folk songs for kids and babies

Subject: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,emmie
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 02:21 PM

I have a lovely six month old baby boy and I want to sing and play him lots of cool songs. I've been learning some Woody Guthrie songs which I think are fantastic, but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for some traditional British folk songs. Any ideas for albums I could buy as well.

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Rasener
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 02:27 PM

John Conolly does a lovely song called "Close your eyes and look" on his Ranters Wharf CD, which is worth having anyway. I used to sing that to my daughter, till she told me she was too old for it anymore :-)

Link for Ranters Wharf

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 04:03 PM

hmmm...wish I could have a listen to some of the tracks...he sounds like a very interesting guy..never heard of him before. Thanks for that!

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,emmie
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 04:06 PM

just got very excited when I saw there was a digitrad for kids then realised it isn't up and running t the moment sadly!

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Rasener
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 04:11 PM

Well you could come and see him at Faldingworth Live on September 13th 2008

Click on this link and scroll down and click on the link for Conolly, Whaley & Fletcher http://www.faldingworthlive.co.uk

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Willa
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 05:02 PM

Hi Emmie

Why not become a mudcat member; costs nothing and is easy.

here's a link you may find useful.

http://www.cln.org/themes/songs.html

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Willa
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 05:08 PM

A couple of links to previous threads
thread.cfm?threadid=68931#1168359

thread.cfm?threadid=13547#112062

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Tootler
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 06:56 AM

When our kids were young we had an album of nursery rhymes by Tim Hart. They were done very much in "Folk" style. They were not twee as nursery rhyme albums often are, but done in a more adult style. I had a quick look on Amazon.co.uk and it is still listed as a cassette, but is marked "currently unavailable"

The album my elder daughter especially, really loved was one of nursery rhymes by Cynthia Glover and John Lawrenson (sp?). This was done much more in art music style with an orchestra and a primary school choir as accompaniment so may not be quite what you are looking for. This is not available on Amazon and I suspect has long been discontinued.

Personally I don't think you can go far wrong with nursery rhymes for young children. They are mostly folk songs after all (many even conform to the dreaded 1954 definition [grin] ). The other thing we had, which are sadly no longer available, was a series of books of children's songs and rhymes published by Ladybird. We passed them along to friends' and relatives' children so, sadly, no longer have them. They might be available through 2nd hand dealers, though.

Geoff

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Monique
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 07:24 AM

You can find quite a lot of them at Mama Lisa's House of English Nursery Rhymes and there are more on Mama Lisa's World's United Kindom and United States pages.

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 07:31 AM

Ralph McTell wrote a whole series of childrens song for a TV series, possibly called Alphabet Zoo.

eric

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 09:51 AM

Lots of good music here: www.nancymusic.com

Sheila

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,emmie
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 10:14 AM

Hi everyone and thanks for your suggestions which I'll start looking through and I'm sure will get some great songs from.

I still would really love some traditional irish and english songs if possible even if they're not totally written with kids in mind. Have been singing my little one " if I had a wife, the bain of my life..." as I got sung that one by my irish uncle when I was a kid and it has a great rhythm...so many folk songs are about sex and death...its not easy! I think I'll definitely get an album of sea shanties because they're great for kids I think. Any suggestions for good ones? Have also been reccomended the bag puss songs as they were sung by Sandra Kerr...

Emmie

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Kent Davis
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 02:37 PM

Some calming songs that I sang to my children when they were babies:
"All the Pretty Little Horses"
"The Mockingbird Song"
"Brahm's Lullaby"*
"Rock-a-bye, Baby"*
"Bye-bye, Baby Bunting"*
"Down in the Valley" (leaving out the "jail" verses)*
"On Top of Old Smokey"*

Some livelier songs:
"Oh, Susannah"*
"She'll be Coming Round the Mountain"*
"Froggy Went A-courting"**
"Old Bangum"**
"Get Up and Bar the Door"**

* I remember my parents or grandparents singing these to me.
** These songs are very old.

For more information about any of these songs, use the search function at the top of the page.

Kent

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,Lord Batman's Kitchener
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 02:45 PM

Emmie, speaking of good old Bag Puss,you might like this:

"Bagpuss Songs - 01 - We Will Wash It" (YouTube)

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 02:52 PM

Hi, Emmie-
The Digitrad for Kids function was shut down because there were too many "anughty" songs in the bungs. You can go to QuickLinks on any Mudcat page and use the DT Keyword Search - try searching for kids, playparty, camp, and any other terms that might interest you. But be aware that the search will bring up some basdy results, so you may need to censor things before letting the kids see the results. Otherwise, you may have to explain some things for them....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 02:10 PM

My kids adore the Roy Bailey albums.
Also Taffy Thomas (storyteller, do a google) has great stories with trad tunes.
And love Pete Seeger 'kids concert live at the carnegie hall'

Stick them on your computer and get the kids to make their own track listing comp album, works for bed time and driving for years

---

Please note that anonymous posting is no longer allowed at Mudcat. Use a consistent name [in the 'from' box] when you post, or your messages risk being deleted.
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: Azizi
Date: 05 Jul 08 - 07:08 PM

Hello, emmie.

If you're interested in children's music that includes some songs that aren't "folk", my suggestion would be for you to consider albums by Ella Jenkins and albums by Raffi.

Click here for a list of albums by Ella Jenkins, including "You Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song" and "Early Childhood Songs".

Also, click here for a list of albums by Raffi, including "Singable Songs for the Very Young" and "Everything Grows".

I hope your son and you like them!

**

Enjoy your baby boy!

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: folk songs for kids and babies
From: GUEST,emmie
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 01:28 PM

thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I'm hoping in the future to run a music class for babies and toddlers and do folk, country and world music songs...enjoying them with the little one first though...he loves bling blang hammer with my hammer by Woody Guthrie. Have also been loving playing hima few songs by dan Hicks.