John Jacob Jingleheimer something something...

September 29, 2009 9:41 PM

What do you sing to your kids? My six-month-old is thrilled with pretty much any song I sing to him, but "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" gets kinda old after the 500th repetition...

My wife and I like to sing to the kid as it's something that almost always makes him smile and laugh and he never seems to tire of it. I've noticed, though, that most children's songs are really, really short. Many are just 4 or 5 lines long, so it takes only a minute or so to sing....so I go to the next short song, and the next and the next...I need some suggestions on a kids' song (bonus points if you name something that's already in my subconscious head!) that can be sung that actually last a decent while. Any ideas?

posted by zardoz to human relations (73 comments total)

* Simple Gifts -- old Shaker tune;
* Summertime -- Gershwin;

My daughter likes McCartney songs during the Wings period. So "Baby I'm Amazed" gets some traction. The son is impressed with Cowboy Junkies' "Blue Moon Revisited". Trying to migrate them to AC/DC. the Scott Bonn years, but that may take some time and a discerning ear for the purity of single chord playing.
posted by jadepearl at 9:50 PM on September 29

When I was four-ish, it was blatantly obvious to me that Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden were kids' songs that had wound up on my parents' records by mistake. They're cheerful! And they're about magical adventures! With funny sound effects!

(You get extra brownie points with four-year-old me if you make bubbly noises with your lips while you hum the guitar solo in Octopus's Garden.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:55 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]

Another vote for Gershwin's Summertime
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:58 PM on September 29

Hush little baby has a few verses. There are also different versions.

Mary Had a Little Lamb has more words than I remember; it should last a good while.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider, while not long, has some hand motions that might be good to incorporate right about now; stimulate your son's innate imitative abilities.

And for something more modern (and definitely soothing,) go for Dire Straits' "Why Worry."
posted by Hardcore Poser at 10:01 PM on September 29

My daughter and my God Son...really all children I've sung to love this one that my grandma taught me;

Down by a meadow in an iddy biddy pool
Cotton fields
Puff the Magic Dragon
You are my sunshine
Somewhere over the rainbow
Rainbow Connection!!!
Amazing Grace

Let me know if you want more ;). Enjoy eventually the kids will beg you to stop singing!
posted by gypseefire at 10:01 PM on September 29

My now-four-year-old niece has requested the following songs for the past couple of years:

Down By the Bay (make up your own verses--it lasts forever)
Yes, We Have No Bananas
Music, Music, Music
Robin in the Rain
Ducks Like Rain

I'm not typically a fan of music geared toward children--for the most part, it really underestimates them--but I work in a preschool and have found that many Raffi songs are easy to sing and appeal to the little ones. But that said, kids are also really receptive to anything you can sing. Keep in mind that you'll probably need to sing it in public at some point, so choose wisely. (FYI, people will look at you like you're a criminal when they realize that you're singing Irish drinking songs to a toddler.)
posted by corey flood at 10:07 PM on September 29

Folk songs of any stripe. Pete Seegar did a couple albums of folk songs pitched to kids that'd be good sources.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 PM on September 29

I hated all the kiddie faves, so I sang the classics for lullabies:

Stairway to the Stars
Fly Me to the Moon
Close to You [YES. The Carpenters. I'm not proud. But it's a perfect lullaby.]
Fixing a Hole
She's Leaving Home

For daily recreational sing-alongs, the Beatles are great. Strangely, I found that Cake was a great band for a tot. Somehow, I suspect Beck is similarly appealing to the very young (no judgments, just observation). Also, there's the album of kids songs (including one by Tom Waits--no, really!) called For the Kids. Not all the songs are awesome, but the ones that are make raising a toddler not musically torturous. Just delete the awful songs--that's what we did!

The Muppet Show had great songs that I think I loved more than my son: Halfway Up the Stairs, It's Not Easy Being Green, Mahna Mahna, Lime Inna Coconut, The Cat Came Back, and a host of other covers and classics, except with Muppets!

Finally, he just blew my mind when we just gave up on the kid-friendly songs. His recent favorites included Spoon, the Decembrists and the Ting-Tings. He just heard them on the radio and went bonkers. Go figure.
posted by readymade at 10:08 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

Your local public library should have some free baby-time type activities. You'll be able to learn some new songs along with hand gestures and other things that will help stimulate the little tykes brain.

