Purely hypothetical, obvs

[dsudis]

If James Hathaway were going to play/sing a song to entertain/distract/soothe a very young child (old enough to learn/sing/repeat/ask about any lyrics he includes), what would he play and/or sing

Comments

[jamethiel_bane]

Well, he would have grown up going to church, something traditional like "abide with me" or "all through the night"? If you're going through medieval madrigals, you've got "The Silver Swan"

[dsudis]

Oooh, good point. (I... am not familiar enough with madrigals to know how much they suffer from being performed solo? on a guitar? but I suppose the small child in question doesn't have a basis for comparison either.)

[tibididim]

well - all the guitarists you mention in the list are jazz guitarists. And the kind of guitar you describe is really a (very nice, old) jazz guitar. Is this helpful? My first thought is actually Django Reinhardt which might be too far-fetched - but the various music-nerd boys I know who are into world music and jazz do frequently sit around trying to pick out Django Reinhardt songs, and they're (often) gentle soothing stuff.

[dsudis]

Having read the Django Reinhardt Wikipedia article (and decided to simplify the problem by putting the scene in a non-musician's point of view), I am now including this:

Hathaway said, "How about some Django, do you remember that one?"

Jenny nodded immediately and said, "Yes, Django, I love Django!"

Hathaway smiled slightly and took off into a jazzy piece that sounded vaguely familiar to Robbie, and which conveniently kept spinning out in variations on itself while Jenny grew more and more still in Robbie's arms. Hathaway kept a weather eye on her, eventually raising his gaze to Robbie's and giving a small nod. Then he put his head down and went on playing to the end of the song.

"Nice thing about jazz," he said into the silence, without looking up. "The song always lasts as long as you need it to last."

[sinden]

Probably a jazzed up, bluesed down version of something unexpected like Walk this Way or No Sleep till Brooklyn. Something bluesy like Stormy Weather or Ain't Misbehavin'.
Something traditional like Scarborough Fair.

It would depend on the child, I guess.

[dsudis]

...I am going to go ahead and blame you for encouraging me to imply that he's singing this to her:

[sinden]

Ahahahaha. Works for me!

[lamardeuse]

(link)

[browngirl]

a lullaby or something like Frere Jacques, perhaps.