Monday Morning Smile: The Ultimate "Sing" Post (feat. Laura Doherty)

My kids have been singing "Sing," the classic Joe Raposo song written for the first season of Sesame Street in 1970, for a few weeks now. It's because they've had Laura Doherty's fine album Shining Like a Star (CD Baby | iTunes) on rotation in the minivan. Which made me think that I should totally do a "Monday Morning Smile" on the song. Because while it's ostensibly (and originally) a "kids' song," it clearly has entered the American songbook as a song appropriate for all ages.

And then it occurred to me, maybe I can get Laura's version in this post -- a version I really like and which I would've put into my "Top 25 Songs" list if I didn't think it wasn't a little unfair to put such a classic song in there. Luckily, she agreed to let me feature it here. So let's kick off this post with an exclusive, limited-time-only stream of "Sing" from Laura's Shining Like a Star album. [Ed.: I told you, limited-time-only.]

Best Kids Music 2011: Top 25 Songs

Next up in my list of the best kids music of 2011 are my favorite songs. Now, seeing as I listen to literally thousands of kids songs every year, picking out 25 (less than 1%, probably) is very difficult, and if you asked me to make this list up next week I'm sure at least a couple of songs here would be replaced by others. Growing this list to 25 (last year's was 20) didn't make things any easier -- it just shifted the bubble. But these 25 (listed alphabetically by song title) are definitely among the year's best recordings. -- Bad Blue Jay - Caspar Babypants (Sing Along!) -- Bonfire - The Jimmies (Practically Ridiculous) Bonfire -- Cooperate - Sugar Free Allstars & Secret Agent 23 Skidoo -- The Crocodile Synchronised Swimming Team - Too Many Cookes (Down At The Zoo) -- Dandelion - Steve Weeks (Dandelion) -- Didn't Know What I Was Missing - Alastair Moock/Lori McKenna (Planting Seeds, These Are My Friends) -- listen here -- Freeze Tag - The Not-Its (Tag, You're It!)

-- Garbage Man - Mr. Richard & The Pound Hounds (Backyard Astronauts) -- download free here -- Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way? - The Deedle Deedle Dees (Strange Dees, Indeed)

-- Hey, Josie - The Hipwaders (Golden State) Hey, Josie! -- Hey Pepito! - Key Wilde & Mr Clarke (Hey Pepito!) -- listen here -- I Think I’m A Bunny - Todd McHatton (Galactic Champions of Joy) -- John Kanakanaka - Dan Zanes and Friends (Little Nut Tree) (this is a solo performance below) -- Let's Dance - Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band (Oh Lucky Day!) -- Metaphor - The Alphabeticians (Rock) -- Mushy Berry Pie - The Thinkers (Oh Zoooty!) -- listen here -- A Piano Is Stuck In The Door - Beethoven's Wig Featuring Richard Perlmutter (Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Piano Classics) -- Place in My Heart - Frances England (Mind of My Own) -- listen here -- Quarter Moon Shining - Chip Taylor & the Grandkids (Golden Kids Rules) -- Please Don't Move (to Another Time Zone) - Lunch Money (Original Friend) -- Skywriter - Baron Von Rumblebuss (Agreeably Loud!!) -- Soft Things - Brady Rymer/Laurie Berkner (Love Me for Who I Am) -- listen here -- Waters of March - Jamie Broza (I Want a Dog!) -- Wisconsin Poncho - Gustafer Yellowgold (Gustafer Yellowgold's Infinity Sock) -- Your Favorite Book - Recess Monkey (FLYING!)

Kids Music from Spain: Minimúsica

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of kids' music, I'm always excited to find that the North American kids music scene is making waves elsewhere in the world. So when the South American parenting site Emma & Rob mentioned this site a while back, I tooled around their site to see what music I could find. What I found was Minimúsica. Minimúsica is a Spanish educational project headquartered in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona. The project releases records, hosts concerts, and generally spreads the word about music for kids. It's associated with the Spanish record label Sones, distributor of artists such as Mujeres and Dirty Beaches, so you're pretty sure it's got an indie tilt. And once you hear a track like "Autocar" ["Coach"] from the band Me & the Bees, you know it's got an indie tilt. Me & the Bees - "Autocar" [YouTube] The track -- about getting ready to get on a bus for a six-hour ride to Pamplona -- is from the Els Transports album, Minimúsica's second collection of kid-friendly tunes. It is, as you might guess even if you don't speak Catalan, all about transportation, featuring songs about trains, bikes, rockets, planes, running shoes, and dreamboats (OK, that last one's a bit of a stretch perhaps). In the tradition of the For the Kids series and many other compilations, the collection features music from bands who spend most of their time playing for audiences with drivers' licenses. There's more where that came from...

Monday Morning Smile: "Down by the Salley Gardens" - Yale Whiffenpoofs

Miss Mary Mack had her first school choir concert of the year last week. 90-odd kids singing with no small degree of talent. Hearing her sing in that choir made me happy for many reasons, not the least of which was that I'd heard her singing this song through the house for the past month and so I was glad to hear it in polished, choral form. My favorite song her choir sang was "Down by the Salley Gardens," which is based on an 1889 poem by W.B. Yeats with a vocal setting by Benjamin Britten:

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take life easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she placed her snow-white hand. She bid me take love easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

As you might expect, hearing these words from a bunch of middle schoolers put a different spin on the text. But Britten's setting (and his piano accompaniment) is so very lovely and made me smile. Wistfully, perhaps, but smile nonetheless. Also: so short -- totally memorizable. Now to track down chords. Anyway, this is one of the best versions I could find online. It omits the piano and so isn't quite the version I heard, but the melody is the same. Yale Whiffenpoofs - "Down by the Salley Gardens" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: "Peggy Sang the Blues" - Frank Turner

Thank Bill for this one. It's from English singer Frank Turner, whose album England Keep My Bones will almost certainly end up in my top five albums of 2011 and who I was first introduced to by Bill. It's punk with a county/folk edge, or perhaps it's country/folk with a punk edge. Totally tuneful and joyful (except when he's not trying to be joyful) and an excellent live. Not all of the new album is appropriate for kids, and the lead single, "Peggy Sang the Blues," concerns a visitation in Turner's dreams by his dead grandmother. Which is fine by me, because it's got the best damn chorus of the year, including the lyrics "It doesn't matter you come from / it matters where you go / and no gets remembered / for the things they didn't do." I hope my own kids know that. Frank Turner - "Peggy Sang the Blues" [YouTube]

Listen To This: "Wesley Werewolf" - Skelly and the Punkins

Halloween is just a month away, so it's time to start rolling out kindie's 2011 Halloween tunes. This is a particularly nice cut from a group called "Skelly and the Punkins." The group, OK, it's a one-off track from the folks at Cordovan Music, but don't let that put you off. Your kids will pogo. You can ~~grab the tunes at Amazon's UK site (!?) or on eMusic~~ get the mp3 pretty much anywhere digital tunes are sold. Or just hit YouTube repeatedly. Skelly and the Punkins - "Wesley Werewolf" [YouTube]