Post to the Host
Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.
Kids Songs
May 20, 2008 | 2 Comments
Dear Mr. Keillor,
Part of my nighttime routine with my three-year old daughter is singing, and I'm starting to run out of songs. I've worked my way through most of the hymns I can remember, and in my search for lyrics I've discovered that you can sing the words for "Will the Circle be Unbroken" to the tune of "Children of the Heavenly Father". The down side to all this is that my daughter will only sing along with me when I sing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song. Can you help by suggesting some classic songs that I can learn and sing at bedtime?
Glenn B.
Cottonwood Heights, UT
Your next step, Glenn, is to make up songs, and rhyme the lines on the spot, with references to her, things she did that day, her bedroom, family members, etc. For that I recommend an old campfire song "Angels Watching Over Me" —
Night has come turn out the lights.
Angels watching over me, my Lord.
In Salt Lake City and Cottonwood Heights,
Angels watching over me.
The refrain gives you a few seconds to come up with the second line. And when you're stumped, you just toss in the chorus.
All night, all day, Angels watching over me, my Lord.
All night, all day. Angels watching over me.
This will really impress your daughter for awhile. And when your daughter turns ten, you can switch over to the blues.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
|
Previous Post: |
Next Post: |
Post to the Host Archive
- October 21 Cinecast
- Getting into the Radio Business
- On the 12th Floor of the Acme Building...
- Going to the Big City!
- 73 Days of Summer Vacation
- Help with a Eulogy
- Where Do I Start?
- Fantasy League Whippets
- Clergywomen in Lake Wobegon
- The more you write, the better it gets
- The Voice
- A Note from GK about Retirement
- Low Self-Esteem
- Useless Degrees
- Car Bomb
- The Dog-Ears of Summer
- Dealing with Disappointment
- Rejection Letters
- English Majors Strike Again
- 7th Grade Report
- GK Responds to Cinecast Posts
- J.D. Salinger, 1919 - 2010
- Be Well...
- A Large Delicate Question
- A Matter of Honest Labeling
- Where All the Women are Strong
- A Natural Step
- Abducting Jesus from a Crib
- Where all the women are...
- Adventures of an English Major
- Intro to Storytelling
- Birds of a feather
- Poetry 101
- Shave and a Haircut...
- One of Us
- Slow Down and Look Around
- Home Again
- Content and its Discontents
- The Dales
- GENERATION NEXT
- THE FOUNDATION FOR GREAT SUCCESS
- WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM
- NOTHING BEATS BROWSING
- Lake Wobegon Screenplay
- English Majors
- No Time for Rhyme?
- Sheko Hariir
- Fair is Fair
- Absorb Your Surroundings
- Sitting Around the Campfire
- Overshadowed and Choked Out
- Lake Wobegon Factbook
- Just Good Manners
- Lake Wobegon Census
- A Sobering Sight
- Strange Interference
- Flannery O'Connor
- An Artistic Move
- It Wasn't Bad
- Regional Child-Rearing
- No News is Bad News
- Earl Sanderson, Eagle Scout
- F-Stop Ftizgerald
- Please Advise
- Get Sauk Centre Centered
- Did You Hear the One About...?
- He Should Pay It, Not You
- Goose V. Gray Duck
- Deals in Stereotypes
- Not Fade Away
- Jeepers Creepers, Where'd Ya Get Those Peepers?
- The Old Man Would Be Tickled Pink
- John Updike, 1932 - 2009
- Try to Do Things Right
- The Ice Storm
Complete Post to the Host Archive
Mary Grace Dembeck | June 2, 2008 8:10 PM | Reply
Josh, when my two children were very young, I wrote a simple little lullabye for them called "Lord of All", and I would sing it with them before they fell asleep. You are welcome to the words.
(You will have to make the tune up yourself ... but I don't think it will be hard to do.)
Lord of all I bow my head
Just before I go to bed,
Fall upon my knees and say
Thank you for another day.
Thank you for the food I eat,
For the bed on which I sleep,
For those I love who love me too,
Lord of all, goodnight, thank you.
Mary :)
Olan Hogan | June 10, 2008 7:51 AM | Reply
Garrison, Thanks for the awesome shows you do and the love and dedication from your cast members.As a Kansan living in Georgia the show reminds me of my midwestern roots and the earthiness of its people. I will never fail to listen and enjoy the show. When are you coming anywhere near Georgia?
God Bless