Folk Songs for Children
(and older folks, too!)
These are from an album of 20 songs to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. The songs below are the ones written by David Edwards. The photo is of Malike Read, who painted the CD cover.
Listen to, and download, the audio. Where there is sheet music available for a song, a PDF download link will also be visible.
Copyright:
All songs on this page: © 2005, The Estate of David L. Edwards, all publishing rights reserved. Permission given congregations to play recordings during worship or education programs, to use in services that are recorded, and to stream online. Sheet music PDFs may be reproduced and used, providing the authorship and copyright information are left intact.
How Gentle the Rain
I wanted to write a song for children about the rain. It turned into a song about the rhythm of the day and night, and of growing things. When you sing it with children, you can sing the first line of each verse, and the children can sing the second line with you. That way, you "line out" the song for them. DOWNLOAD the Sheet Music PDF
Why Did God Make the Gnats?
When our son Kent was about six or seven years old, he and I were out in the yard throwing a baseball. It was in the summer, in Lynchburg, Virginia, where there are always hordes of gnats filling the air. A gnat flew into Kent's eye and bit him. As I tried to get the gnat from his tear-filled eye, he said to me, "Dad, WHY did God make gnats?" I guess he figured that since I was a minister, I should know such things. Also, he was demanding that God answer for creating things that hurt. Later that evening, I started writing a song about it. Maybe we don't know why there are things in the world that cause pain, and we just have to learn to live with it. Meanwhile, there is much, maybe more, about life that makes us glad to be alive. DOWNLOAD the Sheet Music PDF
The Greatest Things