Every night, after the bedtime stories are read and the two of them are tucked in, I put on a CD for Tage and Petra to listen to as they fall asleep. We have a dozen or so “kid” CDs for them to choose from, about half stories and half music, and they alternate turns picking the evening’s entertainment.

Petra has a couple of favorites, dividing her nights fairly evenly between a Winnie the Pooh song collection and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She likes some songs more than others, but none seems particularly to stand out. Some nights she even mixes things up with a Hello Kitty or Bamse story. She won’t be pinned down, that one.

There’s no such whimsy where Tage is concerned. He not only chooses the same CD every night, but he insists on the same song, played on an endless loop. And not only does he choose the same song every night, but he’s chosen the same song every night for nearly half of his life. For more than three years, Bo Kaspers Orkester has sung him to sleep to the tune of “Samma bil,” from their 2006 album Hund.

Curiously, it’s not only he who hasn’t tired of it. No matter that we’ve heard it thousands upon thousands of times–five, at least, since I started writing this post–there’s something about it that stays fresh. I can’t think of one single song, even among the handful that I love beyond all reason, that I could listen to as many times, over and over again, as I have “Samma bil,” and not be ready to do anything, just to make. it. stop. Actually, the entire CD, on the rare occasion that I get to listen it, has that same quailty. It’s amazing, really … I mean, it’s a good album, but it’s not *that* good. Except that it is.