Songs I’m singing my newborn daughter, week one
1. T-Pain, Buy U A Drank
2. NOFX, Linoleum
3. NOFX, Reeko
4. NOFX, Scavenger Type
5. Propagandhi, Anti-Manifesto
6. Lady Gaga, Vanish Into You
7. Cheers theme
8. Chappell Roan, Pink Pony Club
9. Wilson Philips, One More Day
10. Strung Out, The Exhumation of Virginia Madison
11. Montell Jordan, This Is How We Do It
12. Blackstreet, No Diggity
13. K’s Choice, Not An Addict
14. The Little Mermaid, Part Of Your World
15. Moana, We Know The Way
Singing to my newborn daughter, week two
1. Imogen Heap, Hide and Seek
2. Tegan & Sara, The Con
3. Tegan & Sara, Nineteen
4. Tegan & Sara, Call It Off
5. Everclear, Father Of Mine
6. Chappell Roan, Casual
7. Chappell Roan, Pink Pony Club
8. Bad Religion, You
9. Sarah Blasko, Planet New Year
10. NOFX, Drop The World
11. Lamb, B-Line
12. AFI, Love Like Winter
13. Samia, Pool
14. Cosmo Sheldrake, The Moss
15. The Rembrandts, I’ll Be There For You
Singing to my newborn daughter, week three
1. Avril Lavigne, I’m With You
2. Rick Astley, Never Gonna Give You Up
3. Semisonic, Closing Time
4. Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit
5. The Temptations, My Girl
6. Wheatus, Teenage Dirtbag
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Porcelain
8. Alanis Morrissette, Hand In My Pocket
9. Alanis Morrissette, Head Over Feet
10. John Farnham, The Voice
Singing for Celeste, Week Four
1. Britney Spears, Baby One More Time
2. Garbage, #1 Crush
3. Garbage, Parade
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Porcelain
5. Wyndreth Berginsdottir, Savage Daughter
6. Lewky, I Have One Daughter
7. Agatha All Along, The Ballad of the Witches’ Road
8. NOFX, Scavenger Type
9. Avril Lavigne, I’m With You
Really can’t believe this girl is almost a month old.
Also can’t believe the specific songs that come to mind when I’m trying to calm a fussy baby.
Songs for Celeste, Week Five
1. Bad Religion, You
2. NOFX, Drop the World
3. Semisonic, Closing Time
4. Moana, How Far I’ll Go
5. The Little Mermaid, Part of Your World
6. The B-52’s, Roam
7. Evita, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
8. Shania Twain, Man I Feel Like a Woman
9. Johnny Cash, Hurt
10. Garbage, Metal Heart
11. Go West, King of Wishful Thinking
12. Tegan & Sara, Take Me Anywhere
13. The Monkees, Daydream Believer
14. NOFX, Linoleum
15. REM, Losing My Religion
16. Butthole Surfers, Pepper
Songs for Celeste, Week Six
1. Katy Perry, I Kissed a Girl
2. Katy Perry, Thinking of You
3. Frank Sinatra, It Was A Very Good Year
4. Semisonic, Closing Time
5. Bad Religion, You
6. Chappell Roan, Pink Pony Club
7. Chappell Roan, Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
8. Chappell Roan, Naked In Manhattan
9. Blink-182, Dammit
10. Cat Stevens, Father and Son
11. Bob Marley, Three Little Birds
12. Nina Simone, Feeling Good
13. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Porcelain
Singing to Celeste, Week Seven
1. Bad Religion, You
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Porcelain
3. Aerosmith, Sweet Child of Mine
4. Mr Big, Be With You
5. Harry Connick Jr, Whisper Your Name
6. Bob Marley, Three Little Birds
7. Wheatus, Teenage Dirtbag
8. NOFX, Scavenger Type
9. Mika, Grace Kelly
10. Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
11. Kesha, Praying
12. Kesha, Rainbow
Songs for Celeste, Week Eight
1. The Joy Formidable, Wolf’s Law
2. The Joy Formidable, The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie
3. Joy Formidable, Whirring
4. Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
5. Agatha All Along, Ballad of the Witches’ Road
6. Tracy Bonham, Sharks Can’t Sleep
7. Frozen 2, Show Yourself
8. Frozen 2, All Is Found
9. The Little Mermaid, Part Of Your World
10. Lisa Mitchell, Pirouette
11. Sarah Blasko, Always On This Line
12. Billy Joel, Uptown Girl
13. They Might Be Giants, Dr. Worm
Songs for Celeste, Week Nine
1. Semisonic, Closing Time
2. Little Mermaid, Part of Your World
3. Beyoncé, Daddy Lessons
4. Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
5. Kanye West, Runaway
6. Hayley Williams, True Believer
7. Annette Funicello, Pineapple Princess
8. NOFX, Linoleum
Songs for Celeste, Week Ten
1. NOFX, Leave It Alone
2. NOFX, Dig
3. NOFX, The Cause
4. Bad Religion, You
5. Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
6. Metric, Black Sheep
7. Damien Rice, The Blower’s Daughter
8. Tegan & Sara, Take Me Anywhere
9. Tegan & Sara, I Bet It Stung
As the weeks wear into months, Celeste doesn’t need to be sung to sleep so often. So now we have morning song time in the kitchen.
