Songs you sing to put your kids to sleep

The Coffee Shop
1

My kids camped out in the living room last night & were so wiggly that I sang the old songs from when they were babies and I sang them to sleep. My repertoire includes:

The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)
Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead)
Bobby Magee (Janis Joplin)
Trouble in Mind (Nina Simone)
The long black veil (Johnny Cash)
There’s a Rugged Road (Shawn Colvin)
Red River Valley (by ?)
Wish you were here (Pink Floyd)
If U want to be u song (Cat Stevens)
Green grass grows all around (?) (I can sing song forward & backwards to really bore the kids to sleep)
Papa Don’t Preach (Madonna)

All the above songs can be sung Bob Dylan style if the kids are still awake.

What are your songs? For kids or yourself or that long, lonely bike ride or run.

2

I go to bed before my kids and my singing would keep my kids (and the neighbour’s kids) awake.

3

Not sure how it happened but we started playing the Nora Jones CD Come Away with Me right before my kids bed time.

He was not a kid that fell asleep quickly and he’d often still be awake at the end so we would have to restart it.

I think I know all the words to every song on that CD.

~Matt

4

Rafi. I get emotional if one of his songs pops up on shuffle.

5

That’s such a pretty cd. We play it, and apparently one teacher at my kid’s school used to play it during class to soothe the wild children.

6

I was just texting with my wife about this last night. This is probably my all time favorite of their music series:

https://youtu.be/5BDVvB7Xx1w

But this one’s pretty great, too!

https://youtu.be/Jc20vMz0V7Q

7

Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead)

Ripple
.

8

I forgot about Rafi. We played Rafi during the really early years. Those times were so hard— Rafi triggers me big time.

Thank God kids grow up. They are so fun now. They were singing Bobby Magee with me last night.

9

people go to his concerts! Those are the good parents!

that gulpy feeling you get in the supermarket is the one I get with a Rafi flashback. Especially Tingaleo Come Little Donkey Come

10

I like the Time to Say Goodnight. I hadn’t heard that before.

I’ve edited my versions of the songs sometimes since it seems all good songs are about love or death. My kids didn’t notice when they were young. Last night I sang “hmmm on Seventh Avenue” instead of “whores” for The Boxer. It made my kids crack up.

11

Yes, Ripple is good.

12

Last night I sang “hmmm on Seventh Avenue” instead of “whores” for The Boxer. It made my kids crack up.

They’re not there anymore, anyway

You could say “bike lanes?”

13

I go with the very re-assuring saying that my dad used on me

Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

14

I go with the very re-assuring saying that my dad used on me

Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

These days I go with “IT’S TWO O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING! SHUT THE DAMN XBOX OFF AND GO TO BED!!!”

~Matt

15

I’ve accidentally said “good luck” instead of “good night,” which also doesn’t really soothe a worried kid.

16

Here is one that I wrote when my kids were little

Night night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
If you don’t go to sleep right now, the mean man’s going to get you.

It worked pretty well, though they’d sometimes wake up crying if I walked by the door of their bedroom.

17

Still, that’s much better than “good bye”
.

18

In My Life, the Beatles
Both sides now, Jonie Mitchell
A case of you, Jonie Mitchell
.

19

My kids are in college now.

But when the were little.
Ripple- Grateful Dead
Broke Down Palace- Grateful Dead
I Shall Be Released - Dylan
Tangled Up in Blue- Dylan
Both Sides - Joni Mitchell
Four Strong Winds- Neil Young
Long Black Veil- Johnny Cash
Ghost Riders in the Sky- Johnny Cash
Alexandra Leaving- Leonard Cohen
Suzanne- Leonard Cohen
Killing Me Softly- Roberta Flack
Landslide- Fleetwood Mac
Bobby Magee- Janis Joplin

20

Hush Little Baby (a shortened version with some of my own lyrics because I couldn’t remember the real song).
Silent Night
Goodnight Sweetheart, Well it’s Time to Go… (first with sweetheart, then with the kids names)
I’m a Little Teapot
Itsy Bitsy Spider

All sung twice before going on to the next song. If they aren’t asleep by the time that is over, I go into either Muffin Man and/or The Ants Go Marching.

My husband sings them Pearl Jam, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. Then they come get me to sing the songs they’ve heard sing birth.