As babies, each of my kids had (or has!) a song that would immediately quiet them down. BabyMuffin will stop whatever he’s doing to look me straight in the eye if I break into “Closer to Fine,” by 
The Indigo Girls. It’s often the only way I can him to stop squirming long enough to nurse these days!
Cupcake’s song was Bruce Springsteen, “I’m On Fire.” It started off when I would rock her as a baby and say, “Hey little girl.” That inevitably lead to my singing the entire song to her. Same reaction as BabyMuffin’s–she would comfortably relax in my arms and stare up at my face.
These days, three year old Cupcake is very into When-I-Was-A-Baby stories and asks anyone and everyone to tell her stories of her babyhood. And this often includes asking me to sing or play “I’m On Fire,” on my iPod.
Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I’m on fireTell me now baby is he good to you
Can he do to you the things that I do
I can take you higher
I’m on fireSometimes it’s like someone took a knife baby
edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
through the middle of my soulAt night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
and a freight train running through the
middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I’m on fireCopyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)
Not the best song in the world for a kid if you’re looking at the meaning, I guess! The Husband is afraid precocious Cupcake will soon ask questions about the lyrics, as she is inclined to do. I say we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.
In the meantime, I’m just glad to have a trick in my bag that’ll get her to hush up!
This is going to sound crazy but with all three of my kids I’ve always hummed the Presidential March. Maybe I’m sending subliminal messages to them.
Oh, awesome post. I sang Indigo Girls’ “Rise Up” to my son in the 24 hours after he was born, because it was in my head…and then in stuck. It didn’t quiet him down, though. Nothing ever did. Rats.