Songs about YOUR specific baby

December 3, 2018 12:12 PM

PlaylistFilter: I would like to hear songs that MeFites see as representing their children as babies -- your babies' "theme songs". I am NOT looking for generalized recommendations on songs by, for or about babies; I'm looking for songs that have deep meaning for you personally with respect to your baby.

My (former) babies have theme songs; song that lyrically, muscially and thematically seemed to me to exactly capture how I felt to have this new person in my life. First baby: It's just like heaven, being here with you. You're like an angel, too good to be true. Second baby: A sweeter rose, a softer sky, an April day that would not dance away.

I've been somebody's mom on the daily since I was 21, and now that I am facing an "empty nest", I feel like indulging myself in some sweet melancholy. Thanks.

posted by pH Indicating Socks to Media & Arts (44 answers total)

My baby's name is Ember, so this little light of mine is my offical song for her.
posted by AlexiaSky at 12:25 PM on December 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Father and Daughter by Paul Simon is the one that reminds me of my daughter. I just put it on again while typing this and I'm getting a little bit misty eyed. Damn onions.
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:26 PM on December 3, 2018

Oh I thought you were looking for our songs about our babies. My baby has a few songs about him, but not songs that you would have heard unless you're him because he's the one I sing them to. But as a former baby, the songs my mom always sang to me that she really did seem to mean FOR/ABOUT me/our relationship are "You are so beautiful," and "You've got a friend."
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:34 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Bright Eyes, First Day of My Life makes me and my husband cry like, uh, maybe not babies? Maybe like very verklempt toddlers. And I don't even like Bright Eyes.

Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don’t know where I am
I don’t know where I’ve been
But I know where I want to go
posted by joyceanmachine at 12:42 PM on December 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh God for June it's gotta be Little Wing as sung by Elizabeth Mitchell and I've found it on YouTube and now there's a lump in my throat. She used to be so small!

And for Rose it's also Elizabeth Mitchell, but You Are My Flower (a little on the nose, I know). But she still sings it constantly. And she is my flower, I mean look at her!

Jesus this was a really emotional answer, I need to go lie down.
posted by saladin at 12:49 PM on December 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

Edelweiss (minus the last line) (also my baby is a cat)
posted by exogenous at 12:51 PM on December 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

My then-toddler spent a lot of time in the hospital for a year or two, during which time she was obsessed with watching "The Snowman" video sometimes back to back to back ("Snowman turn around!") -- the theme song (We're walking in the air, we're floating in a moonlight sky) gives me awkward public emotions.
posted by Rumple at 12:54 PM on December 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

My daughter's name is Delaney and Jimmy Buffet released Delaney Talks To Statues around the time she was born. (She is not named after the song). Buffett's daughter is also names Delaney - but we were not aware of that when we named her.
posted by COD at 12:54 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

First baby (now 13): Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Second baby (now 9): (They Long to Be) Close to you
posted by dawkins_7 at 12:58 PM on December 3, 2018

My kid was already seven when this came out, but it makes me think of him as a baby every time I hear it. Sturgill Simpson - Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:58 PM on December 3, 2018

My older child's theme song is Beautiful Boy by John Lennon. Used to sing it to him every night as I rocked him to sleep. His name slots perfectly into the last line.

So many lines to love.
For him, it's "Every day, in every way, it's getting better and better."
For me, it's "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
posted by telepanda at 1:10 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Do silly songs I make up count for these purposes? If so memail me and I’ll send some lyrics and notes :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 1:45 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

We have a three month old girl and my husband loves to sing Till There Was You to her from The Music Man (link goes to a Beatles version) and she lights up like a tiny little Christmas tree and wiggles and coos along with him and it makes me tear up every time.

For my son (now three and a half years old), it's Alright for Now by Tom Petty, I replace "baby" in the lyrics with his name.
posted by castlebravo at 1:53 PM on December 3, 2018

I never felt like this with anyone before
You only have to smile and I'm dizzy
...
You hold my eyes in yours
And open up the world
I can't believe all this
...

