What songs do you sing to your children?

[angrypixie]

For some strange reason I have sung 'When a knight won his spurs' an old school assembly song to each of them when they were babies whilst they were having their last bottle and cuddle before bed.

I get requests for Puff the Magic Dragon when they are tired or sad, and I have been known to do that Seekers Classic 'Morning town ride'.

My 6 year old daughter likes a burst of 'She's so love-er-ly' Scouting for Girls (I think) at breakfast.

So tell me your guilty secrets and/or inspire me.

I am the master of the truly obscure song

Ally Bally Bee - I havent heard that in years...... loved it as a kid.

We have a nightly ritual of 2 twinkles and 2 baa baas before the girls go to bed.

DS loves row row - cant get enough of it lol

Oh yes, This is the way we.. a very helpful song for getting your recalcitrant child through the day

This is the way we wash our hair is used a lot chez spurtle.

Once upon a time there were three little foxes. All 5 verses.

I have sung this to DD nearly every night since she was about one (at which point she got savvy to the fact that actual lullabies were intended to make her sleepy and wouldn't have them any more).

She is now 10 and still likes it, so I have sung this THOUSANDS of times!

The Mockingbird song

And

Ma's out
Pa's out
Let's talk rude
Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers
(Flanders and Swann)

Oh ... sniff .. at Half Way up the Stairs ..

Used to sing Bobby Shaftoe to dd as a baby until dh added some extremely filthy lyrics ....

now it's Carrick Fergus ...Soldier Soldier Will You Marry me ... Marie's Wedding ... London's Burning ...Oranges and Lemons ...

I try very hard not to sound like Joyce Grenfell

'Compare the meerkat.com' is stuck in my head at the moment and the DGC's know it too. I love to sing 'Ye cannae shove yer Granny aff the bus' to them particularly the verse that goes 'ye can shuve yer ither granny, she's just yer faither's mammy'

here you go

reminds of my childhood SO much!

Bugger, am now singing 'Soldier Soldier'
walk away from the thread,
walk away from the thread....

I still sing for ds2 and he's 7!
His favourites are, Lord of the Dance, Wonderwall and Summertime with Don't stop me know, the Mcfly version thrown in for good measure

Theres a worm at the bottom of the garden, is a favourite here!

We do lots of "this is the way..." stuff too.

DD (2.9) loves Puff the magic dragon but her favourite at the moment is "Here come the girls" - I sing all the "bada bam bam" at the beginning then she sings the words!

"Where are you going my little one" sometimes I get so choked up singing it, I can't finish it. My dd loves it though. I can hear my mother's voice singing it so perfectly and it makes me miss her so much. I actually tried not to sing it to my dd as I can barely hear it without feeling sad but somehow within aweek of her being born that was the song I was singing. It is like a link between the three of us. God, you will all think I am very sappy now.
I also sing that classic 80's song by Spitting Image, "hold a chicken in the air etc.." She loves that too.

bamboo what a lovely post

Agreed, lovely Bamboo and your dd will sing it in turn and therein lies our immortality.

Am going to stop being profound now and drink wine whilst singing 'hold a chicken in the air'

Shamelessly bumping because I have been enjoying it so much

hate to disappoint AngryPixie so:

Oats and beans and barley grow ,
Oranges and Lemons,
Marie's wedding,
Horsey Horsey Don't You Stop
Down in Demerara (v. sad bit about horse dying)
The Garden Where the Praties Grow (Irish folk song)
Handel's Where'er you walk
Ride a Cock Horse
Oh Jemima, Look at your Uncle Jim
(I went to the) Animal Fair
Lily the Pink
Yellow Submarine
This is the way the ladies ride, clip clop etc
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught a Fish Alive
Endless hymns

(Happily, our neighbours are elderly and very deaf )

Ds loves 'Where Did You Get That Hat?'

And Kaiser Chiefs

"what do you want for tea/I want crisps"

How much is that doggy in the window?
Wind the bobbin up
Postman Pat (a favourite)
Nelly the Elephant
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Head and shoulders, knees and toes..
The wheels on the bus..
Twinke Twinkle
The Grand Old Duke of York
Row, row, row the boat..

Is there a website where you can get the words of songs like Lily the Pink and Puff the Magic Dragon? I LOVE that one!

we're currently on aaj ki raat or jai ho from slumdog millionaire, with lots of bhangra style dancing round the house. The kids fine it hilarious, but really hope the neitghbours can't see us!

Puff the Magic Dragon is soooooo sad!

My kids like:
Green Grow The Rushes
Kookaburra
Morning Has Broken
Speed Bonny Boat
and, erm, There's a Hole in My Bucket

Also some old Woody Guthrie songs my dad used to play for us

I've had to look up the lyrics for most of them it was so long since I'd sung them.

OOOh - haven't thought of Speed Bonny Boat in AGES Sazisi [nostalgia emoticon]

Upstairs to Fairy Land
Hush Little Baby
Golden Slumbers
See How he plays
Cradle song

My nan used to sing them all to her children, my mum sang them to us. DS also loves Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (or "Bang Bang Car" as he calls it) so also

Hushaby Mountain
Truly Scrumpcious
I Have You Two Too

DD loves truly scrumptious & Ive sung that to her since she was a baby & an old one my Grandma sang to me was Go to sleep my baby.

Firm fave right now is Sleeping Bunnies