cohen’s song

Back in February of 2006 I told blog readers of my choice for Keaton’s “first song.”  I wrote an entry about it, and shared the track itself near the end.

I’ve always loved the idea of our kids having a “first song;” a song they can tell their friends was the first piece of music they ever heard, a song which hopefully conveys a message to them.  I got the idea from my oldest buddy Kyle, whose dad remembered the song he first heard as a newborn.  Kyle had a cassette tape, the j-card in his dad’s own hand, where that track had a big start next to it to denote the significance – I always thought this was a neat concept.

And with both kids, Keaton first and now Cohen, the songs I chose jumped right out at me without much thought – leading me to believe they’ve always been their songs and I’ve always known they were… they were just waiting for babies to be associated with.

The song that maybe always wanted to be Cohen’s song and now can be is a standout from John Lennon’s 1980 Double Fantasy album, “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy).”  At first, when it popped into my head, I worried it might be too… “fay”… but after listening to it a few times and getting the  sentiment vs. testosterone “OK” when I queued it up for my brother-in-law those fears were put to bed.  It starts as a simple reassurance, a father to his son, after what might have been a nightmare – and develops into an awesome statement of how rad little boys can be.

Anyway, here then I present to you Cohen’s song:

[audio:bbdb.mp3]

Cohen’s first song: John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” from the Double Fantasy album, 1980.

Monday Keaton and I laid on the bed with Cohen and put this song on repeat.  I taught her the words and we both sang it to him over and over again, five times total.  Cohen was awake the whole time and listened to each go-’round of our crooning, a solid twenty minutes.

Guess he liked it.

Also written on this day...

• pfffft.... whatever - 2011
• y'all couldn't break me - 2006
• ten years gone - 2005