Rate-O-Rama #37: Wynken, Blynken and Nod

🥳🎉🎊Are you ready to have fun, let’s play Rate-O-Rama! 🥳🎉🎊

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About Rate-O-Rama

Rate-O-Rama is a reader participation game.

Every other Wednesday, I publish an article featuring three songs. Your task is to listen to the provided music videos, then rate each song in the comments section.

Rate-O-Rama #38 will be published on Wednesday July 23, 2025

(Note: You must be a Vocal Media member to comment. If you’re not a member, you can join for free! You’ll never have to pay unless you choose to upgrade your membership.)

How to Rate

The rating method is simple:

• Rate each song from 1 to 100 (the more you like it, the higher the rating).
• If possible, leave a brief comment sharing your thoughts on each song.

After two weeks (on Monday evening), I will tally the ratings. In the next Rate-O-Rama post, I’ll announce the average rating each song received.

Voting for the 37th Edition of Rate-O-Rama closes on Monday July 31, 2025

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The Results of The 36th Edition of Rate-O-Rama (The First Cut is the Deepest)

🥉Third Place: Sheryl Crow 81.1 point average

🥈Second Place: Cat Stevens 84.6 point average

🥇First Place: Rod Stewart 92.8 point average

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The Thirty-Seventh Edition features: The classic children’s song “Wynken, Blynken & Nod”

The Simon Sisters (1964): The Simon Sisters consists of Lucy Simon and her world famous younger sister Carly Simon. “Wynken, Wlynken& Nod started out as a children’s poem written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was "Dutch Lullaby". American pianist and composer, Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin set the poem to music in 1890. The first recording of the song was by Dan Hornsby in 1929. I opted not to use his recording for the game as he did not gain any notoriety with the song nor did he write it.

In 1963 Lucy Simon composed a new musical adaptation for the song, at that point Lucy changed the spelling of the title to "Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod." She and Carly released the song as the lead single from their debut album Meet The Simon Sisters. The song became a minor hit for the duo, reaching No. 73 on the US Billboard Pop singles chart and No. 20 in Canada.

Lucy’s adaptation of the song is the most successful and has been recorded by many artists, including: The Big 3 featuring Cass Elliot (1963); The Irish Rovers (1969); Roger Whittaker (1975), and others.

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Bonus video of Lucy and Carly singing the song live in 1968.

Trivia:

How old was Lucy when she wrote her adaptation of “Winkin’, Blinkin’, and Nod”?

• 12
• 14
• 16

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Donovan (1971): Donovan composed his own musical adaptation of “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” for his children’s album H.M.S. Donovan. He opted for a mellow gaelic lullaby feel versus Lucy Simon’s upbeat folk-pop variation. Donovan teamed up with Walt Disney to create a music video for his rendition of the song.

Trivia:

Donovan’s H.M.S. Donovan album features Wynken, Blynken and Nod alongside a wide range of obscure and literary tracks. Which British poet, known for her metaphysical and nature-themed works, also had a poem adapted by Donovan on this album?

• Emily Brontë
• Christina Rossetti
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Doobie Brothers (1980): The Doobie Brothers recorded “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” for the 1980 album In Harmony: A Sesame Street Album. The album was produced by Lucy Simon and her husband David Levine and was released on Sesame Street Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers records. The Doobie Brothers were one of Warner Brothers’ top selling artists at the time. Capitalizing on their popularity the Doobie Brothers were invited to record Lucy Simon’s adaptation of the song. This proved to be a smart move as the song peaked at number 73 on the US singles chart and number 31 on the Adult contemporary chart and also made it to number 20 in Canada.

The single, which featured Michael McDonald on lead vocals, helped the album to reach number 156 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

Trivia:

In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record was produced by Lucy Simon and her husband David Levine. The album was a family affair including a track by her sister Carly Simon and a track by her then husband James Taylor. Two other siblings of James Taylor were on the album. Which sibling was not included?

• Alex Taylor
• Kate Taylor
• Livingston Taylor

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My Thoughts

The Simon Sisters: it’s almost impossible for me not to be biased with this recording. I am a huge fan of Carly Simon, have been since around 1973 or so. I love her voice and I like her persona. Fortunately this rendition is outstanding. Lucy Simon gets extra points for composing an adaptation which has become the definitive. But what puts this song over the top is those outstanding sibling harmony vocals. It’s really hard to top that perfect blend of family vocals. My Rating: 100

Donovan: This is going to be another one that will be hard for me not to be biased. I love a lot of Donovan‘s music. He had some great songs like “Mellow Yellow” and "Hurdy Gurdy Man". His voice on this recording is smooth and mellow and his vibrato is always spectacular. But overall I’m not totally excited by Donovan’s adaptation. My Rating: 89

The Doobie Brothers: the combination of Lucy Simon's very catchy musical adaptation, Michael McDonald’s soulful voice, and the Doobie Brothers’ polished and funktified musicianship makes this one an irresistible winner. I bought this one back when it was released as a single in 1980 and I played it quite a bit. I loved it then and I still love it today. My Rating: 100

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Trivia Answers

• 14: Lucy Simon has stated this was the first song she wrote.
• Christina Rossetti: Donovan adapted Rossetti’s poem “Wear A Smile” for the album HMS Donovan.
• Alex Taylor: James Taylor’s eldest brother did not participate in the In Harmony album, which won a Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album. Livingston Taylor (“I Will Be In Love With You” and “First Time Love) sang “Pajamas” which he wrote with his wife Maggie. Kate Taylor took the lead on the closing track “In Harmony” in which the Simon/Taylor family sang backing harmony vocals.

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Now it’s your turn to rate the songs and share your thoughts in the comments below!

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