When I was a kid Raffi songs like bananaphone and Baby Beluga were like crack.
posted by nestor_makhno at 10:09 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

A word to the wise: Don't get cute and sing Black Sabbath songs to toddlers. When they get to be just a couple of years older, they demand that you listen to it constantly in the car. By then, you'll be sick of it. I know this from firsthand experience. Learn from my mistake.
posted by The World Famous at 10:13 PM on September 29 [6 favorites]

I used to work in a preschool and this was a big problem- singing the same kids songs day after day. Here are some ideas:
They Might Giants have 3 great kids albums: Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Bed, Bed, Bed. The songs are great listening for children and adults. I think I heard Devo had a kids album too, but I'm not sure about that...
Also, just because it is not designated specifically as a children's song doesn't mean you can't sing it too your kids. Sure, you may have to change a few of the more "adult" lyrics, but there is no reason you can't sing your favorite "grown up" songs to your kids.

Do you remember any theme songs from TV shows, especially kids TV shows? Like the Muppet Show Theme, Fragel Rock Theme, Sesame Street, School House Rock...

Folk songs are surprisingly fun. Some of them you probably know: Oh!Susanna, You Are My Sunshine, Waltzing Matilda, Swing Low Sweet Charriot, etc...

Now, it may be that your kid really gets a kick out of Itsy Bitsy Spider and they want to here it again and again. Here are some ways to "spice it up":

Do it as a rap. Do it as a country song. Do it disco!

Add instruments- like pots, pans, whatever.

Purposely sing the wrong lyrics. "The itsy bitsy taco..." This will either make your kid crack up or really upset them. It's strange, but it always seems to be a toss up. The sillier words you substitute, the funnier it will be.

Singing to your kid is awesome. Way to go!
posted by firemonkey at 10:14 PM on September 29

Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg did the music and lyrics for the 1938 MGM production of the The Wizard of Oz. Over the Rainbow was the big hit from that show, and my kids loved it, but it is a tough song for amateurs to sing, as are many Arlen standards. Still, 500 repetitions of singing it to them did wonders for my version, and got me singing the Harold Arlen songbook to 'em. And what a ton of happy, fun to sing kid songs there are in that corpus! Along with some blue blues, and rainy day stuff, good for skinned knees, and getting through bad days, too...
posted by paulsc at 10:37 PM on September 29

Tell Me Why (this one), The Water is Wide, Simple Gifts, Scarborough Fair, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, There's a Little Wheel A'-Turning in my Heart.
posted by nanojath at 10:58 PM on September 29

We have four bedtime standards in our house, and my two year old son insists on hearing me sing all four before going to sleep-

A Bushel and Peck
You Are My Sunshine
When the Red, Red Robin come Bobbin' Along
Morningtown Ride
posted by lottie at 11:03 PM on September 29

I'm always recommending TMBG's three and a half children's albums, so I might as well do it here too, while linking to their (100% artist powered, no money for stinky record labels) MP3 store:

No!
Here Come the ABCs!
Here Come the 123s!
Here Comes Science!

They're very hooky, very kid-friendly, and bonus: educational!
posted by rokusan at 11:06 PM on September 29

Mom always sang Billie Holiday's God Bless The Child. to this day, that song still gets me.
posted by Chionophilia at 11:08 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

Just about the only thing that calms down my 3 year old (and has since birth) is the ABC song. Now, when she is upset she cries "AaaayBeeeCeees!" to get us to sing it to her to calm her down. :)

Other than that, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is her favourite. Except now she's learning all the songs from her Backyardigans DVDs...and can perform entire episodes including all actor parts and sound effects with astounding memory and accuracy. Then she sings the closing theme song from the credits.
posted by Kickstart70 at 11:14 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

The whole wee sing line is great, I loved it as a kid. Also, disney songs! So great.

