When we grow older, a certain amount of nostalgia is inevitable. Some resist it. Some embrace it. Many entertainers profit by it.

Songwriters in particular chronicle their aging, many wanting to leave a legacy to their offspring. In the past few years, many who when younger would never dream of being sentimental have released albums that are completely so.

Art Garfunkel put out "Songs From a Parent to a Child," inscribing the CD as "a silver disc and I made it for you" to his son. Neil Sedaka rewrote some of his biggest hits as tunes for his grandchildren and released "Waking Up Is Hard to Do."

Now, Rick Springfield, who plays Harrah's Tahoe on Saturday night, has released "My Precious Little One."

"It's a lullaby record," Springfield says by phone while on his current tour. "These are songs I wrote for my sons, now 20 and 23 years old, when they were kids and did not fall asleep easily. They were written just for family."

Recently, Springfield found the songs in a drawer. This rediscovery led to a certain renewal. He liked what he had written.

"They're lullabies, yes, but they're basically soft pop songs. They deal with sandmen and fairies and things like that. The boys remember them."

Did they work?

"Yes. They did put my kids to sleep. They should help put others to sleep," he says.

Springfield himself likes to listen to them in his car, so should we issue a danger alert?

"No, but I have speed issues and they slow me down."

The 10-track album includes tunes like "Catch a Kiss," "Dreamtime Faeries" and "Don't Keep the Sandman Waiting." It was released two months ago, less than a year after the singer's latest pop collection, "Venus in Overdrive," a collaboration with his longtime bass player Matt Bissonette.

Springfield has played Northern Nevada casinos off and on since 1998, when he debuted at the Eldorado. In Southern Nevada, he had an extended run in "FX" at the MGM, following Michael Crawford and Tommy Tune. He calls Las Vegas "my favorite wasteland."

The strength of the singer's draw, though, still rests on two factors – his tremendous following as Dr. Noah Drake on "General Hospital," a role to which he returned in 2005 and has now left again – and his recording of one of the biggest songs of the 1980s, "Jessie's Girl." That song, which came out as part of the album "Working Class Dog" in 1981, has "become almost a family member," says Springfield, who would not dream of performing a concert without it, if only because doing so would cause at least audible dismay and at most a riot with his fans.

The "Working Class Dog" album cover featured Springfield's canine at the time, Lethal Ron, and it holds its place in the list of famous album art.

His fascination with dog art continues on his Web site. Click on "Gomer" and catch his pooch shaking hands with Richard Nixon, portrayed in a series of Warhol prints, showing up as a "Simpsons" character (the name Springfield would make that one inevitable) and holding Kate Winslet on the bow of the Titanic.

Busy as he's ever been, Springfield is working on an autobiography, writing a children's book to coordinate with the lullaby album, starting to record a new studio album and going into a four-episode guest spot on Showtime's "Californication."

He says, "I play a musician, to nobody's surprise, but it is a very twisted version of myself."

There may also be a new television series starring Springfield. He says he's shopping one right now, acting being a major interest of his ever since he took the lessons that led to the "General Hospital" role.

"The 'Californication' appearances can enhance the chance of some movie roles and I would definitely like to go there."

In the meantime, it's performing the current tour for Springfield. The lullabies might or might not not show up on the song list. It's always risky to include a lullaby in a concert, and Springfield's audiences are not known to sit back and relax.

"We'll do all the hits and we'll so some songs from the 'Venus in Overdrive' album. What we do is always audience-driven. I like to send them home hot, happy, and sweaty," Springfield says.

Springfield's Tahoe appearance is part of the South Shore Room's 50th anniversary celebration, returning entertainers who have appeared there over that time span.