The Cure's Halo. (And I may or may not be tearing up a little at work.)
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 1:58 PM on December 3, 2018

Two years old is post-baby ... but my nephew sure loved Born Slippy. Jump Up And Down music, he called it.
posted by philip-random at 2:11 PM on December 3, 2018

My daughter's name sounds a little like "sunshine" and she is the light of my life: You are My Sunshine.
posted by metahawk at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

My parents, reportedly, played the hell out of Loggins and Messina's "Danny's Song" when they were pregnant with me and when I was a newborn.
posted by notsnot at 2:21 PM on December 3, 2018

Older kid - Con Te Partiro - hes super sentimental and loves singing it grandly in public
Younger kid - Here Comes the Hotstepper - hes all swagger, na na na na na
posted by sestaaak at 2:25 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Welcome by Hey Rosetta (sorry I cannot link on my phone), amazing and under-known song.
posted by DTMFA at 4:14 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Very Thought of You by Nat King Cole. For some reason, this song has always calmed my baby down. Within the last two months it work to bring a full on screaming fit down to starting blissfully into my eyes. (have you heard the research about how lullabies calm down mom/dad just as much as baby?)
posted by CMcG at 4:15 PM on December 3, 2018

Nature Boy (the David Bowie/Moulin Rouge version) was an ear worm for me when I nearing the end of my pregnancy. I’m not even sure how that happened, but it sure was a problem for a bit. So I sang it a lot to babe when he was born and it was the first song he would sing along to when he was a toddler.

We also have a heavy rotation of Elizabeth Mitchell songs as lullabys and I heavily associate them with my son, even though I’ve listened and sang them with lots of other kids.
posted by Swisstine at 4:42 PM on December 3, 2018

When my son was first born, his theme song was "I Want To Break Free" by Queen, because he refused to be swaddled and broke out of every single one haha. We sang that to him a lot. Lately, the song "Kooks" by David Bowie is the song that means the most to me right now (baby is 6 months). We also heavily associate Elizabeth Mitchell with my son, especially the song "Little Bird Little Bird".
posted by FireFountain at 4:57 PM on December 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Baby Mine
You'll Be in My Heart
posted by evilmomlady at 5:46 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh man, this is embarrassing but also makes me so nostalgic the day after my baby turned 18!

#1: On Account-a I Love You
#2: Dream A Little Dream of Me
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:37 PM on December 3, 2018

Ummm I feel like this is about to reveal a darkly narcissistic side to me but “For unto us a child is given” from Handel’s Messiah, for emphasis. YMCA for dancing. Dance Me To The End Of Love for sleepy times.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:02 PM on December 3, 2018

Baby Mine - I sang it to my daughter when she was a baby. When she was a little older, she kept saying “again” before I finished the verse. And Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder.
posted by kat518 at 7:04 PM on December 3, 2018

So Beautiful - Millenia Nova
posted by perhapses at 7:48 PM on December 3, 2018

Strangely, On the Street Where You Live from the My Fair Lady soundtrack. I used to sing this in the car when my baby was in my womb, and maybe he remembers? It seems to exert a calming influence.

Also, Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers.
posted by peacheater at 7:50 PM on December 3, 2018

I found myself singing "Dear Theodosia" under my breath for like 2 weeks before going to meet my brand-new baby niece, and then of course took the opportunity to sing it to her often. It's definitely her song in my head. (Plus "We will fight for you/We'll make it right for you" feels sadly appropriate with the state of the world right now.)

When my now 4-year-old niece was a baby, she wore a bee swaddle once that made me sing Randy Kaplan's "Little Bee" to her. It's kind of a nonsense song that I'm pretty sure isn't supposed to be child-adjacent, but it still works, and it definitely stuck.

Of course now that she's (sorta) learned how to sing Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" that's "our" song. But probably not quite what you're looking for. ;)
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:22 PM on December 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

So my son's was Radiohead's All I Need:

I am a moth
Who just wants to share your light
I'm just an insect
Trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you
Because there are no others
You are all I need
You are all I need
I'm in the middle of your picture
Lying in the leaves

though we sang snippets of Queens of the Stone Age to him, specifically the bit from Fairweather Friends "what's it going to take to get you back to bed?" you know, a lot, because babies.

Miss Potato, now 18 months old, got basically nothing but Giant Woman from Steven Universe, because she is in fact made out of muscles and mischief and was over nine pounds at birth and has just like, grown like an orca pup on a protein regime.

All I wanna do
Is see you turn into
A Giant woman.
(Giant woman!)
All I wanna be
Is someone who gets to see
A giant woman!
posted by Jilder at 8:41 PM on December 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

I am the specific baby, but Red River Valley was this for me from my dad
Que sera sera for me from my mom.
posted by assenav at 9:31 PM on December 3, 2018

For my little Marguerite, only a play on her name and Mr. Excitement!
Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson
posted by Foam Pants at 10:53 PM on December 3, 2018

I used to sing Itty Bitty by Alan Jackson to my daughter (who was a preemie, and was, in fact, itty bitty).
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:06 AM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

This very sweet song came on a random mix in the first days after my boy was born
The littlest birds
It is sweet and every time he makes a new style of noise [he is still very little!], it sits at the back of my mind leading me to believe that he is always just trying to sing.

