-where did you get your tune from please?

We always have songs at bedtime btw- she loves music.

My mum taught me the Owl and the Pussycat tune. But I subsequently got in from a compilation of children's songs I bought from Amazon, which contains Rolf Harris's Jake the Peg and Mandy Miller's Nelly the Elephant, and it's the same tune.

Best way I can describe it: begins with an octave jump, and 'owl and the pussycat went to sea' are all on the same higher note, then 'in a beautiful pea' come down one note at time, 'green' is down two notes, 'boat' is up again one note. Repeat for second line.

i always sung - we sung together - there were three songs

aerosmith
otis
elkie brooks

that was there lot

i obliged with an encore

then lights out

Ds insists on Memory (from cats) EVERY night (sigh...)

I try him on Ave Maria but he usually stops me and asks for Memory again.

My version of Owl and the Pussycat came from mil, sounds like what EB describes.

Think Owl and the Pussycat is a poem by Edward Lear (known for nonsense verse) and has been set to music.

I love to sing to dd at bedtime - the most special thing in the world is when she sings along with me. She does tend to ask me to be quiet at the moment when I sing though - I hope this is a phase .

We sing old cowboy songs, nursery rhymes, Rolf Harris songs for some reason, show tunes, hymns (not religeous, just like them), Dolly Parton, T Rex, anything that springs to mind!

EBenes yy, we are using the same tune then
Excellent description btw! Are you musically trained?

Oh yes,

Lots of singing here, used to be rock-a-bye baby, then was a couple of indian lullabyes, and tune of choice now is The Carpenters "Close to you", which DD even asked the babysitter for last week lol!

Variously:
Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bed post overnight?
Flying purple people eater
Would you like to swing on a star?
Digging a hole (Bernard Cribbins song)
The entire "Mary Poppins" canon (oh dear)

I often am asked to accompany all this with a puppet show.
I think DD will be a stage director when she grows up.

Me too Niecie - Morningtown Ride works every time for ds! 'all the little travellers are warm and snug inside' (tear check. hold them in JuneBug)!

Also Sweet Baby James for dd.

Owl and the pussycat very popular here (it's Edward Lear, BTW)
ant I had a little Nut tree.
Hush little baby
I give DD a little rock singing her a song, then put her down and sghe has her music box off her mobile to listen to whist she goes to sleep. She puts it on in the morning, too. It's much better than my awful singing!

Umm- I know who the words are by, I'm trying to trace the tune!

is this the one? I can't read music, soI have no idea!

Yes, I do and it's fantastic!
Only started at the weekend in fact
and last night she actually fell asleep
to me singing for the first time ever.
A very memorable first!

Indeed it is! Well done Pinkyminky- thank you! what did you google?

OMG- He also wrote the music used in 'Box of Delights' (BBC adaptation) which is one of my favourite christmas things ever!

Oh sorry - not reading properly.

owl and the pussycat music composer

i used to sing ds1 to sleep with a reggae song that goes 'row row row, rowing down the riveeeer... step step step step stepping out into the sea...' can't remember what/ who. i sing ds2 to sleep with 'i wanna marry a lighthouse keeper'

cadelaide i love your song words, don't be

i do the same thing. have a version of 'lighthouse keeper' song all about tickling the boys songs with silly words make our family go round tho'

"Excellent description btw! Are you musically trained?"

Yes, but embarrassingly I got a note or two wrong. Glad it came acros, though. Wow, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, never heard of him, and we're all singing his song, 2nd and 3rd generation transfers.

I looked at Pinky's link and I have been singing a note wrong ... in fairness, I was tiny when my mum taught it me, and I'm not surprised it hasn't been more mangled tbh.

I was taught the tune by my mum as well

[http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/tommy_makem/the_wild_colonial_boy-lyrics-451031.html this]] is one of the songs my nana used to sing to us. Typical of nana- plenty of blood and violence in it..I sing it (badly) to DS sometimes when he's poorly- my mum used to sing it to him in his pram!