You remember how it is with your first pregnancy, when you actually buy the pregnancy magazines, and hang out on the message boards at iVillage comparing each twitch and twang with 600 other pregnant mothers due in the same month as you, and you spend months agonizing over the nursery decorating scheme and hours browsing baby gear at Babys R Us and have the baby’s whole wardrobe picked out and washed and folded and carefully placed in drawers when you’re still only six months along?
*snicker* Ah, I remember those days… barely!
Ahem, anyway, back when I was still all dewey-eyed with the idea of being pregnant with Tristan, I invested hours searching the Internet and local record stores for a copy of one of my all-time favourite soundtrack albums, She’s Having a Baby. Way before I had kids, I loved that album, and practically wore out my cassette copy in the early 1990s – and not entirely because I’ve always had a wicked crush on Kevin Bacon.
Alas, despite a stellar effort, I couldn’t find a replacement copy when I was pregnant with Tristan. Well, there was one copy on eBay for about $60 including currency conversion and delivery and duty, but that was a bit much even for me. But the other day, I was downloading some music from iTunes and out of the blue wondered if I could get some of my favourite songs from the album on iTunes. Turns out I couldn’t (maybe you’ll have more luck on the American version, but iTunes.ca is still occassionally disappointing in its limited selection.) I did, however, find out that the album was re-released in 2003, and I used one of my MotherTalk Amazon.com gift certificates to order one. It arrived on the weekend, and I love it all over again.
But it got me thinking – aside from the ubiquitous country and western songs, there aren’t really a whole lot of pregnancy songs out there, are there? My favourite of all time, which I listened to about a million times when I was pregnant with Tristan, is Danny’s Song (the Kenny Loggins version, thanks), and of course there is Creed’s Arms Wide Open, which came out the year I had my first miscarriage and made me cry gallons of tears over the hormonal years, and Nancy White’s hilarious folk song, It’s Chic to be Pregnant at Christmas.
Danny’s Song by Kenny Loggins
People smile and tell me I’m the lucky one, and we’ve just begun,
Think I’m gonna have a son.
He will be like she and me, as free as a dove, conceived in love,
Sun is gonna shine above.
(This song also has the line “Pisces, virgo rising is a pretty good sign, strong and kind, and a little boy is mine” which I can barely type, let alone sing along, without choking up. Tristan is my little Pisces.)
Apron Strings by Everything But the Girl
And I’ll be perfect in my own way
When you cry I will be there
I’ll sing to you and comb your hair
All your troubles I will share
This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush
Pray God you can cope.
I stand outside this woman’s work,
This woman’s world.
Ooh, it’s hard on the man,
Now his part is over.
Now starts the craft of the father.
Arms Wide Open by Creed
Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face
She’s Having a Baby by Dave Wakeling
Mixed drinks and mixed emotions
Head in the clouds, put your feet on the ground
All change,
She’s having a baby
You’re growing up now,
You’re settling down, down, down
Will it be a boy or a girl?
And what will it think of the world?
It’s So Chic to be Pregnant at Christmas by Nancy White
It’s so biblical to be pregnant at Christmas
No matter what stories you believe.
And only suffer from gravid senilis
And heartburn and nausea and charley-horses and overwhelming fatigue and frequent micturation and varicose veins and swollen ankles and shortness of breath and that .. tired achy feeling in the groin.
That was about all I could come up with. Can you think of any more?
Hey, you’ve left our hometown boy, Paul Anka, off the list. “Having My Baby” is the cheesiest pregnancy song ever to grace the airwaves! — “I’m a woman in love and I love what it’s doin’ to me!!” …
Having my baby
What a lovely way of saying how much you love me
Having my baby
What a lovely way of saying what you’re thinkin’ of me
I can see it, your face is glowing
I can see it in your eyes
I’m happy in knowin’
That you’re having my baby
Elton John’s Blessed. Came out (or I first heard it) when I was pg with my oldest. Made me cry every time, and still tears me up.
Hey you, you’re a child in my head
You havent walked yet
Your first words have yet to be said
But I swear youll be blessed
I know you’re still just a dream
Your eyes might be green
Or the bluest that I’ve ever seen
Anyway you’ll be blessed
And you, you’ll be blessed
You’ll have the best
I promise you that
I’ll pick a star from the sky
Pull your name from a hat
I promise you that, promise you that, promise you that
You’ll be blessed
I need you before I’m too old
To have and to hold
To walk with you and watch you grow
And know that you’re blessed
Jack Johnson has one, but somehow the words are escaping me … I keep coming up with the Curious George songs instead.
Still waiting over here… but the room is ready, finally, and yes we only did it about a month ago unlike for J when we did it up at 6mos along.
