Favorite bedtime song from childhood

Calamity Jane

Reverend Blue Jeans
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Sep 19, 2001
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I just found this CD when I was going through a box I packed 11 years ago when I left home. It was labeled "Stuff" such an organized person I am. :rolleyes:

I remember my mom playing this one song over and over to get me to sleep...

The Pony Man
(Gordon Lightfoot)
When it's midnight on the meadow and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you'll hear him, it is the pony man

We're always there to greet him when he tumbles into town
He leads a string of ponies, some are white and some are brown
And they never seem to kick or bite, they only want to play
And they live on candy apples instead of oats and hay

And when we are assembled, he gives a soft command
And we climb aboard our ponies as in a row they stand
Then down the road we gallop and across the fields we fly
And soon we all go sailing off into the midnight sky

And as we gaily rock along beside a rippling sea
There's Tom and Dick and Sally and Mary Jo and me
And the pony man is leading 'cause he's travelled here before
And he gives a whoop and a holler at Mr. Moon's front door

And then we form in single file, inside the moon we go
Into a land of magic that the grownups do not know
Where the streets are paved with chocolate and the trees are hung with toys
And there's chewing gum for every one of the little girls and boys

And then we stop to rest a while where the soda river glides
Up to the slip comes a pirate ship to take us for a ride
And the pony man's the captain and the children are the crew
And we go in search of treasure and laugh the whole night through

But then the clouds surround us and the seas begin to boil
And the wind howls like a dragon as upon the decks we toil
When 'longside floats a bottle which soon on board is hove
With a map inside which leads us to a giant treasure trove

And when the hold is filled with gold and the sails begin to strain
And the deck's piled high with apple pie we head for port again
Then down the whirling starcase so swift our ponies fly
And we're safely in our beds again when the sunbeams kiss the sky

When it's midnight on the meadow and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you'll hear him, it is the pony man
 
Rainbow

(This is one of those neverending songs. My dad used to sing it to me all the time. I would get into bed, he'd come in, kiss me goodnight and I'd say, "Ten rainbows tonight, daddy!!" We'd negotiate until we agreed on a number of times for him to sing the song.) *sigh*

Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow tune.

Sing it with your lips
Sing it with your eyes
Sing everything you see

I can sing a rainbow
Sing a rainbow
Sing along with me...

(repeat)
 
I have so many; here are two

Written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell.
Copyright 1940 and 1977 by Peer International Corporation
You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away

The other nite, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried.

You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skys are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

(Frank Loesser); Performed by: Eugene Hayek
I love you a bushel and peck
A bushel and peck and a hug around the neck
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep
About you, about you

Cause I love you a bushel and a peck
You bet your pretty neck, I do
Doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle oo
I love you a bushel and peck
A bushel and peck though you make my heart a wreck
Make my heart a wreck and you make my life a mess
Make my life a mess, yes
A mess of happiness
About you, about you

Cause I love you a bushel and a peck
You bet your pretty neck, I do
Doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle oo
I love you a bushel and peck
A bushel and peck and it beats me all to heck
Beats me all to heck and I'll never tend the farm
Never tend the farm when I wanna keep my arm
About you, about you

Cause I love you a bushel and a peck
You bet your pretty neck, I do
Doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle, doodle, oodle, oodle oo
 
It's not from my childhood, but it helped me sleep at a time in my life I needed it.

All the Pretty Little Ponies
Kenny Logins

Hush a bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little baby
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little ponies

In your bed
Momma said
Baby's riding off to dreamland
One by one
They've begun
Dance and prance for little baby
Blacks and bays, dapples and greys
Running in the night
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little ponies

Can you see the little ponies
Dance before your eyes
All the pretty little ponies
Will be there when you arise
 
there's this song called the lollypop tree that my mom used to sing... i don't remember how it goes any more though
 
I rocked all my babies to sleep

by singing "Edleweiss" from the Sound of Music, in a very low key.
 
My sibs & myself were into bedstime stories rather than songs,
I know lilminxes songs. That's spooky.
 
Not a song but....

With my kids still... I recite Goodnight Moon" from memory and do a little interactive play along with it... the looks of delight on their sleepy faces remind me that one day they will thank me for the warm fuzzy I am giving to them.....
 
You Are My Sunshine chokes me up. OY!

There wasn't a lot of bedtime songage at my house, but I did have one of those little record players with Brahm's Lullabye on it. It was so sweet.
 
patient1 said:
My sibs & myself were into bedstime stories rather than songs,
I know lilminxes songs. That's spooky.

bedtime stories were a big thing growing up... and they are fot my kids too. But after the stories, mom would always play music.

My kids have mazzy star playing in their room right now.
 
There was also a song in Yiddish that my mom used to sing to me. Oddly enough, it was my dad who was Jewish, not her. I can't remember for the life of me how it went, but I loved it.

By the way, the songs I mentioned were sung to me, not played. My parents both love to sing, which could be why I am so into it now.
 
"C is for cookie" by Sesame Street's Cookie Monster

"Ho ro mo nighean donn bhoidheach" Gaelic folk tune my grandmother used to sing me to sleep by the by.
 
seXieleXie said:
there's this song called the lollypop tree that my mom used to sing... i don't remember how it goes any more though


Here you go, not exactly The Limelighters Playing, but this will refresh your memory;

Lollipop Tree
 
lol

thank you patient1 :kiss:

somehow i don't remember the music as annoying as the stuff on the web page. thanks for the lyrics.
 
I aksed my mom for the name of the Yiddish song- she told me Tomb-belaliki (sp?). I know that this is highly doubtful, but if anyone knows where I would be able to get a copy of the song, I'd appreciate it.
 
swing low, sweet chariot

I know it's not a childhood song, and in fact it's a bit morbid, but my dad used to sing it to my sister and me at bedtime nearly every night. The tune is sweet and very peaceful and I really didn't understand the words until much later.

It was something shared between the three of us. Singing it now brings sweet-sad tears to my eyes.
 
Remember You're A Womble
By: The Wombles
(Mike Batt)
Lead Vocal: Mike Batt
1974

When the sun doesn't shine and it's cloudy and gray
And it's only the beginning of the wombling day
And you've got to do the washing up for Madame Cholet

Chorus:
Remember, remember, remember, remember
Remember, remember, remember (member, member, member)

Remember you're a Womble
(Remember you're a Womble)

Remember you're a Womble
(Remember you're a Womble)

Remember you're a Womble
(Remember you're a Womble)

Remember you're a Womble
(Remember you're a Womble)

Remember, member, member, what a Womble, Womble, Womble you are

When it's foggy on the common and you just can't see
And I womble into you and you womble into me
Just remember we're so lucky to be wombling free

Chorus

Repeat Chorus

(My fav as a kid. :) )
 
Bedtime songs? My parents didn't do that sort of thing.
I did sing my dog to sleep though while playing the song on the piano. I miss him. :( Learned this song in school if I remember correctly, and it went something like this.

Little snail, dreaming you go,
Weather and roses all you know.
Weather and roses all you see,
Dreaming about the history.

Don't think it makes much sense, but it had a nice tune.
 
My mom used to sing a Japanese folk song to me when I was little, called Sakura (Cherry Blossom.

Lilminx, the Yiddish song you're looking for is "Tumbalalaika". I've only once heard words sung to it and none of the Yiddish lyric pages had words to that song. Every other time I've heard it, it was only as an instrumental. Beautiful piece of music though :)
 
Surely the one I remember best...

Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.

Or in English

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.
 
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