The Alan Parsons Effect

As you can see on the baby ticker to the right, Milady and I are expecting a baby in a little over three months from now (the expected due date is in early August). In the morning, if we have time, I will talk to the baby, reciting both the English and Arabic alphabets, the numbers through ten, and then singing the scale (do re mi...). This morning, Milady and I had a little extra time, so I pulled out my handphone, which has about thirty albums on its memory chip. The first song I played for the baby is Alan Parsons' "Ignorance is Bliss," which is about as close a song that band has to a lullaby:

A shelter from the storm
A room without a view
A place where you belong
And like a mother's kiss
That carries you to sleep
The ignorance is bliss
-- Ignorance is Bliss, Alan Parsons

"The baby was kicking harder when the song was louder and more distinct, like the saxophone and piano solos. Try something more upbeat." OK, how about some Billy Joel?



Hmmm, maybe we should play more kids' songs. How about from The Jungle Book?





"Play some of the Qur'an for the baby."







And by this time, she had gone back to sleep.