Sleep-Time: Songs & Stories is a studio album by American folk singer
Pete Seeger. It was released in 1958 by
Folkways Records. It was later re-released in 1967 under the name Abiyoyo and Other Story Songs for Children by
Smithsonian Folkways.[1]
Album
On this children's album, Pete Seeger devotes himself to putting small children to sleep, first by telling them stories, then by singing to them. The LP's first side contains two stories with music. Side two features child-oriented songs, concluding with the a cappella song "One Grain of Sand."[2] The album was recorded by
Moses Asch. The illustration for the original release was done by
David Stone Martin and the design for the reissue was by Craig Mierop.[3][4]
Allmusic awarded the album five out five stars and said "The songs, from the ballad-like story song "Sam the Whaler" to the downright silly "Where Are My Pajamas?," are played with easy grace and humor by Seeger, who treats each song exactly as he would a song that was putatively for adults. Never condescending to his audience or affecting a cutesy demeanor, Seeger pulls off the effective trick of treating kids not as kids, but as human beings. The result is that Abiyoyo is one of those extremely rare children's albums that's likely to please adults as well."
