Music for Babies

There’s been a thread going on on the Analog Heaven mailing list about music for babies, and that immediately reminded me of early 1994. Alice in Chains had just released their EP called Jar of Flies, which actually went to number 1 on the Billboard charts, and my second daughter was born. I really like Alice in Chains, but there’s just something about this EP which is magic. I thought maybe it was just me, but when I went onto Amazon a moment ago to get the link to the album, many of the reviews said the same thing.

This is what I posted on the mailing list earlier today:

When my daughter was a baby and was fussin’ late at night, I used to put her up on my shoulder and slowly walk her around the living room late at night with Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies on the stereo. The first song, Rotten Apple, with that incredible liquid bass line and talkbox lead guitar to go along with the chime-y rhythm guitar and those amazing dual vocals and wah wah guitar at the end; my daughter, even at that age, was mesmerized. Chilled her out every time, she just listened to the music and relaxed.

That was a while ago as she’s now 14 years old (going on 24, of course).

Don’t ever underestimate the power of music, even with newborns. Humans, most of them at least, all react to music. Both my kids grew up with me playing synths and rock and roll and acoustic guitar and music all the time on the stereo.

Every time I hear Alice in Chains, it makes me remember those long, quiet nights of walking slowly around my living in the dark with my newborn daughter on my shoulder. I’ll never forget it.