And then I think you really should go with classics. Like the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkle... Anything with some calm songs or some cheery/funny songs.
posted by alona at 11:42 PM on September 29

The Farmer in the Dell
An Austrian went yodeling
Puff the Magic Dragon
My Darlin' Clementine
She'll be coming round the mountain
I've got a mule her name is Sal... fifteen years on the erie canal
I've been working on the railroad
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:55 PM on September 29

Heads and shoulders knees and toes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFuZ6LPDYQc

The wheels on the bus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdqk6SMfIvA
(Although, that video... Roger Daltrey WTF?)
posted by handee at 12:05 AM on September 30

Summertime was my main one at that age, and snatches of Madness' It Must Be Love.
posted by rodgerd at 12:16 AM on September 30

I just take tunes i know and make up words about whatever we are doing, or whatever i want him to do.
He's 5 and loves it, because he's the star of every song. It builds rhyming vocabulary for both of us too.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:18 AM on September 30

Why kids' songs?

My kids learnt to love Ironmaiden and BlackSabbath before they could walk. 17 year old Caity still loves Ironmaiden's "Run to the Hills" and tells us she remembers listening to it before she could read. I've got photos of my son as a placid 6 month old laid back listening to his dad do White Wedding on his electric guitar.

Sing them any song you love. My husband also made up a song to send our daughter to bed on, which basically was, "little Caity, go to sleep, go to sleep little Caity", and whatever else nonsense he thought of and it was so effective that as soon as he started, she would put her tiny little hand on his mouth and say, "no sing, daddy, no sing!" because she knew it would knock her out. (Of course when she told me not to sing, it was for totally different reasons.)
posted by b33j at 1:11 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]

When I was six I really thought "Another One Bites the Dust" was the bees knees. Had the 45 and everything.
posted by IvoShandor at 1:45 AM on September 30

I've Been Working on the Railroad
Rubber Ducky
Polly Wolly Doodle
Doodlebugs
The Goldfish

Laurie Berkner's music is fantastic for singing. It's easy to remember, not too complicated and fairly interesting.
posted by plinth at 2:59 AM on September 30

Our bedtime standard is Everything Possible.
posted by Daily Alice at 3:20 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]

Wheels on the bus- just keep adding verses and it lasts pretty long, but you might already do that one.
A lot of old folk songs are really long with lots of verses
My mom used to sing
"go tell aunt rhode"
"long black veil"
"This land is your land"
(although, some of those are a little dark).
posted by bobdylanforever at 4:14 AM on September 30

I discovered my six month old loves the oldies station. They play a lot of Motown and she loves it when I turn the radio on and dance with her.
posted by sutel at 4:38 AM on September 30

My mother sang me old folk songs.

And a number of Beatles tunes. Some of them so often that, in fact, when I first heard the Beatles playing their music, I thought they were covering old folk songs.
posted by Netzapper at 4:48 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]

My son grew up with Not for Kids Only which may explain why he now play heavy metal guitar.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:50 AM on September 30

When I was a kid Raffi songs like bananaphone and Baby Beluga were like crack.

Yeah, definitely Raffi. He's a phenomenal kids' singer, and his songs are easy to sing--Baby Beluga was my go-to song while babysitting.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:03 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]

I heard a lot of big band jazz as a toddler, I like to think it did me good. Chattanooga Choochoo and The Woodchuck Song are fun to sing and filled with giggle-provoking tongue twisters.

Perhaps a little rousing for bedtime, but, It's Not Where You Start, it's Where You Finish always cheers me up.
posted by embrangled at 5:06 AM on September 30

Anything works for my 4 month old. Usually songs I know the words to - which quite often are the ones my parents played all the time when I was growing up. James Taylor (Sweet Baby James album - I love it and will happily sing the entire thing to him if he lets me). Gordon Lightfoot. Bob Dylan seems to work too. I insist he likes Run DMC but my wife isn't so convinced. But mostly I make things up - nonsense songs, made up lyrics, lots of repetition. Why be stuck with a single tune when you can make up infinite ones for your kid?

(I do want to get the TMBG sets though. Seems like the only kid-specific music I could listen to without going insane. My coworker has the ABC album and her two-year-old loves it.)
posted by caution live frogs at 5:09 AM on September 30

Saint Etienne made a children's album a couple of years ago that is catchy as hell which might be useful. Here's let's build a zoo.
posted by merocet at 5:21 AM on September 30

Lots of Beatles songs. "Hello, Goodbye" is a big favorite. Billy Joel's lullaby, I think it's called "Goodnight My Angel" is incredibly sweet.

As for kids' songs: "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is one that whenever I sing it, I get asked to sing it a thousand more times. I do a lot of Sesame Street songs: "Elmo's Song" can be adapted to fit just about any kid's name, and "C is For Cookie" is also surprisingly versitile.