I’m more into the make-me-weep newborn songs, favourites being Lauryn Hill’s Zion and The Dixie Chicks’ Lullabye (How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough, is forever enough?). Oh dear, here they come…
Tori Amos’s “From the Choirgirl Hotel” was inspired by her miscarriage, and came out the year of my first. I don’t think anyone who has ever had a Bad News Ultrasound doesn’t know what “Spark” is about:
“She’s addicted to nicotine patches
She’s afraid of the light in the dark
6:58 are you sure where my spark is
Here”
She’s convinced she could hold back a glacier
But she couldn’t keep Baby alive
Doubting if there’s a woman in there somewhere
Here”
“Playboy Mommy” is also pretty explicitly about it. Many of the others on the album are circumstantially related.
I played that one obsessively all through the fall of 1998….
I was listening to a lot of Sarah McLachlan when I was pregnant with Amelia. I love the song “Answer” I remember hearing it was an ode to her mother’s passing and since my mom had just died I could relate. But with every kick in my belly it reminded me more of how I was going to become a mom.
“Answer
I will be the answer at the end of the line
I will be there for you while you take the time
In the burning of uncertainty I will be your solid ground
I will hold the balance if you cant look down
If it takes my whole life I wont break I wont bend
It’ll all be worth it worth it in the end
Cause I can only tell you what I know
that I need you in my life
When the stars have all gone out
you’ll still be burning so bright”
OH Dear me. I never listened to or thought to listen to songs when I was PG. I would have been a basket case. Crying tears of happiness all the time. So I can’t help you out but It’s nice to know there is songs like that out there.
I have always liked Rascal Flatt’s song ‘My Wish’… I don’t have kids, but everytime I hear this song, I always think that this is what I would wish for, for my kids.
“My Wish”
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
and each road leads you where you wanna go,
and if you’re faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin’ till you find the window,
if it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile.
But more than anything, more than anything…
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but you never forget,
all the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
and you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God’s grace, in every mistake,
and always give more than you take.
But More than anything, yeah, more than anything…
Hmmm…these are good. Perhaps I need to create my own playlist…
D – Stumped on any additional pregnancy songs. Sorry.
Now, if you would like a Getting Pregnant song list, you just let me know….I got tons of them.
N
*sniff* good choices everyone.
I like Dar Williams “The One Who Knows” – makes me well up with tears every time.
Time it was I had a dream
And you’re that dream come true.
If I had the world to give
I’d give it all to you.
I’ll take you to the mountains,
I will take you to the sea.
I’ll show you how this life became a miracle to me.
You’ll fly away, but take my hand until that day.
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job’s done you’ll be the one who knows.
All the things you treasure most
will be the hardest won.
I will watch you struggle long
before the answers come.
But I won’t make it harder,
I’ll be there to cheer you on.
I’ll shine the light that guides you down
The road you’re walking on.
You’ll fly away, but take my hand until that day.
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job’s done you’ll be the one who knows.
Before the mountains call to you,
before you leave this home,
Wanna teach your heart to trust
As I will teach my own.
But sometimes I will ask the moon
Where it shined upon you last
And shake my head and laugh and say
It all went by so fast.
You’ll fly away, but take my hand until that day.
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job’s done you’ll be the one who knows.
Hello, DaniGirl – I like “Baby Looks Good On You,” a funny and sweet song by Jon Christopher Davis. You can hear it at http://www.jonchristopherdavis.com and also at http://www.babylooksgoodonyou.com.
BABY LOOKS GOOD ON YOU
(Written by Jon Christopher Davis & Jim Photoglo)
Standing and staring in a full-length mirror
Watching as your waistline disappears
You’ve outgrown your clothes
Can’t see your toes and
It’s always too hot in here
Your mood is swinging like a monkey in a tree
A mass of insecurities
Your hormones are raging
Ankles inflating, but
All I see…
(Chorus)
Sweet, soft and sexy
Your curvature just wrecks me
You’ve given me a new point of view
Baby, oh baby…
Baby looks good on you
There’s a little more to love every time we spoon
And you still like your lovin’ in the afternoon
Your shape is incentive
To get real inventive and
Never leave the room
(Repeat chorus)
And you still look as good as the night that we did this to you
(Repeat chorus)
Uhh those songs remind me of being a mother. I appreciate your effort compiling those.:-)
-Jan
Kenny chesney’s. there goes my life.. i had my first one young..
~Leash
Louis Armstrong,
what a wonderful world 🙂
hum this post was along time age, but still:
Alien, by Lamb, trip hop song of a woman talking to her little alien hidden within. Very good.
I’m 19 and pregnant and it definitely wasn’t planned, but I’ve found 2 songs that I really relate to:
Best Mistake I Ever Made by Kevin Fowler:
Trying to start a family was the last thing we had planned
Till I came home from work
She had her head in her hands
I could see the worry
Through the teardrops in her eyes
She said, “How we gonna do this when we’re barely gettin by?”
We wern’t prepared for all those changes in our world
That all changed when the doctor said it’s a girl
That was the best mistake I ever made
The Lord works in mysterious ways
Chose a wrong path all my life
But for once I did something right
And just one look in her and I see
Someone smiling down on me
And I’m not too proud to say
That was the best mistake I ever made
There’s consequences to the decisions in our lives
Just cause we didn’t mean to do it that don’t mean that it ain’t right
Small Town Favorite Son by Luke Bryan:
It all seems so strange
How in just one night
Your whole life can change.
