A Playlist For Newborns

VPM | By Julian Ring

Published July 24, 2015 at 7:50 PM EDT

Updated March 31, 2023

Soothe your young one with our playlist of infant-inspired songs.

On last week’s All Songs +1, we shared the songs we think make a great introduction to the world of music for a newborn child.

We also asked you to share the first song you think a newborn should hear. Your picks spanned hundreds of years and nearly as many genres, from stirring orchestral works by Beethoven and Mahler to classics by Louis Armstrong and John Denver and softer songs by contemporary artists like My Morning Jacket and Phosphorescent.

We’ve compiled a handful of your suggestions in a Spotify playlist, which you can stream below. If you didn’t get a chance to tell us your pick, share it and let us know why you love it in the comments.

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Julian Ring

Julian Ring is an associate producer for NPR One. He adapts radio stories for NPR's digital platforms and creates original audio available exclusively on NPR's mobile apps. Ring previously oversaw podcast operations for NPR One and hand-curated daily news using the app's editorially responsible algorithm.

Prior to joining NPR in 2019, Ring served as a music curator at Pandora, where he co-created the "Pandora Picks: Curators' Choice" series of playlists. As a music journalist, his work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, Grammy.com and Consequence of Sound. In 2015, he interned with All Songs Considered, guest-hosting two episodes and contributing regular stories to NPR Music.

Ring holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in rhetoric and composition from Oberlin College. His interests include a cappella and instrumental music performance, gaming and community theater. He is an avid fan of Formula 1 racing.

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