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Jill sent us a question about labor playlists — you know, music to birth by! She specifically wondered what kind of lists you guys have made that DIDN’T include Enya (Enya fans: she means no harm!). I never got to make one, so here’s some of the songs that I would pick if I were giving birth like, right now.
Personally, I feel like birth is WAY too unpredictable to have a perfectly organized playlist (what if you want to listen to something in a different order? Or nothing at all?), so I just tried to stick with my faves. You’ll notice this is heavy on the sixties and seventies flower-child lullabies (Dylan, George Harrison, Led Zeppelin) and singer-songwriters (I can’t help it!), but I tried to keep it diverse. Who wouldn’t want to try to dance through labor?
These are a few of my favorites songs divided up into hopefully labor-and-birthing-appropriate categories:
Happy, Fun, “This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be!” Tunes
- John Lennon – Oh Yoko
- George Harrison – Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)
- Sergio Mendes ft. Erykah Badu & Will I Am – That Heat
- Bob Marley and the Wailers – Is This Love
- Devendra Banhart – Long Haired Child
- Erykah Badu – …& On
When you need something to make you comfortable/zen you out.
- Simon and Garfunkel – Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall
- Beck – Chemtrails
- Erykah Badu – The Healer (Hip-Hop)
- Gustavo Cerati – Rio Babel
- Andrew Bird – Lull
- Radiohead – Bloom
- Bon Iver – Blood Bank
- Grizzly Bear – On a Neck, On a Spit
- George Harrison – Pisces Fish
- Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood
“Oh, shit. Labor might be hard.”
- Big Boi featuring Janelle Monae – Be Still
- Oasis – Slide Away
- George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
- The Beatles – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
When labor gets really hard.
- M.I.A. – Paper Planes
- Curtis Mayfield – Think
- The Impressions – People Get Ready
- Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence
“YAY MY BABY IS SO AMAZING! I AM SO IN LOVE!”
- The Beatles – Here Comes The Sun
- The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize??
- Chris Robinson – …If You See California
- M. Ward – Here Comes the Sun Again
- Desolation Wilderness – 4/4 Love Song
- Bon Iver – Babys
- Oasis – Wonderwall
So, what (if anything) did you guys listen to? If you have a playlist saved or blogged online, link to it!
I didn’t have anything planned. So, it just happened that my husband was listening to Johnny Cash during the early part of labor. I have to say that I love peace and quiet, so after that there was nothing but silence for me.
Gravity by A Perfect Circle for both baby #3 & #4, got me through a 4 hour fast labor and a 44.5 hours slow labor, and continues to be a lullaby to both. Baby #4’s labor, I sang with, sometimes yelling with the song, and I know I got some odd looks as I would yell out “I choose to live, I choose to live!”
Thrown into the mix was NIN, Type O Negative, The Cure, Led Zep, Ozzy, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Tool, basically anything I knew the lyrics by heart and could sing/screech/yell with the song, became my focal point. Gravity is the one that got played the most.
brian eno and harold budd! it was perfect!
We did Pink Floyd’s Echoes. It worked, although the doctor made us turn it down when he came in the room.
I am always down for some Bon Iver. I like how you divided it into categories like that!
My little boy was born to Morning Yearning – By Ben Harper.. I recommend a listen if you don’t know it !
But every year I i also play him , Ben Folds Five – the luckiest .
🙂