By Emily Harrington
I have a very easy baby. Thank goodness. My 7-month-old son is as content and relaxed as they come. He does have his moments, however. Albeit infrequent, he can let out a wail if he is tired, or he is under the weather.
When I heard of the trending tune, “The Happy Song,” composed and sung by award winner and English mum, Imogen Heap, that touted scientific-based research in a song created to make babies happy—I knew I would have to try it out during my baby’s unhappy times. I’ll try anything (at least once) that claims to improve my kiddos life while ultimately improving mine!
I downloaded the song from iTunes for a buck (small price to pay for happiness!) before waiting for the right moment to give it a go. (You can easily cue it up with a cute video in YouTube, too). Unfortunately, we had a few opportunities to test the song out due to various illnesses. Our baby was prescribed a nebulizer for wheezing before being diagnosed with a double ear infection. As many parents know, nebulizing isn’t really an activity babies enjoy. It’s scary, loud and constricts their movement. Desperately trying to keep the mask covering my baby’s nose and mouth as he shakes his head from side to side—not easy.
Cue the music.
I conducted my test during our first nebulizer treatment. It seemed to keep him calm and distracted. My older one danced when the song came on. He loved it! The song is VERY catchy. And VERY cute. It tells the tale of how we love our babies wherever we are—from the sky to the ocean, on a bike or on a rocket. Regardless of how my own baby responded, the song put me in a darn good mood. I even heard my husband singing it around the house after hearing it.
A development expert and a music psychologist researched the ingredients it would take to create a song so appealing to little ears that it would snap them out of a fussy funk. According to the experts, the song would need to be short with a sing-songy female voice, strong rhythm, uptempo (mirroring a baby’s fast heartbeat), patterns and repetition, but it would need to include the added element of surprise. The song uses musical devices like drum rolls, key changes and rising pitch glides to provide opportunities for anticipation while providing the needed element of surprise.
A group of babies and parents also contributed to the project research. They tested the final tracks while naming noises that made their own babies cheerful. Only the most popular noises made it on the winning track. The top ten sounds included “BOO!” (66 percent), raspberries (57 percent), sneezing (51 percent), animal sounds (23 percent) and baby laughter (28 percent). Apparently, babies respond better to plosive/stop vocal sounds like “pa” and “ba” compared to sonorant/flowing sounds like “la.” They also prefer consonance (sweetness, pleasantness, acceptability) versus dissonance (harshness, unpleasantness, unacceptability). Heap ingeniously worked many of these elements and sounds into the song. She even engaged the help of her toddler daughter.
Here are some lyrics. You can see the musical elements the creators wanted to include at play. “Down the slide” includes a pitch glide while the lion (long pause) lets out a “ROAR!” for a big surprise to engage the baby. “Beep! Beep!” includes that stopping plosive sound.
Bring! Bring! On the bicycle
Beep! Beep! In the car
Ping! Ping! A submarine
Phew! Phew! helicopter
A choo-choo train
An aeroplane
A “wee!” down the slide
I just adore-dore-dore
You every day more
Wherever we are
So up in the sky
And deep in the ocean
Through valleys and hills
Away we go
Bring! Bring! On the bicycle
Beep! Beep! In the car
Ping! Ping! A submarine
Phew! Phew! helicopter
A choo-choo train
An aeroplane
A rocket to the stars!
There’s a dance-dance-dance
Going on in my heart
Wherever we are
So up in the sky
And deep in the ocean
Through valleys and hills
Away we go
You little monkey
You’re staying up late
Who purrs like a cat
When they get their own way
Who then turns into a lion
Who lets out a—
ROAR! *gasp*
I love-love-love
You every day more
Whatever’s in store
Do I think the song is a magic bullet to stop your baby from crying? Probably not, but it’s worth a shot! I do, however, think it is a fun song to have in your bag of tricks—I sing the song often even without the music. It may lighten the mood, and it will certainly keep you humming long after you turn it off.
Have you tried this song with your kiddos? How do you rate the tune’s effectiveness? Share your experience in the comments below!
Emily Harrington is a Chambana townie. She left her 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job in communications so that she could be a 24/7 mom to two busy boys. Still interested in writing, Emily uses some of naptime to practice her passion and keep her mind right. Emily is a happy wife with a happy life because she fell for a fellow townie. Emily usually finds herself engulfed in balls, blue and belly laughs.