For a baby though - anything you can sing. It's more about your voice than it is what you're singing.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:48 AM on September 30

I learned all the verses to songs that I didn't know more than one verse of before (e.g., "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" -- did you know that's only the chorus?!) and that's what I sang to all of mine.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:49 AM on September 30

Laurie Berkner (already mentioned), Eric Herman (ours loves The Elephant Song), and Trout Fishing in America. Wonderful artists with kids' songs that we adults can stand too
posted by tigerjade at 5:55 AM on September 30

Any or all of these.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:02 AM on September 30

Right now, the songs in heavy rotation around my house at bedtime are:
"I Know I'll Never Find Another You" by The Seekers
"America, The Beautiful"
"The Star Spangled Banner"
"You Are My Sunshine" (which my dad used to sing to me)
"The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" (Taken to ridiculous extremes: I know an old woman who swallowed a tank)
"Clementine" (Make sure to include the verse about how the flowers on the hillside are fertilized by Clementine's corpse)
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
"Boy Scout Vespers" (For some reason, this is their absolute favorite and they demand that it's the last song every night)
And because they think the songs are about them: "Georgia On My Mind" and "Maggie May"
posted by ColdChef at 6:03 AM on September 30

Baa Baa Black Sheep is a pretty big hit for us.

As is Five Little Monkeys (Jumping on the Bed)

We also really enjoy Muppet Central Radio. Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, and others. It's a fabulous station that keeps us entertained for some time, and there are also songs that I know from when I was growing up that pop up on there all the time that I'm then able to recall and sing another time.
posted by zizzle at 6:52 AM on September 30

We used a lot of folk songs and campfire songs, which the kids loved for years as they were growing up. My worst memory is when my 6th grade girl scout troop decided they would rather sing N'Sync at the campfire than 'all that old stuff'.

But I came in here to say that most kids love it if you change the lyrics to put THEIR NAME in the song, or make up a unique tune about just them. The itsy bitsy (babyname) went up the water spout will get roars of laughter from a toddler (not sure about a 6-month old). My college-age kids still (occasionally) ask for a rendition of Helen Helen Watermelon or Claire Claire Honeybear.
posted by CathyG at 6:53 AM on September 30

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (or Kenny Loggins if you must), "The House at Pooh Corner"
Gordon Lightfoot, "The Pony Man"
Pretty much anything from Peter, Paul, and Mommy
posted by jferg at 7:15 AM on September 30

Strawberry Fields Forever, If I Fell, Nowhere Man, and Baby's in Black are some of the Beatle songs I liked singing to mine (mostly as lullabys). If you like what you're singing, I think it works.
posted by troywestfield at 7:31 AM on September 30

Pete Seeger's Folk Songs for Children is one of my personal faves as far as albums go.
posted by jessamyn at 7:36 AM on September 30

Baby Mine - a beautiful, soothing song from the movie Dumbo – this has become my go-to song when my kids are upset, because its first line is “Baby mine, don’t you cry”.

You Are My Sunshine
Silent Night
Que Sera Sera

I’ve never been a big fan of music from Barney, Dora, etc...but I must say the Wiggles’ songs are an exception. They are much more pleasing to the ear than most of the other stuff you tend to hear on kids’ shows. Check out the song “Fruit Salad” for a start.

And yeah, Raffi. Good stuff.
posted by yawper at 7:37 AM on September 30

Beach Boys:

Barbara Ann

Vegetables
posted by Jaltcoh at 8:06 AM on September 30

Raffi, folk (PP&M, S&G, Seeger, Guthrie, etc.), Motown, Beatles (my favorite songs when I was 4 were "Yellow Submarine" and "Rhinestone Cowboy"), gospel, show tunes, traditional songs like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "La Cucaracha," "Yankee Doodle," go for what entertains them and doesn't drive you batty to listen to/sing/play repeatedly. Babies and toddlers typically love all kinds of music (excepting experimental jazz, hard rock, and other harsher sounds for sensitive-eared kids). The ones that they find especially catchy, funny, or soothing are the ones they'll want repeated, so if there's a catchy tune you hate, try not to introduce them to it.

