“Papa Don’t Preach” (Madonna)

If you were considered a reckless teen back in the day, this might have been your go-to song on your Walkman. (For me, I remember thinking I’d be grounded forever if this song applied to me.)

“Father Figure” (George Michael)

This one haunted me at school dances (would anyone ever ask me to dance?), and yet it’s still a mesmerizing song and even more tastefully filmed. Hey, I’d take a cab ride from that George Michael any day…

“I’m Your Daddy” (Weezer)

If you’re a fan of “Buddy Holly,” you may want to download this one next. Rumor has it Rivers Cuomo was inspired by the birth of his daughter when he wrote this song…even though he’s singing about romantic love.

“Father to Son” (Queen)

The quintessential tear-jerker, this song will hit home with anyone who failed to see Dad’s wisdom as a kid, but can appreciate it now as parent themselves.

Wishing my own dad, and dads everywhere, a Happy Father’s Day!

Happy New Year, friends!

We hope you had a magnificent holiday season with of lots of family, food and plenty of long winter’s naps! We sure did. The time has come to think back on all the wonderful events of 2009.

Hard to believe but our little music-making elves created four new albums: More Lullaby Renditions of the Beatles, Lullaby Renditions of Queen, Lullaby Renditions of Aerosmith, and Lullaby Renditions of Guns N’ Roses. Whew! No wonder we needed to take so many naps!

You asked for more and we delivered. More Lullaby Renditions of the Beatles is a magical mystery tour deeper into the Beatles’ bottomless catalog of timeless songs.

The lullaby versions of Queen takes our series to a new level. No one thought we could turn the operatic anthems of rock’s most ambitious band into soothing sounds for baby. But the critics all agreed, we did it! We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we will rock you to sleep.

Aerosmith brought us an amazing honor: Steven Tyler–the demon of screamin’ himself–was so impressed with our lullaby versions of his band’s classic bluesy tunes, he wrote the liner notes for the album. We’re still beside ourselves over that one. It makes us sleepy just thinking about it!

Guns N’ Roses just came out last month and it’s already shaking things up (but most importantly, rocking the cradle). Welcome to the jungle, baby!

Lest we forget, 2009 also brought us the birth of our blog (thank you, thank you) and our digital download edition, which lets you give a beautifully packaged download card and lets the recipient choose their favorite digital album from the entire series. And last, but not least, we launched our very first line of onesies! Yes, we think we deserve another new year’s nap.

We can’t wait to see what 2010 will bring.

Thanks so much for being part of our family and for sharing your wonderful stories with us. We hope you have a sleep-filled new year! Dream on, and on, and on, and on…

Sincerely,

Your friends at Rockabye Baby

Hey lullaby lovers,

We’ve updated our poll at the Rockabye Baby! online store. Go check it out and vote for your favorite candidate to be lullabied. If your choice isn’t on the poll, leave it here in the comments. Your pick may make it onto future ballots.

Some of you may wonder why we haven’t released lullaby renditions of all the great rock bands on the poll yet. It takes months and even up to a year to make a perfect lullaby album. We work really closely with the producers, draft after draft, to get the instruments sounding as soft and sweet as possible. We hope the work pays off in the sound of silence coming from your nursery!

So what are we up to now? Lullaby Renditions of Queen is still rocking the cradle and Aerosmith is coming out Sept. 15, with liner notes by Steven Tyler! We’re hard at work on our lullaby renditions of Guns N’ Roses and it’s so fabulous we can’t stand it. That will be followed up by Kanye West. Oh, yes, you heard us right! Our first Rap-a-bye Baby! It’s going to be super swell.

Not only that, but this fall we have a way cool gift edition coming out — it’s a download card good for any Rockabye Baby! digital album, housed in an adorable eco-friendly package with a baby food recipe, temporary tattoos, paper dolls, and more fun stuff. This is going to be the world’s best baby shower gift, because  you don’t have to guess which CDs your friends want, or what they might already have. View it here.

Oh, yeah, we updated the look of our blog, too! What do you think?

That’s a lot of work for such sleepy bears to handle, but luckily for us, napping is always encouraged at lullaby world headquarters.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ,

Your friends at Rockabye Baby!

We almost have 1000 fans on Facebook, but we need your help to reach our goal!  Our 1000th fan will win our new CD, Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Queen. All you have to do is become a fan and you are automatically entered to win. We’ll contact the lucky lullaby lover through Facebook.

