Newcastle woman recreates late father’s lullaby | Global News Avenue

Nearly 60 years ago, when Karen Teasdale-Robson was just nine months old, her father wrote her a lullaby.

In a violent home, Brian Teasdale cared for her and sang “Little Girl” whenever she was sad.

But, his daughter said, when his own son’s attack left him with brain damage, she thought she would never hear him sing again.

Mrs Teasdale-Robson, who now lives in Newcastle, said life at home was not always easy.

Her mother and brother both had mental health issues and she said both she and her father suffered violence from them.

“My father was the only loving person in my life at that time,” she said. “He took me out of the house and took me for walks, away from the filth.

“I think he was confused by my mom’s aggression. He was trying to distance me from it and make sure I felt loved.”

Mrs Teasdale-Robson believed her father stayed behind to look after his daughter because he feared his wife would gain custody if the couple split.

“We’ve been trying our whole lives not to upset her,” she said.

Mr. Tisdale was endlessly creative, winning a poetry contest when he was eight, learning to play guitar and making music “constantly,” his daughter said.

“He even wrote a song in honor of John Lennon after he died and sent the LP to Yoko Ono.”

She said he did everything for his daughter when she was little because his wife was in poor health, and it was during this time that he wrote “The Little Girl.”

“He used to sing it to me and say ‘This is your song, Karen’.”

However, in October 2011, everything changed.

“My dad was last attacked by my brother,” Mrs Teasdale-Robson said. “He left my father with severe brain damage.”

Her father lost the ability to express only one or two words at a time and could no longer write.

“He went from being a master of words, a wise man, to me teaching him how to speak,” she said.

“They said it might take years to determine what capacity he has left, but I know he’s out there somewhere,” Mrs Teasdale-Robson said. “So I recited one of his poems.

“My dad couldn’t say a word, but he made sounds to the rhythm of the poem. The neuropsychologist said she got goosebumps.”

She bought children’s books and read to her father every day.

“The day he called my name in December was the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received,” she said.

In 2012, Mr Teasdale was moved to a specialist brain injury inpatient ward at Chase Park in Wickham, where his daughter visited him every day.

“He would say things like ‘Don’t forget me’ and ‘I was smart once’. It broke my heart,” she said.

“I knew what not being able to write would do to him. The thought of his work being lost. I promised him right then and there that I would make his work seen.”

In 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic, Chase Park warned Mrs Teasdale-Robson that her father was dying and that she “wondered the thought of him living in a place where people didn’t know he had How talented he is when he dies, he feels panicked.”

Not long after, while looking through an old briefcase, she discovered an old brown reel of tape containing her lullabies. A shop in the city made a CD of the song for her and she said it was “unbelievable to hear him sing again”.

But the quality of the recordings had deteriorated, with her beloved songs becoming hoarse and distorted.

She appealed to BBC Radio Newcastle for help, and her appeal was also heard by a lecturer in the music department at Sunderland College.

Tony Wilson said that when he played the recording to his students, they immediately wanted to re-record it.

“The whole room was stunned by its beauty,” he said.

“It struck me immediately because it was on par with those old classics in the American songbook. It had a real quality to it, like Over the Rainbow or Blue Moon .”

Mrs Teasdale-Robson said she “couldn’t stop crying” when she heard the new version.

“I promised my dad that I would make sure people knew how talented he was, and now they’re texting and saying they love his music.”

Still unable to visit her father in person due to coronavirus restrictions, she had to ask his family liaison to play the song for him via video link.

“He could barely speak at the time, but when he heard the words, he pointed to himself as if to say ‘that’s mine’ and mimicked the words,” she said.

“It was an incredible moment. He knew I kept my word.”

A few months later, in May 2022, Mr. Tisdale passed away just after his 90th birthday.

“I know it was his dream come true for people to hear his songs,” his daughter said.

“But I still feel like there’s more to be done. We’ve talked about maybe putting the song in a teddy bear one day.”

Not sure where to start, she contacted Brenda Wilson, a business consultant at Northeastern Projects Who said “Little Girl” is “so beautiful that I get goosebumps when I listen to it”.

Now, two years later, Mrs Tisdale-Robson has her own business and has sold 600 “Tisdale Teddy Bears”, which play her father’s songs.

“When my father died, this song was all I had left,” Mrs Teasdale-Robson said. “That’s all I have for him.

“If I can make this business successful, then I want to use this song and my dad’s story to raise awareness about male domestic violence.”

She hoped the lullaby would be as meaningful to a complete stranger as it was to her.

“A lot of people heard the song, liked it, and then played a role in making the idea happen,” she said.

“I never thought finding that old tape would lead us here.”

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