My kids especially loved when we'd take a familiar song and change it up (whether they changed the lyrics or I did). Raffi's "Baby Beluga" became "Baby Burrito," "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" became "I've Got the Whole World In My Nose" ("... itty bitty boogers in my nose ..." etc.). They were both huge fans of Harry Belafonte. One absolutely loved Raffi; the other absolutely hated Janis Joplin.
posted by notashroom at 8:15 AM on September 30

Jaltcoh beat me to it, but Barbara Ann is the best song ever for babies, because you can easily teach them to sing it, thus dazzling and amazing all your friends. If you sing it enough, your baby will start to sing it with you. It's awesome.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:23 AM on September 30

My two year old daughter loves when I sing "The Gambler" and "You are My Sunshine." The Gambler is a little long, but it settles her down and gets her nice and sleepy.
posted by notcreative at 8:34 AM on September 30

Jefferson Starship's The Baby Tree -- I still sing it with my dad regularly, and I'm in my 20s now, and I distinctly remember helping to sing it to my (4 years younger) sister when she was a baby.
posted by brainmouse at 8:36 AM on September 30

Kimya Dawson has a great kids album. I think that just about any song that is melodic and sung softly will work though.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:50 AM on September 30

Anything by TMBG.

Anything Bugs Bunny ever sang, especially:

Peekin' through the knothole on Grandpa's wooden leg,
Who will wind the clock when I am gone?
Go get the axe! There's a flea in Lizzie's ear!
And a boy's best friend is his mudda!
...
Sheeeeeeeee's the daughter of Rosie O'Grady
A regular old-fashioned goil!
She isn't taken by diamond rings,
Silkens and satins and fancy tings
Look, I'm dancin'!
...
I'm singin' in the bathtub
Happy once again
Watchin' all my troubles
Go swimmin' down the drain...
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:52 AM on September 30

My mom always sang "Summertime," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "If You Love Me," (Ronnie Gilbert--probably has a different name I don't know), "Take Your Burden To The Lord," and "Pallet on the Floor". Naturally, when I started babysitting, I sang the same songs, plus "The Rainbow Connection" and "Octopus's Garden."

I also sing a lot of songs I remember from Mass--with other songs, I often find myself forgetting the words partway through the second verse, but the songs I heard once a week for eighteen years are in my brain for GOOD. This may or may not be applicable to you, but if it is, your musical repertoire will benefit as a result.
posted by epj at 9:15 AM on September 30

Don't worry about limiting yourself to "kids" songs. I liked listening to just about anything my parents would sing.

The Fox Went out on a Chilly Night was me and my siblings' absolute favorite growing up. Fortunately, my mother liked it too, so she didn't get sick of it. (Burl Ives is a generally good source of kid-friendly songs.)

And, seriously, don't make yourself listen to Raffi all the time, branch out: jazzz, blues, and country all have plenty of appropriate music for kids in their canon.

I could go on like this, but I should really do something useful.

Also, Obscure Reference's recommendation of Not for Kids Only gets the Commander Rachek Seal of Approval.
posted by Commander Rachek at 9:20 AM on September 30

Show tunes.
posted by Wendy BD at 9:25 AM on September 30

My dad used to sing us Rye Whiskey, and we've taken to singing it for my young niece. It occasionally baffles folks outside of our family, but it's just tradition now. (Note: no actual drinking goes on, just singing.)
posted by Karmakaze at 9:33 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]

See this. And:

"Happiness runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea
All our souls are deeper than you can be
You can have everything if you let yourself be....

La la la la la la la la la la la la
You can have everything if you let yourself be."
posted by Lynsey at 9:43 AM on September 30

This thread may be of interest to you, as well.
posted by Commander Rachek at 9:55 AM on September 30

My boyfriend has fond memories of his mom singing all kinds of non-kids songs to him (his parents were in a rock band when he was little and she was the singer). Specifically, he liked "Eight Days a Week," and other early Beatles songs, which I think work well for children because of their simplicity.
posted by a.steele at 10:43 AM on September 30

Definitely sing whatever songs you really like. Your baby won't know the difference between Rock-a-Bye-Baby and Single Ladies at that age, so just sing your favorite songs. It's the rhythm and the sound of your voice and the closeness to you that kids like. Plus, you get to indoctrinate the kid to have good taste before they're old enough to rebel, which is awesome.
posted by decathecting at 11:00 AM on September 30

whole categories of songs you might have ready-to-mind:
Christmas songs
Gilbert and Sullivan
soundtracks to various musicals (Annie, Sound of Music,...)
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:50 AM on September 30

Why kids' songs? and
you get to indoctrinate the kid to have good taste before they're old enough to rebel, which is awesome.

