Just a quickie (no, not that kind — get your minds out of the gutter!) to say that from now on, the entity formerly known as TNC (The Noble Child) will henceforth be referred to as NG (Noble Girl) and the child formerly known as TNB (The Noble Baby) will be NB (Noble Boy). TNH (The Noble Husband) will just be NH. The reasons for this are a) TNB is not a baby anymore *sniff*, b) I’ve always been just Noble Savage, not THE Noble Savage (except for on Twitter because, annoyingly, the name was already taken) so I reckon we should all be the same and c) it’s my blog and I can bloody well do what I want to (she says while stamping her foot in a rebellious manner).
So yeah, that was all I wanted to say. Do you think this is possibly my worst blog post ever? I’d say it’s a contender, along with this pathetic, two-word post during NaBloPoMo ‘07.
All except one of the following happened to me today. Can you guess which is false?
One of my children climbed onto another, unsuspecting child’s back and began to wriggle around in what looked remarkably like a mating ritual in a David Attenborough nature series
While brushing my teeth at the sink, naked except for a towel draped round my shoulders, I was assaulted from behind with a battery-operated pasta-twirling fork
When I walked upstairs to check on my daughter and her friend, I found them pretending to have babies on the toilet. Talk about a water birth!
I burned the children’s dinner so let them eat peanut butter and Pringles instead
My son, in his haste to get to his precious ‘mamas’ (i.e. my boobs), managed to pull my nursing top down and expose my breast while I was talking to another parent at a coffee social this morning at my daughter’s pre-school
I read an article in the Daily Mail and vehemently agreed with it Sorry, even I couldn’t keep a straight face while typing that
One of my favourite new bloggers, Gappy at Single Parenthood. Tales From The Front Line has tagged me for the Shiny Happy Things meme, in which I am meant to tell you at least one thing that never fails to put a smile on my face.
First, two songs that always always always make me smile and do a little dance: ‘Hey Ya’ by Outkast and ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ by Joni Mitchell. They’re both just so infectious! Definitely a sure-fire way to perk myself up
Making my husband adopt a very deep voice and say, “I’m gonna butter your bread.” Don’t ask about its origins, just know that it never fails to make me giggle helplessly
This is such a cliché but peeking in at my sleeping children. So beautiful, so peaceful and so blessedly, blessedly quiet. What’s not to smile about?
I’m not sure who has already done this but I’m going to tag a few people. If you don’t want to do it or have already done so, feel free to ignore! I tag:
A recent survey found that although 40% of parents thought lullabies were great tools for teaching children words and music, only 12% knew the words. More and more, parents are singing pop and rock songs to their children, or TV theme tunes. And there’s nothing wrong with that, of course. When I sing The Noble Baby to sleep, I’m known to throw in some Carol King (‘Child of Mine’), Joni Mitchell (‘The Circle Game’ and ‘River’), Aerosmith (‘Dream On’) and even some Rolling Stones (‘Wild Horses’), among others.
But I have to say, I am a huge fan of traditional lullabies. I think they’re not only beautiful and comforting but an important part of our oral storytelling history. My mother sang or played them for me and my sisters all throughout our childhoods, as did her mother before her. I know the words to at least a dozen still popular in the US and have learned many more while here in England. I have been singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ to my daughter every night since she was a baby and as soon as I turn out the light and begin, she automatically settles down onto her pillow and nods sleepily while I half-whisper the words. My 17-month-old son, always on my hip at bedtime, imitates her and rests his head on my shoulder. He’s learning quickly that lullaby time means sleep time.
What I didn’t know, however, is that there are three more verses to ‘Twinkle Twinkle’! And did you know that Little Bo Peep has five? Already we have lost big parts of these songs and what little remains is fading fast, which makes me quite sad. That’s why when I heard about this fantastic campaign to Save The Lullaby, I was immediately interested. And when I discovered that Sophie Barker (who has sung for Zero 7, one of my favourite bands and whose song ‘In The Waiting Line’ I listened to constantly when pregnant with TNC) was behind the campaign and has released a new CD with producer KK (who has worked with Brian Eno and Bjork), I went from interested to excited.
I listened to a couple clips from their new CD, entitled ‘Lullaby’, and was mesmerized, as were my children. TNC curled up in my lap and sat in silence for a good ten minutes, which is unheard of. The CD* has been in my player all morning, on repeat, and I’ve not grown tired of it at all. It also comes with a beautifully illustrated hardcover booklet with lyrics to all the songs so you can sing along. Have a listen for yourself and see what you think.
You can also see Sophie and KK on BBC News talking about the project and playing another piece live.
“The album, ‘Lullaby’, makes a stand for our forgotten bedtime tunes,” says Sophie, “ it reminds parents of the magic and soothing quality of our traditional lullabies – we’ve even included a sing-a-long lyric book for those who are more likely to know the Friends theme tune than Frere Jacques.”
The full song list includes:
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
2. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
3. Ride a Cock Horse
4. Lavender’s Blue
5. Frere Jacques
6. There was a Crooked Man
7. Sing a Song of Sixpence
8. Little Bo Peep
9. Baa Baa Black Sheep
10. Little Miss Muffet
11. Brahms Lullaby
12. Oranges And Lemons
13. Hush Little Baby
14. Rock a Bye Baby
15. Dream a Little Dream
16. The Owl and the Pussycat
17. Row Your Boat
18. Silent Night
If any of you are interested and depending on the response shown here, there may be an opportunity for me to interview Sophie (squeeee!) so if you have any questions you’d like me to ask her about the CD, put them in comments or you can email them to me at noblesavage @ noblesavage(dot)me(dot)uk.
I realised today, as I was driving along singing my heart out to a series of songs on Magic radio, all from 1973, that (musically at least) I was born in the wrong decade. I mean, how can you beat this playlist?
‘Love Train’ by The O’Jays
‘Killing Me Softly’ by Roberta Flack
‘Stuck in the Middle with You’ by Stealer’s Wheel
‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ by Elton John
‘I Will Always Love You’ by Dolly Parton
‘Tequila Sunrise’ by The Eagles
‘Yesterday Once More’ by The Carpenters
‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder
‘You’re So Vain’ by Carly Simon
‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye
When ‘Superstition’ came on, I actually yelped with excitement and turned the radio up really loudly (no kids in the car — hurrah!). I could barely contain myself. That, my friends, is MUSIC. I’m telling you, I was meant to be alive and in my youth during the 60s and 70s. I would’ve been in bell-bottomed, peace-signed, guitar-strumming, funk-loving heaven.
That said, I think I would’ve also been quite happy in the Roaring Twenties as well. After going to see The Princess and the Frog yesterday with The Noble Child and hearing all of that lovely New Orleans-style jazz music, I could totally picture myself as a gin-swilling, fun-loving, Charleston-dancing, boa-wearing flapper.
If you could’ve been a young adult in any decade in the 20th century, which would it have been?