(Believe it or not all the songs up to now have been sung as lullabies)
Songs for Celeste, Week Eleven
1. NOFX, Perfect Government
2. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Message
3. Salt n Pepa, Heaven or Hell
4. Kermit the Frog, Rainbow Connection
5. NOFX, Scavenger Type
6. Jay-Z, Izzo
7. Soundgarden, Black Hole Sun
8. Stina Nordenstam, Little Star
9. Allison Krauss, Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby
10. Tool, Parabola
11. Tool, Lateralus
12. Blink-182, Dammit
13. Jay-Z, 99 Problems
Week 12
1. OutKast, Hey Ya!
2. Ini Kamoze, Here Comes the Hotstepper
3. Frances Dunnery, Good Life
4. Tool, Parabola
5. Little Mermaid, Part of Your World
6. Paul Simon, Me & Julio
7. Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit
8. Soggy Bottom Boys, Man of Constant Sorrow
9. 2Pac, California Love
10. Wyndreth Berginsdottir, Savage Daughter
11. Moana, How Far I’ll Go
12. Montell Jordan, This is How We Do It
13. Kermit, Rainbow Connection
14. NOFX, Linoleum
15. NOFX, Leave It Alone
16. Tool, Lateralus
Songs for Celeste, Week 13
1. Tool, Lateralus
2. Damien Rice, The Blower’s Daughter
3. The Ataris, San Dimas High School Football Rules
4. NOFX, Drop the World
5. Kenny Rogers, The Gambler
6. No Doubt, Just a Girl
7. Kermit, The Rainbow Connection
8. Rihanna, You Da One
9. Feist, 1 2 3 4
10. Propagandhi, Refusing To Be A Man
11. Propagandhi, The State Lottery
12. Weebl, Magical Trevor
13. 4 Non Blondes, What’s Up?
14. Smashing Pumpkins, Bullets With Butterfly Wings
15. Beyoncé, Daddy Lessons
Songs for Celeste, Week Fourteen
1. Cass Elliot, Make Your Own Kind of Music
2. Bad Religion, You
3. NOFX, We Threw Gasoline On The Fire And Now We Have Stumps For Arms And No Eyebrows
4. Propagandhi, Purina Hall of Fame
5. Propagandhi, Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An
6. Dwarves, Everybody’s Girl
7. Tove Lo, Habits (Stay High)
8. A Perfect Circle, Pet
9. A Perfect Circle, Magdalena
10. Tool, Lateralus
11. Kesha, Praying
Songs for Celeste, Week Fifteen
1. Ginuwine, Pony
2. Christina Perri, A Thousand Years
3. The Proclaimers, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
4. Vanessa Carlton, A Thousand Miles
5. Goldfinger, Miles Away
6. Sarah Blasko, Planet New Year
7. The Ataris, My Hotel Year
8. Kermit the Frog, The Rainbow Connection
9. Adele, Daydreamer
10. Huntrix, Golden
11. Lykke Li, Complaint Department
Songs for Celeste, Week Sixteen
1. Tool, Lateralus
2. The Temptations, My Girl
3. NOFX, We Threw Gasoline On The Fire And Now We Have Stumps For Arms And No Eyebrows
4. Belinda Carlisle, Summer Rain
Songs for Celeste, Weeks Seventeen & Eighteen
1. Little Birdy, Beautiful To Me
2. Suzanne Vega, Tom’s Diner
3. Soggy Bottom Boys, Man of Constant Sorrow
4. NOFX, We Threw Gasoline On The Fire And Now We Have Stumps For Arms And No Eyebrows
5. Men At Work, Land Down Under
6. Ivri, Tower of Memories
7. Benson Boone, Beautiful Things
8. Chappell Roan, Pink Pony Club
9. Goo Goo Dolls, Iris
Songs for Celeste, Week Nineteen
1. Rancho Carne Toros, Opening Cheer
2. Semisonic, Closing Time
3. NOFX, Together On The Sand
4. Ivri, Tower of Memories
5. Rihanna, This Is What You Came For
6. Huntrix, Golden
7. Regina Spektor, Samson
