Lullaby schmullaby. Let’s Rockabye Baby!

One of the first things I bought our baby-to-be was a Rockabye Baby! CD. If you’re not familiar, Rockabye Baby! is a line of CDs that takes the best-known songs by an artist and records instrumental, lullaby versions of them. To some this may seem like sacrilege (“Enter Sandman” on dulcimer, perhaps?) but if you view it as a way to indoctrinate your infant in the ways of rock-and-roll, then it’s pretty f’ing awesome.

The first disc I got was Coldplay, which, to be honest, wasn’t that much of a departure. Even with Chris Martin at full throttle, Coldplay is already pretty soothing. I’m not knocking it, it’s just their thing. I’ve since added U2, The Cure, The Stones, No Doubt, and 2 volumes of The Beatles to my JJ’s collection, all of which are a hoot. And some of the songs are pretty hard to guess, so it makes for a fun game while you’re wiling away the wee hours feeding your little one. Oh yeah, and JJ seems to dig them, too.

But I think my favorite thing about them are the covers. Each CD takes an iconic album cover or image that represents the artist and kiddiefies it, incorporating the Rockabye Baby! teddy bear as well. I’ve included a few of my favorites, but you should check out the Rockabye Baby! site for the full line (with audio samples of each track), plus onesies for junior and tee shirts for the ‘rents!

The series is mostly classic and alternative rock, with a few fun surprises thrown in. To date, the line includes: AC/DC, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Björk (!), Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, Coldplay, The Cure, The Eagles, Elvis, Green Day, Guns N’ Roses, Journey, Kanye West (!), Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails (!), Nirvana, No Doubt, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool (!), and U2.

Who would you like to see “Rockabyed”?