Tyrannosaur’s Lullaby
copyright 1991 by Dr. Jane Robinson

Hush my tiny terror, stop your roaring
It’s time for baby monsters to be snoring
Close your hate-crazed eyes and try to sleep
Count slaughtered stegosaurs instead of sheep

Tomorrow is another day
And you can stomp the Earth and play
And tear and rip and rend and bite
But now, my horrid child, goodnight

Hush my darling, kindly cease your bellow
It’s time for little killers to be mellow
Lose yourself in dreams of blood and gore
Sleep my child, your dreadful day is o’er

Tomorrow get an early start
And you can tear your friends apart
Eviscerate and claw and fight
But now, my horrid child, goodnight

Hush my small destroyer if you will
It’s time for sleepy slayers to be still
Save all of that voracity ‘til dawn
Transform that hungry gape into a yawn

Tomorrow rise up bright and fresh
And you can sink your teeth in flesh
And mangle bones, oh lovely sight!
But now, my horrid child, goodnight

Notes

A while back, paleontologists found evidence that at least some species of dinosaurs were, in fact, doting parents. Plenty of people could have written a song about it, but it took Dr. Jane Robinson to write a soothing lullaby for a baby homicidal carnivore. Doc, many thanks for allowing me to record it. Some human parents worry that this song might upset the delicate sensibilities of their children. I suggest that those parents really ought to meet their children, but of course you must use use your own judgment.

This song is mainly for fun rather than to teach a specific lesson, but it does touch on a few standards for the NGSS and the state of California.

Kindergarten:

  • K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. (Note from Tim: it’s not too early to introduce the concepts of carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore.)

First Grade:

  • 1-LS1-2. Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
  • CA.LS.1.2.c: Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting. 1.2.d: Students know how to infer what animals eat from the shapes of their teeth (e.g., sharp teeth: eats meat; flat teeth: eats plants).

Second Grade:

  • CA.LS.2.2.a: Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind and that the offspring resemble their parents and one another.

Third Grade:

  • 3-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
  • CA.LS.3.2.e: Students know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth have completely disappeared and that some of those resembled others that are alive today.

Chords:
E, A, B, B7, E7, C#m. Bear in mind that I don’t play it exactly like Dr. Jane did. Sometimes the doctor comments on how I “employ a lot of artistic license,” which I suspect is a really polite way to say I’m doing it wrong.