8. Sarah Blasko, Explain
9. Gang Gajang, This Is Australia
10. Tool, Parabola
Songs for Celeste, Week Twenty
1. John & Yoko, Happy Christmas (War is Over)
2. Lisa Mitchell, Neapolitan Dreams
3. Lisa Mitchell, So Jealous
4. NOFX, Leave It Alone
5. Queen, We Will Rock You
6. Kermit, Rainbow Connection
7. Propagandhi, And We Thought Nation-States Were a Bad Idea
8. Traditional, The Twelve Days of Christmas
Songs for Celeste, Weeks Twenty-One & Twenty-Two
1. The Pogues, Fairytale of New York
2. Peggy March, I Will Follow Him
3. Harry Belafonte, Jump In The Line
4. Steve Winwood, Valerie
5. Amy Winehouse, Valerie
6. Tool, Lateralus
7. Dirty Dancing, Time of My Life
8. NOFX, Linoleum
9. Tal Bachman, She’s So High
10. Huntrix, Golden
Month Six!
1. Semisonic, Closing Time
2. Journey, Don’t Stop Believing
3. Bad Religion, You
4. Pocahontas, Colors of the Wind
5. Grease, Summer Nights
6. Vanessa Carlton, A Thousand Miles
7. Lykke Li, Dance Dance Dance
8. Lykke Li, Little Bit
9. Lamb, B Line
10. Ivri, Tower of Memories
11. Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like
12. Alanis Morrissette, You Oughta Know
13. Djo, End of Beginning
14. Metric, Black Sheep
15. Yothu Yindi, Djapana
16. Elton John, Tiny Dancer
17. Lamb, Till The Clouds Clear
Songs for Celeste, Month Seven
1. Whitney Houston, I Wanna Dance With Somebody
2. Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit
3. Jay-Z, Izzo
4. Jay-Z, Encore
5. Beyoncé, Halo
6. Kelis, Milkshake
7. Rihanna, Where Have You Been
8. Lionel Richie, All Night Long
9. Bob Marley, Is This Love
10. Bob Marley, Three Little Birds
11. Bill Withers, Ain’t No Sunshine
12. Rihanna, Consideration
13. Rihanna, Pon De Replay
14. Chuck Berry, Johnny B Goode
15. Billie Holiday, All Of Me
Songs for Celeste, Month Eight
1. Cyndi Lauper, True Colors
2. Tracy Chapman, Fast Car
3. Huntrix, Golden
4. Lana Del Rey, Once Upon A Dream
5. The Temptations, My Girl
6. Lady Gaga, Poker Face
7. Cat Stevens, Father and Son
8. Eve, Tambourine
9. System of a Down, Vicinity of Obscenity
10. NOFX, Falling in Love
11. NOFX, I’m Telling Tim
12. The Killers, Mr Brightside
13. Joan Jett, Bad Reputation
14. NOFX, We Threw Gasoline On The Fire…
15. Ella Fitzgerald, Summertime
@fsanchez0 in my (limited!) experience they’re responding to the direct attention more than anything; I could be reading D&D 5th Edition and she’d love it as long as I was making eye contact.
In school I learned a lot about childhood language acquisition, and exaggerated speech (“baby talk”) is key to them learning the patterns of language. I don’t know whether singing qualifies but I’m 10× more likely to sing her a song than make up a story. We’ll see what it does to her in the long run.
@fsanchez0 It’s true that every baby is different just like every adult is different, so general advice is hard. I don’t know what’s universal and what’s Celeste.
Something that surprised me is when she’s crying and seems inconsolable, and I’ve tried *everything*, it helps to just hand her to someone else. A change of person/tactics is often all it takes. Likewise if my wife is struggling, I’ll offer to take over.
Trying the same solutions over and over and being frustrated is no good.
Clarko
Fede Sánchez
Tim Schmitz