About the Song
“Daideo and You” is a song to make babies happy using basic scientific guidelines. The song incorporates dozens of instruments and sounds into a fast beat, easy listening and dancing, jazzy composition. The lyrics describe a fun day outdoors between a grandson and their grandfather (i.e., Daideó–Irish for grandpa), where beautiful scenery and the power of imagination take over as they explore and discover the magical world around them.
BabySongs.Love is a collaboration between William (the Daideó) and Ankari to create songs for happy babies.
Video
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What folks are saying?
“Daideó and You is as important as diapers when traveling. Combined with me singing our son can go from cranky to happy in minutes. Thank you!”
Artist Mom
“Switching from the English version and the Spanish version makes not only a happy baby but a bilingual baby.”
Comedian and Bilingual Mom
“I was so surprised when I first heard the song, now I can’t get it out of my head.”
Alternative Energy Sr. Analyst Dad
“After playing the Happy Song, we wanted to find other science-based songs to create song variety in our playlist for our son. The universe heard me and answered me with Daideó and You!”
Writer and Historic Documentarian Dad
Our story
Our story begins with the birth of two grandsons separated by seven weeks. The parents kept saying there was this song that was based on science and designed to evoke happy feelings in infants–The Happy Song. What a wonderful idea! Quickly we tried to create a playlist of such songs, but to our dismay there really wasn’t another song in its class. There were many baby songs, but not songs aimed at the core of a child’s emotions.
So we decided to create another one and started writing down some lyrics, quickly discovering songwriting was not easy. We needed a more methodical approach.
We started reading about the science behind music for happy babies. The Happy Song by Imogen Heap was our inspiration and connected us with much of the scientific guidelines for the music. For example:
- Incorporating human sounds that cause babies to smile and laugh, e.g., sneezes, baby laughter, and various silly noises we make, e.g., the buzz of a bee, babbling brooks, baabaa of a sheep
- Using an upbeat tempo, such as 150 BPM (the average heartbeat of early infants)
- Having an easy-to-remember and dance-to rhythm
- Varying repeated melodies with surprising ones
Next, we defined our goals for the song. The song should be a different type of happy song, a jazzy one that was about the personal connection between grandfather and grandson exploring the world. The song should incorporate unique aspects of our grandboys and their environment (e.g., light sensitivity, living near babbling brooks, and wildflowers). And, the lyrics should describe a fun day outdoors between a grandson and their grandfather (i.e., Daideó–Irish for grandpa), where beautiful scenery and the power of imagination take over as they explore and discover the magical world around them. We quickly wrote an initial draft of the song.
At this point, we needed professional help and contacted Ankari, a Jazz singer-songwriter and music producer from Mexico City. Ankari sings with an authentic voice not copying or imitating other singers. Her “sound” was perfect for a smoothing sing-songy sound that would appeal to children. Ankari excitedly joined the collaboration and made it more than just a dream of ours. Ankari dived into the process. She deepened our understanding of the research, doing much of her own analysis. And then, moved on to writing music, crafting and writing lyrics into a song matching the music, and collecting sounds including some from our grandsons. She incorporated many, and some surprising, instruments and sounds: a toy piano, a xylophone, a music box, a pizza box (yes, a literal pizza box), a melodica, a marimba, a vibraphone, a glockenspiel, a clarinet, and there’s also finger snapping, clapping, chimes, tambourine, and other traditional percussion sounds. She balanced the song between surprising sounds, appealing sounds, and a sense of repetition that brings comfort to babies while being engaging for everyone.
Lastly, after many versions and revisions, we tested the song with our grandchildren. The result was a grand success. It produced happy babies during long car rides, several plane trips, and several weeks of uncomfortable teething.
So now, a year after first having the idea, we have another song to add to our happy baby playlist, one that makes us happy as we watch our grandsons and adults alike enjoy music.
Our songs
Daideó and You (Instrumental Version)
Daideó and You (Scat Version)
Para Daideó y Para Ti
Para Tu Abuelo y Tu
ダイデオとあなた
おじいちゃんとあなた