I’m looking for songs that, even as an adult, transport you back to your childhood.

10 comments

  1. There is a very traditional one in Italy for very young children, when they are going to sleep,called ‘Ninna nanna,ninna oh’.

    For older children there are traditional children’s songs,such as ‘il coccodrillo come fa?’

  2. I think [“_Solen er så rød mor_”](https://youtu.be/Z_s2FaC41Kc?si=A_loY9E-3pGsi4rM) is the best know, and most popular, lullaby in Denmark. It was written in 1915, by Harald Bergstedt, and in 1923-1924, “the Great Composer” Carl Nielsen, generally seen as our “national composer” wrote a melody for it.

    The text focuses on, as the title implies, the sunset, and the coming of night. About the beauty of stars, and the coldness of night.

    The poet, Harald Bergstedt, was a devout Nazi and raging anti-semite. Though in the beginning, and when he wrote his most popular songs, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party (though still an anti-semite,) and during the occupation, he embraced nazism, which he saw as the continuation of social democratic policy. Following the war, he was prisoned for 2 years, for treason, and his poems (and songs,) were banned from the broadcasts of the national broadcaster. But his children’s songs endured, and in the sixties, the ban was lifted. His children’s songs remain among the most popular in Denmark, to this day.

  3. We have few in Sweden.

    Astrid Lindgren wrote this one and it became very popular:

    [https://youtu.be/EzHetqFABw4?si=mJ2oKL0lMSIfmIao](https://youtu.be/EzHetqFABw4?si=mJ2oKL0lMSIfmIao)

    It is called the wolf song, it is about a hungry wolf, and mum asking the wolf not to come close, because you are not getting my child, I will give you pig tail.

    I am I from pre Wolf song era so these are mine lullabys.

    Trollmors vaggsång

    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOBnKYXEU0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOBnKYXEU0)
    About troll mothers putting her eleven kiddos to bed, by singing her favourite words.

    Byssan lull. this version is bit more up beat, but it is fine.

    [https://youtu.be/pgpHN4yei2c?si=i7L7qnK0_A1OJt8G](https://youtu.be/pgpHN4yei2c?si=i7L7qnK0_A1OJt8G)

  5. In Dutch

    Slaap, kindje, slaap.
    Daar buiten loopt een schaap.
    Een schaap met witte voetjes.
    Dat drinkt zijn melk zo zoetjes.
    Slaap, kindje, slaap.
    Daar buiten loopt een schaap.

    Sleep, child, sleep.
    Outside there walks a sheep.
    A sheep with little white feet.
    That drinks its milk so sweet.
    Sleep, child, sleep.
    Outside there walks a sheep.

  6. We have many, but the one that comes to mind first goes like:

    Kiskacsa fürdik fekete tóban,
    Anyjához készül Lengyelországba.

    Which translates to:

    Little duck is taking a bath in a black lake,
    It’s preparing to meet its mother in Poland.

  7. Guten Abend gut’ Nacht is probably the best known internationally.

    The most loved is probably La Le Lu, which was popularized in a movie in 1955.

    My personal favorite is Schlafflied für Anne from Fredrik Vahle because the imagery is so beautiful. The verses are about the night making slippers out of clouds, and the pear tree tickling the moon and making it laugh. I sang this one every night for years

  8. It is a somewhat more modern one, I think from the 1960s [“Unelaul”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRY1-myG6-Y) (“*The Sleep Song*”), music by [Heino Jürisalu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino_J%C3%BCrisalu), words by [Juhan Saar](https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juhan_Saar).

    *Mina ei taha veel magama jääda, tänav ei maga ka veel.*
    *Kiisu käib õues, tuul tuhiseb mööda, taevas ei maga ka veel.*
    *Ema on köögis ja askeldab alles, ei taha uinuda veel.*
    *Autod ei maga ja hüüavad mulle tuut-tuut-tuut, tuut-tuut-tuut akna all teel.*
    *Väikesed lapsed kõik magavad juba, minagi magama jään.*
    *Head ööd autod, tuul, kiisu ja tuba; unes teid, unes teid kindlasti näen.*

    I don’t want to fall asleep yet, the street doesn’t sleep either.
    The kitty is walking outside, the wind is blowing, the sky is not sleeping yet.
    Mother is in the kitchen and is still working around, doesn’t want to fall asleep yet.
    The cars don’t sleep and call at me “beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep” under the window on the road.
    Little children are all sleeping already, I’m falling asleep too.
    Good night cars, wind, kitty and room; in my dreams, in my dreams, I will see you for sure.

  9. The first one that comes to my mind is [Tuu tuu tupakkarulla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bykv0Hw_IeI). It seems like that there is a huge amount of verses sung with the same melody. But *Tuu tuu tupakkarulla* is definitely the one I know the best.

    *Tuu tuu tupakkarulla*
    *Mistäs tiesit tänne tulla?*
    *Tulin pitkin Turun tietä,*
    *hämäläisten härkätietä.*

    Too-too tobacco roll
    How did you know to come here?
    I came along the Turku road,
    Tavastians’ ox road.

  10. “Nuku, nuku nurmilintu” is well known, but it has many different variations. But the first four verses stay the same. [One version](https://youtu.be/EbWi4MUpHjE?si=2BxDGYsZDlFuvdkG):

    Sleep, sleep grassland bird

    Get tired, get tired wagtail

    Sleep, when I put you to sleep

    Get tired, when I make you tired

    Make the child sleepy, God

    Put him/her lay down, Maria

    Give sleep until the morning

    Make Kiisa to close the eyes

    Also “Tuu tuu tupakkarulla” (Tuu tuu tobacco roll) most likely from the time when people didn’t know tobaccos were quite harmful. Then there’s “Sininen uni” (Blue dream), but I always thought it’s depressing

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