So what are you waiting for? Visit our Facebook Profile to become a fan. Leave a comment here to let us know. You know you want to hear baby Bohemian Rhapsody!

1. Ashley Wilson
2. Mark V.
3. Chrystal
4. Shannon
5. Sarah A.
6. Linz
7. Megan
8. Amy
9. Leigh W.
10. Debra R

All winners have been contacted and should be receiving their CDs shortly. Thank you to all who shared their Queen stories with us. If you haven’t had a chance to read the other entries, you may read all of them here.

If you didn’t win this time, never fear.  There are more fun chances to win Rockabye Baby! coming soon.  Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about contests, discounts and other special promotions.

Reviews are starting to come in for our new arrival, Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Queen and we’re noticing a pattern. At first, everyone seems to doubt we’ll be able to pull it off, but by the time they’re through, they’re radio ga ga over our sleepy-time versions of rock’s most challenging band. 

Didn’t we promise we would rock you to sleep?

Thanks to all the great writers who took the time to review our album! You make us feel like champions!

Wanna hear what they’re talking about? Check out two full-length tracks here.  Also, be sure to check out our new Queen-themed print & play activities!

Extra (Hour)dinary Parenting writes:

“Ok. I admitted before to being surprised by how effectively country music could be translated to fun and interesting lullabies for little babies. However, I really did not expect Queen’s music to do the same.  I was wrong. This was fantastic. My husband heard just a few bars of the lullaby renditions of Queen CD and yelled ‘awesome’ from the other room.”

Now What Baby says:

“They included all of my favorites in this fun cd, even Fat Bottom Girls and We Will Rock You. How did they make those baby friendly? Somebody was really talented when they put this one together because they pulled it off beautifully.”

Post & Courier writes:

“One can only wonder what the late Freddie Mercury would think of his rock masterpieces distilled down to tranquil instrumentals featuring harps, xylophones and other decidedly un-rock ‘n’ roll-like instruments, but by gum it actually works.

I tested ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ out on my 3-year-old son, and he was out like a light before the first ’scaramouche.’  Even more up-tempo tunes such as ‘Another One Bites the Dust,’ ‘Will Rock You’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ seem to work when given the lullaby treatment.”

What a wild coincidence that the week Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Queen was released brought a hilarious Queen-related news story. Milan Bandic, the mayor of Zagreb, Croatia, announced during a news conference that he wanted to make Zagreb an attractive performance destination for musicians, and called for David Bowie to perform there — “and Freddie Mercury can come too.”

The news that the Queen frontman died eighteen years ago came as a shock to Bandic, who was recently elected to his second term. This is just another in a long series of public gaffes for the Croatian politician – from attempting to bribe a police officer while driving drunk to falling asleep during the Zagreb City Assembly. Well, he may not be a great civil servant, but at least he has good taste in music.

Under pressure to find the perfect Dad’s Day gift? What about our newest album, Lullaby Renditions of Queen, or any of our other awesome Rockabye Baby! CDs? Dads tell us they love our series for letting them share their favorite music with their little rockers.  Even Kirk Hammett loves playing our Lullaby Renditions of Metallica for his little one!

Now through next Wednesday, take 15% off your entire order and make a new dad’s day!

Enter promotional code  RBFD09 at check out

Want to make sure your order arrives in time? Order by June 16 and select Priority Shipping to receive by Father’s Day.

Back up, you say?

Not buying the cool, collected act? Okay, you’re right. Here’s what we meant:

STEVEN TYLER WROTE LINER NOTES FOR OUR ALBUM! Wooooooooohooooooo!

Says the legendary Aerosmith frontman of our forthcoming lullaby CD:

“I have a grandson who I can’t wait to play these for. Our fans, who have been with us for years, are now parents and grandparents themselves. I know they’re going to love this album. ”

You’ll have to read the rest when the album comes out this fall!

Under pressure to find the coolest baby gift in the universe? Look no further! We’re giving away 10 copies of our newest CD. Enter here.

The contest ends Tuesday June 9 at noon pst, so enter soon.

Also, be sure to check out our new Queen-themed print & play activities and go radio ga ga goo goo with our exclusive sneak peek of two tracks!

Now, we nap (another one bites the dust…)