Singing and Narcissism

When I was younger, I loved to sing but I was shy. At one point, I even considered beginning vocal lessons with a lady at church. Don't misunderstand; my voice is decent, but not anything to write home about. My goal at that time was to learn the mechanics of singing and to improve my voice as much as possible. I wanted to sound the best I could sound, but there were no allusions of grandeur. 

Fast forward to today. I have a baby. She is very sweet. I love her and love spending time with her. What does she like? Music. Sounds. And a few other things I'll talk about later. So, what do I do? I sing to her, constantly. 

My problem with trying to sing to my daughter in the beginning was blatantly obvious. I have this mental inability to memorize song lyrics. Even songs I've heard for years, I apparently have only put parts of them to memory. How then am I able to sing constantly to my daughter? I make up songs on the fly. Laugh with me people. That is absurd. 

My poor baby. She has to listen to it, but somehow she loves it. My only explanation is that every song is about her. Here is "Our Song" created one night in the wee hours to calm her during her first few weeks of life: 

Mommy loves Maddy, 
Daddy loves Maddy, 
Maddy is our special girl. 

Mommy loves Maddy, 
Daddy loves Maddy, 
Maddy is our very special girl. 

Maddy is smart, 
Maddy is funny, 
Maddy is sweet, 
Just like honey. 

That's our girl. 
That's our girl. 

There's another verse that regularly includes Mamaw and Granddaddy, but other family members are worked into verses from time to time as well. 

Another roughly contrived song goes like this: 

Oh, Maddy. My Maddy. Ohhh, Maddy. 
Mama and Daddy love sweet Maddy. 

Oh, Maddy. Oh, Maddy. Sweeet Maddy.
You are our speeeecial one. 

Maddy. Oh, Maddy. Our sweet one. 
We have waited for you so long. 

Maddy. Oh, Maddy. We love you. 
We are glad you are fam-i-ly. 

That one is a bit rougher in my opinion because I don't have permanently set lyrics. I sing it to the same tune each time and make the second, fourth, sixth (even numbered lines) whatever comes to mind as I'm singing. 

Another of late is a take on "Oh My Darlin' Clementine." Typically, I sing it like this: 

Oh my darlin', Oh my darlin', 
Oh my darlin' Madeline (read Mad-dah-lynn...long and slow like we Southerners speak ;)
Mommy and Daddy love you. 
You are his; you are mine. 

I sing that one over and over a few times or change the last two lines. Needless to say, she knows her name. Let's hope I'm not slowly turning her to become narcissistic. 

Strictly out of necessity, I made up this beauty: 

Nap time. Nap time. We love nap time. 
Nap time helps us rest and sleep.

Nap time. Nap time. We love nap time. 
Nap time helps us feel good and strong. 

Nap time. Nap time. It is nap time. 
Maddy feels better when she wakes. 

Nap time. Nap time. It is nap time. 
Time to lay your head down and rest. 

It still needs a little work, but at least she's hearing that we love nap time. I hope the message helps her want to sleep when she needs it. 

More importantly, I hope working in more new songs like this that don't focus as much on her will counteract the narcissistic brainwashing the other songs have provoked. :)