Wonderland or Not

The archi­tect and the artist took turns sin­ging her to sleep at night. Whether it be the archi­tect, or the artist, after rea­ding the book, they would sing. Not because they were good at it, they weren’t, but because it worked.

Once there was a way to get back home­ward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty dar­ling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

It’s true, at first she just ate the card­board copies of But Not the Hip­po­po­ta­mus, and Moo Ba La La La, but always expe­dient she quickly got the gist of them. Before Long the demand for con­ti­nual rea­dings of the Vel­ve­teen Rab­bit, or Where the Wild Things Are wore out the archi­tect and the artist.

Gol­den slum­bers fill your eyes
Smi­les awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty dar­ling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Exhaus­ted, the archi­tect and the artist found a way to lull their mew­ling child to sleep. Des­pite being left out of the club for those with the blood of the gif­ted voice run­ning through their veins, they each chose their favo­rite lullaby, and sang it to her whe­ne­ver the need arose.

Once there was a way to get back home­ward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty dar­ling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

As for their choice of lulla­bies, they’ve always been ques­tio­na­ble. When asked why those songs, the ans­wer would always be, because they wor­ked.

Boy,(girl) you’re going to carry that weight,
Carry that weight a long time
Boy,(girl) you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

One never knows what a year of sin­ging a spe­ci­fic cou­ple of songs to a baby will do. (Though I hear that the ques­tion occu­rred to them both at least once while giving their mid­night A cap­pe­lla con­cert, roc­king their daugh­ter in her nur­sery.) Does it carve a path or make an out­line, like tra­cing paper except in the neu­ro­lo­gi­cal path­ways? She doesn’t know of course. She only knows these songs were the only songs sung to her at night, in that roc­king chair, the first eigh­teen months of her life.

I never give you my pillow
I only send you my invi­ta­tions
And in the middle of the cele­bra­tions
I break down

The child, now a woman, will always won­der if these lulla­bies some how made her what she is.

Boy,(girl) you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy,(girl) you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

–

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Gol­den Slumbers/Carry That Weight/, the lullaby cho­sen by her mother, was part of “The Med­ley” from The Beat­les, Abbey Road,1969. The last part of this med­ley The End was not part of their reper­toire, but is pro­bably the most well known part of the medley.

—

Not mea­ning to com­pli­cate the life of his inno­cent screa­ming baby girl, no harm was meant, she holds no grudge, the archi­tect would always sing a full ren­di­tion of 4 + 20. The baby girl, now much older of course, wishes ever­yone such parents, but won­ders if her life would have been dif­fe­rent had her parents ditched the Gol­den Slumbers/Carry That Weight — Four and Twenty, and sett­led for Rock A Bye Baby.

She then logi­cally conc­lu­des, roc­king from the tree tops, brea­king branches, and plum­me­ting crad­les would have been, most assu­redly, more psyche demolishing.

Your babies don’t need LEARNING TABLES, INFANT PLAYMATS or that MADE FOR ME MP3 MUSIC PLAYER. They just need you to sing to them.

Peace

Four and Twenty, my favo­rite lullaby. From the Album/CD, DeJa Vu. Per­for­med above by Stephen Stills, a 1997 dou­ble induc­tee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for CSN, and The Buf­falo Spring­field.