As a relatively new father, I've been thinking about children's songs and nursery rhymes. So many of them were filled with once-useful information. "Ring around the Rosey," for example, was all about the plague. But much of this information is obscure to us, now. The words might as well be nonsensical.

So, I wrote a song, to teach my son Merlin the names of the different varieties of apples that I'm growing, and why. A year later, the song is outdated, as I've added a couple more trees, but I like the concept of it, and would like to do some more of this: customized songs to help him remember things.

Anyone else doing the same, or know of songs along these lines?

Follow this link to hear "Wiglaf's Orchard," on Merlin's Web site. It's a big file.

> http://www.feists.net/~jonathan/songs.html

--Jonathan