"bright morning stars are rising / day is a breaking in my soul"

[larryhammer]

My current lullaby for TBD is a Chinese one, "Yao Yah Yao," translatable as "Rock-a-bye" -- yáo does indeed mean "to rock." We learned it from the linked recording, and currently sing it like this:

Yao yah yao
Yao yah yao
Sleep you're safe with me
Rock you till you're big
Rock you till you're strong
Baby grow up soon
Baby grow up soon

Pinyin lyrics found online (without tones, sorry, and my google-fu cannot find the hanzi): "Yao yah yao / Yao yah yao / Bao bao huai jung shuay / Yao ni jang da / Yo liao sheewang / Bao bao kuai jang da / Bao bao kuai jang da".

What's your favorite song for soothing the young to sleep? Any language.

---L.

Subject quote from "Bright Morning Stars," Anonymous.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I didn't sing to my kids. I read to them.

But many, many years ago my sister, four years younger, wanted me to sing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" when she was upset and we were expected to go to sleep. (We had the same bedtime, something I resented until I discovered that I could read and write by the streetlamp down the street)

[larryhammer]

Not an answer I was expecting, that song ...

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yeah--didn't think anything of it at the time, except how much I loved the melody. I suspect she didn't think about the words any more than I did.