This. My mom sang me Zeppelin and whatever other '70s bands she was into, and apparently I loved singing along with her. Kids music is a racket, especially for a 6-month-old.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:45 PM on September 30

Ooooh - but I second the Gilbert & Sullivan suggestion. Very fun, even (especially?) for adults!
posted by coolguymichael at 12:46 PM on September 30

For some reason, The Pixies calms down my baby girl (almost 1 now, but even from about 3 months old. Found it out watching youtube videos of them live.)
My slightly older daughter (4 years old) LOVES the Presidents Of the United States of America.
I have some super cute video of when she first learned to sing Peaches.
posted by JonnyRotten at 2:15 PM on September 30

Didn't leave nobody but the baby is easy to sing, easy to loop, and easily puts a child under a spell worthy of a siren.

I like the jazz suggestions, too. "Fever" is a good one.

A lot of the more playful Beatles songs are favorites of my 5 year old daughter (Octopus's Garden, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Yellow Submarine, All You Need is Love, Piggies, etc).
posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism at 8:09 PM on September 30

My 4 month old daugher's favorites are the ABCs and "Do your ears hang low" - instant smiling when she hears the first two or three notes of either.
posted by roystgnr at 9:18 PM on September 30

The more melodic and upbeat Beatles and Motown stuff is all you need isn't it? But instead of just focusing on having your child hearing you sing the lyrics, it'd be good to also have them listen to the original songs sometimes, and get them familiar with rhythms, drumbeats, guitars, pianos, etc. Oh, and handclaps, like on the aforementioned Eight Days a Week.

An extra benefit of this is that they'll likely want to learn to actually play music as they get older.

I also want to throw in a recommendation of Jack Johnson, particularly his Curious George soundtrack album.

I can't wait to have kids so I can force my musical tastes on to them. The only drawback is all that pesky parental responsibility stuff...
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:24 PM on September 30

Forgive me if these have been posted.

I don't have kids but loved the following songs as a kid:

Rock-a-Bye Baby
You Are My Sunshine
the theme song from Disney's Sleeping Beauty

I cannot vouch for whether or not my mother hated everything about these songs.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 9:14 AM on October 1

....My father is a huge Taj Mahal fan, and would often play his album De Old Folks At Home when I was little. It's pretty rootsy blues stuff, and I don't remember being confused or even paying attention to some of the more "adult" lyrics when they came up; and there were plenty of other kid-friendly songs anyway ("Linin' Track" is one I liked, and he also had a song about chickens and I loved how he made his banjo sound like clucking chickens at one point). My father also loved to make me laugh by taking my Snoopy doll and making it "dance" to his song "A Little Soulful Tune". That album is probably how I ultimately developed a taste for the blues (which I suspect was precisely my father's intent).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:27 AM on October 1

My slightly older daughter (4 years old) LOVES the Presidents Of the United States of America.

This a great suggestion, especially "Peaches."
posted by Jaltcoh at 10:43 AM on October 1

Wow! So many responses! Sorry, there is no "best", they are all best. Thanks for the input, everyone!
posted by zardoz at 4:41 PM on October 1

Big Rock Candy Mountain.
posted by chinston at 7:51 PM on October 4

These are great suggestions. "Sing a song of sixpence" is a big one around here, especially entertaining when you lightly pinch the baby's nose on the last word. The nice thing about singing those simple old folk songs over and over is that as your baby gets older, you can pause a bit before the last word on each line -- "Baa baa black sheep, have you any...." and the baby will eventually start chiming in with "wool!"

"Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a hoot and gets huge giggles from toddlers, especially "there's a lake of stew, and of whiskey too; you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe."

One thing that's great for babies is adding motions in time with the rhythm -- like "Row, row, row your boat," where you put the baby in your lap, facing you, hold her hands, and rock her back and forth to the music, like she's in a boat. It really helps them to feel the rhythm.
posted by palliser at 8:22 PM on October 4