Songwriting and Producing Eli’s Lullaby

1. Brainstorm – I wrote this song 11 years ago, so I’m trying to remember how I came up with the song. I think I just knew I wanted to write him a little lullaby and wanted it to be relaxing and calming and share our love for him in it as well. The middle part of it was added later, probably when he was around 18 months to 2 years, as I noticed him struggle so much with falling and hurting himself. 
2. Write the Song – When I wrote the song, I did it away from the piano and later came to the piano to figure out how to play it and later wrote down the words and figured out the harmony/accompaniment. 
3. Polish the Song – The original lyrics changed from “Sleep angel”… to “Sleep Baby” I also changed another lyric where I had originally said “fall into dreamland” and changed it to “drift off to dreamland”. The whole middle alternate melody was added later “I’ll kiss your owies and hold you tonight. Drift off to dreamland where everything’s right.” I felt that it was a fitting description of the reprieve that sleep gave him from his hard days of falling, struggling and accidentally injuring himself. 
4. Sheet Music – I decided that because this song is easily and simply performed on the piano, I wouldn’t write the music out note for note and just polish up the lead sheet for it. I wrote a few notes about how to play the accompaniment onto the Lead Sheet to make it a little easier. 
5. Practice and Record – I practiced and recorded this song while Eli was still alive as a little tribute to him on his 10th birthday. He was sleeping a lot at the time and really slowing down – so this song was a perfect representation of his life at the time. 
6. Polish the Recording – I re-recorded the vocals this month, because I wanted to polish up the pitch and sound a bit. 
7. Filming the Video – We filmed this video at the same location as the other lullabies – in a wooded dried up river bed about 45 minutes away from our home. We had a babysitter for the kids and decided to take advantage and film all of the songs at once. I changed my outfit for each song multiple times. Ha ha

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