Chorus
Wish this old John Deere had wings
And this cotton row was an airstrip
Straight outta here.
Wish this high noon Georgia sun
Could melt what’s been done
Make it disappear.
If I could leave, I’d be gone,
But that’s just one more thing done wrong
By this small town favorite son.
Verse 2
By fall they’re all gonna know
Our little secret
My baby holds inside.
By then she’ll be startin’ to show,
And I’ll be the husband
To a shotgun bride.
I already miss that sound
The marching bands and the cheering crowds.
Stuck here in this red dirt ground
Knowin’ I, I let everybody down.
Wow, All of this has made me well up with tears… My favorite is “It wont be like this for long.” Darius Rucker….
He didn’t have to wake up
He’d been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK
It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we’ll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won’t be like this for long
Four years later ‘bout 4:30
She’s crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She’s clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don’t you worry
This’ll only last a week or two
It won’t be like this for long
One day soon you’ll drop her off
And she won’t even know you’re gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won’t be like this for long
Some day soon she’ll be a teenager
And at times he’ll think she hates him
Then he’ll walk her down the aisle
And he’ll raise her veil
But right now she’s up and cryin’
And the truth is that he don’t mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
‘Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin’ her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he’s tryin’ to hold on
‘Cause it won’t be like this for long
It won’t be like this for long
This one makes me cry every time too!
Capri by Colbi Callait, I love it 🙂
Im 19 years old and totally unprepared for this and terrified so any songs that pretain to my situation are greatly appreciated
To Christian:
I heard a song once that ran along like this…
“He found another girl when she had their boy
Anything for love he said
She was the only one
Nothing old and nothing new
She’s all alone
With baby blue
Now listen to what she had to say
Thats not what I thought it would be
Its not supposed to happen to me
And I wish I could go back in time
I’m just 16 its not what I thought it would be
Here on cloud 9
Here on cloud 9
Now listen to the one who made the world
He invented love
Made the one you’re dreaming of
But for now
and until then
Trust and wait
You got to wait a little
Here on cloud 9
Here on cloud 9
Here on cloud 9”
Eat for Two – 10,000 Maniacs.
Zion by Lauryn Hill is another great one.
My favorite is Martina McBride – Blessed
In my arms- Plumb.
<3 It's more of a parent song rather than a pregnancy song
however, I can't wait to sing this to my baby.
My ultimate favorite is “U Still Got It” by Jamie Foxx.
“U Still Got It”
(feat. Common)
[Girl:] Do I look fat to you?
[Jamie:] Baby you know I love you
[Girl:] That’s not what I asked you.
[Common:] Uh, Uh, Uh,
[Verse One:]
Girl I know your going crazy, let me help you understand.
That you’re about to have my baby, and we about to be a fam.
Don’t you know that when we got married, we’d be true through thick and thin?
Well I know you’re lookin thick now, but I’m witcha to the end.
U still got it…
[Chorus:]
U still got it gurl e’ry day, e’ry night you know you rock my world
(Don’t you know that you still got it?)
And your emotions flowin’ cause you know that your body’s growin
(Don’t you know that you still got it)
That new jersey’s snug, well I ain’t mad at that baby, it’s just more to love
(U still got it)
Oh baby, your love’s crazy, cause you havin my baby
(And there’s so much more to love)
[Verse Two:]
See you walkin through the mall now, see them outfits that you like,
Oh but you scared to try them on now, cause they just won’t fit you right.
And you steady watchin Oprah, tryin to redefine your life.
But as long as your my lady, I don’t care about your size
[Bridge:]
Your hair, (your hair I know) I know your feet are swelling.
No need to cry I dig them thighs, that’s why I’m telling you
U still got it…
[Chorus:]
U still got it gurl e’ry day, e’ry night you know you rock my world
(Don’t you know that you still got it?)
And your emotions flowin’ cause you know that your body’s growin
(Don’t you know that you still got it)
Them new jeans is snug, well I ain’t mad at that baby, it’s just more to love
(U still got it)
Oh baby, your love’s crazy, cause you havin my baby
(And there’s so much more to love)
[Common:]
Take a look at my lady, and my day began to shine.
Told her, “Baby being beautiful is a state of mind, and you are.”
So, had to let your mind and your heart know, as you grow, the more, the more I see God glow.
I know it’s probably strange, seeing your body change.
Can’t fit your clothes, nose ain’t the same.
But love still remains, it won’t vary with me.
Look at you and smile, thinkin’ Damn she carrying me!
A life we created, we can cherish forever.
You growin, but it’s sexy, the sex is even better.
But through thick and thin, pickles and peanut butter, is a divine mother, queen and supreme lover,
U still got it.
I know that you still got it
Don’t you know that you still got it?
U still got it.