Meredith Monk – “Gotham Lullaby” or “Bertie” Lullaby – Characteristics of a Lullaby

The “Gotham Lullaby” is a rather repetitive song by Meredith Monk. The repetitive climax of the lyrics is always followed by a classic lullaby melody. It seems to me as if it mirrors the end of an exciting day. Chaotic, ecstatic things happen before the calming phase of the evening starts. But, my attention immediately shifted to something else while I listened to this piece. This may seem very abstract to anyone reading this but the main connection I drew to the song “Gotham Lullaby” was a memory to my childhood. My mother used to sing to my younger brother until he fell asleep. She usually always sang what she had recently listened to and for a longer, memorable period of time that was anything by the musician and singer Kate Bush. One song that my brother loved was the song “Bertie” by Kate Bush. He wanted to hear my mother sing this particular song for months on repeat. However, he only loved the way my mother chose to sing that song. One time, when my brother was older, he went up to my mother and asked her for his lullaby. But this time, he wanted to know what the original song sounded like. So my mother went through her CD collection and picked out the album by Kate Bush. I sat down with them, and we listened to “Bertie”. My brother was disappointed and shocked. He expected the song to sound like the lullaby my mother used to sing to him. But instead, he shouted: “This sounds like a medieval celebration song! And why does she repeat to say lolelelolelelolelelolele! It’s horrible! I want my song back.” My mother laughed out loud and tried to comfort my brother. Since then, this song has a special place in my family’s music collection and whenever someone mentions or plays it, we all love about my brother’s disappointment and his description of the song. 

When I was listening to “Gotham Lullaby” I recognized some parallels and similarities between “Gotham Lullaby” and “Bertie”. The elongated pronunciation of words in the chorus is what connects both songs on a superficial basis. 

But what also is similar between both songs, at least on a personal level, is the original form of a lullaby. “Gotham Lullaby” is officially called a lullaby and “Bertie” was used as a lullaby for my brother. During listening, my mind seemed to come back to one question: What can or cannot be called a lullaby? Do only certain repetitive sound systems qualify for this definition? Or can any song be considered as a lullaby? For me personally, both mentioned songs are only lullabies because they are either named like one or have been used as lullabies by others. But if I were to decide, I would not consider either of them as lullabies, because in my ideal perception, lullabies should have a calming effect on me while listening. And both songs do not calm me down, but instead raise questions, remind me of memories and to dos, and leave me puzzled. A state, that I would ideally not consider as the perfect state of mind before going to sleep.