This song hit all of my nostalgia buttons before my wife was even pregnant, which is quite a feat. It seems like the kind of thing you're in the mood for.
posted by Acari at 7:12 AM on December 4, 2018

Songs my partner rocked the baby to:

A Forest, specifically that version.
Also #1 Record by Big Star

I liked to sing long dirge-like 20th century folk songs:

Big Rock Candy Mountain (Pete Seeger version)
Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Carter Family version)
You Are My Sunshine (so sad!)

and also songs about rainbows:

Rainbow Connection (Kermit and Debbie Harry version)
Over the Rainbow
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:29 AM on December 4, 2018

My daughter is 17 months old, and I've been singing You are my sunshine to her since birth. Also Edelweiss cause that was what popped into my head.
posted by weathergal at 10:22 AM on December 4, 2018

First Child:

You are My Sunshine

Baby, Baby, Naughty Baby

They Stole Little Bridget

Good Old Terra Town


Second Child (Male):

Are you Man Enough to Be My Man

Lament for Limerick

Every Girl in the Valley


Third Child:

Shady Grove (Shoes and stockings in her hand, little bare feet on the floor)

The Rose of Pisarinco

The versions that I associate with the children in question are the versions I sang while pacing in the dark, with a migraine and a baby that wasn't ready to sleep. The only exception is the Lament for Limerick which is the Chieftain's version, and the version from Miller's Crossing.

Please note that the number of associated songs declines, like the number of baby pictures, according to birth order, but fortunately the reverse was true for clean baby laundry.
posted by Jane the Brown at 10:45 AM on December 4, 2018

September by Earth Wind & Fire because I remember being in labor on the 21st night of September!
posted by vespabelle at 11:08 AM on December 4, 2018

Since she was tiny, I have sung Tom Waits' Johnsburg, Illinois to my now-nine-year-old daughter.

She's my only true love
She's all that I think of, look here
In my wallet
That's her
She grew up on a farm there
There's a place on my arm where I've written
Her name next to mine
You see I just
Can't live without her
And I'm her only boy
And she grew up outside McHenry
In Johnsburg, Illinois

Short and sweet. And you don't have to be able to sing.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:36 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell. My dad used to sing it to me as a baby/little girl, and I sing it to my little girl, as well.

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
posted by Rocket26 at 4:59 PM on December 4, 2018

Rock a bye baby, the full version with all the verses.
posted by ficbot at 7:47 PM on December 4, 2018

You’re My Best Friend- Queen
posted by lollymccatburglar at 4:39 AM on December 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

My first daughter's song was My Girl. Second daughter's was the theme song from the movie Babe If I Had Words to Make a Day for You. (I haven't heard that song in years and immediately teared up listening to it now. So thank you for that!)
posted by Bresciabouvier at 7:52 AM on December 6, 2018

On the Nickle by Tom Waits

Sung by his dad

sticks and stones will break my bones, but i always will be true, and when
your mama is dead and gone, i'll sing this lullabye just for you, and what
becomes of all the little boys, who never comb their hair, well they're lined
up all around the block, on the nickel over there.

so you better bring a bucket, there is a hole in the pail, and if you don't
get my letter, then you'll know that i'm in jail, and what becomes of all the
little boys, who never say their prayers, well they're sleepin' like a baby,
on the nickel over there.

and if you chew tobacco, and wish upon a star, well you'll find out where
the scarecrows sit, just like punchlines between the cars, and i know a place
where a royal flush, can never beat a pair, and even thomas jefferson, is on
the nickel over there.

so ring around the rosie, you're sleepin' in the rain, and you're always
late for supper, and man you let me down again, i thought i heard a
mockingbird, roosevelt knows where, you can skip the light, with grady tuck,
on the nickel over there.

so what becomes of all the little boys, who run away from home, well the
world just keeps gettin' bigger, once you get out on your own, so here's to
all the little boys, the sandman takes you where, you'll be sleepin' with a
pillowman, on the nickel over there.

so let's climb up through that button hole, and we'll fall right up the
stairs, and i'll show you where the short dogs grow, on the nickel over there.

Damn, it breaks my heart that this was prophetic
posted by Jane the Brown at 9:32 AM on December 6, 2018 [1 favorite]