Our Fall Lullaby Mix

When Punky was born, I bought an inexpensive CD player for her nursery.

I stocked a shelf beside it with a few of the most peaceful CDs I had in my library, but the one I listened to most often was Pink Moon by Nick Drake. As a baby, Punky really seemed to respond to it and calm down when she heard Nick’s soothing voice. It’s a beautiful album, and every time I hear it now I’m transported back to Punky’s first year, when my life centered almost entirely around her, and I’d spend hours happily rocking her in her room.

Music provides a backdrop for so many of our memories. A song can play at the grocery, for example, and I’m instantly transported from the cereal aisle to the roller skating rink in Gainesville, Georgia, circa 1982. Or to prom, my junior year of high school. Or to those heady first few months ten years ago, when my husband and I started dating.

I’ve always loved music, and one of my favorite parts of being a mother is being able to create the soundtrack for my children’s lives while they’re small. I take my role as their music director very seriously, and I’ve made playlists and mix CDs for both my children since they were born. Their musical repertoire includes everything from Frank Sinatra to Bach to The Innocence Mission to Woody Guthrie. It thrills me to think that for the rest of their lives, they’ll hear Ella Fitzgerald’s rich alto or a few bars from Camille St. Saens’ Carnival– and think of their childhood, and of home.

One of my favorite creations for them is the Lullaby Mix. Every four months or so, I make them a new CD of lullaby songs, and play it each night for them after I turn out the lights. We love the Lullaby Mixes so much, in fact, that my husband and I sometimes listen to them before we go to sleep, too. I like to imagine that when my children are adults and are feeling sleepless or tired or sad, they can play these mixes and feel soothed by the musical memory of going to bed each night in a home where they were cared for and loved beyond measure.

And I don’t want to hog all this great music for myself. Periodically, I’m going share these mixes with you on this blog. We enjoy them too much not to spread the love. I’ve put an inaugural lullaby mix into a playlist format that you can sample for yourself below …

And if there’s a lullaby-style song you love that’s not on the list, please share it in the comments. I’m always looking for new selections.

Sweet dreams…

Image via Luis Argerich/Flickr