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I know, I know, it took me way too long to figure out the winner of my "Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time Contest." Just waay too much to do...

In any case, the rules specified that the winner had to identify my #1 song, which was... "Twinkle Twinkle/ABC/Baa Baa Black Sheep." Four people correctly pegged that song at #1, which meant I had to go to the next tiebreaker, which was correctly guessing other songs in my Top 5. Seeing as Ellen listed the same melody twice, I didn't think that counted, so the winner is...

Clark, who also included "Miss Mary Mack" in his list.

Congratulations to Clark, who is at the moment selecting his CD prize, and thanks to everyone for participating and reading!

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Without any further ado, here they are, the top 5 kids songs of all time.

(OK, a little further ado.)

Previous entries
Songs 6 through 10
Songs 11 through 15
Songs 16 through 20
Songs 21 through 25
Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

(Oh, and I'll figure out the contest winner soon.)

5. "Lullaby" - Johannes Brahms: Yeah, I didn't really want to cover too many lullabies here, but this one is so common that it seemed churlish not to include it. Our daughter calls it the "Doo doo doo" song, but we usually get bored of singing that sound to the familiar melody ("Lullaby / And goodnight / Something something and something.."). Try quacking the melody. Not particularly soothing, but a fun bedtime routine nonetheless. I am not going to link to the samples of Celine Dion's, Aaron Neville's, or Olivia Newton-John's take on the song, because I am going to make the blanket assumption that your child or niece or grandchild or random kid off the streets will prefer your version to what I assume is an incredibly overwrought version by an actual professional singer.

4. "Miss Mary Mack" - traditional: Sure, it's traditional (dates back to the 19th century at least), but I've always associated it with the first lady of American kids music, Ella Jenkins. I was (pleasantly) surprised to hear my daughter singing it one day at home -- they're still teaching it in kindergarten, thousands of miles away from Chicago. Hand-clappin', jump-ropin', rockin' out, whatever, it's still an simple tune with fun lyrics. (You can hear a traditional version here, sample a Sweet Honey in the Rock tribute here or a sample of Erin Flynn's half-traditional/half-revisionist take here.)

3. "Three is a Magic Number" - Bob Dorough: Like this was going to be anywhere else on this list. Here's the thing about this song -- I've yet to hear a bad version of it. Blind Melon? Check. The Jellydots? Check. Jack Johnson blended the song with lyrics about recycling to energetic effect on "The 3 Rs." It teaches math, it teaches history, and it's incredibly catchy. (And if those YouTube and Myspace references aren't enough, here's the original.)

2. "You Are My Sunshine" - Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell: This is one of those kids' songs that's more popular, I think, because people don't bother singing the verses, which aren't necessarily full of unconditional love ("you have shattered all my dreams"), and instead sing the chorus. It's not that the chorus is all sunshine and light, either, but it's close enough (or with a tweak or two, "and I love you more everyday..," completely innocuous). And that melody -- so totally singable. (You can listen to Davis' 1931 recording here. You can also listen to Elizabeth Mitchell's version here -- click on "Sunshine," then "Listen.")

1. "ABCs/Twinkle Twinkle/Baa Baa Black Sheep" - trad. lyrics, music is a French folk tune ("Ah, vous dirai-je, maman") arranged by Louis Le Maire: I really don't know what else to say here. It's a melody that's been adapted to at least three classic songs, songs that are part of the English-language canon, really. (Which isn't to say that other countries with other languages aren't familiar with it, either.) People (including me) think that Mozart wrote the melody (he didn't -- he just adapted it.) That song is so ingrained in your head that you can sing it over and over half-asleep at a 2 AM feeding. There's no need for a sample -- go ahead and sing it to your kid, your friends' kids, whomever. There is no other choice. #1.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Let me tell you, it is no easier trying to figure out how to order the top sixth through tenth kids songs of all time than it is ordering songs 46 through 50. We're getting to songs that are ingrained in our (English-speaking North American) DNA, or should be.

Previous entries:

Songs 11 through 15
Songs 16 through 20
Songs 21 through 25
Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

10. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - Sarah Josepha Hale (words) / Lowell Mason (melody): The fact that this agrarian-based song still has currency in spite of today's urban/suburban lifestyle speaks volumes of the text's popularity. (Wikipedia says that, like Academy Award-bait movies, it's inspired by true events.) Of course, the fact that you can play the melody, say, a Little Tikes one-octave (no-sharps, no-flats) technicolor toy piano (hypothetically speaking, of course) doesn't hurt, either. (You know the tune, so instead listen to Thomas Edison repeat the poem -- no music -- on the 50th anniversary of the first-ever audio recording of, well, anything here. Or you can watch Stevie Ray Vaughan burn through his version here. Or, and I'm not necessarily recommending this, you can watch Paul McCartney and Wings give their rendition here. People, why do you hate melody so much?)

9. "I've Been Working on the Railroad" - traditional, mostly: It's three, three, three songs in one! It's a railroad song, it's a nonsense set of lyrics, and it's a song about kitchens and banjos. (That last section was actually an older song credited to J.H. Cave folded into this one.) One of the depressing sidenotes of this whole Top 50 songs project is finding the racist undertones of many of the more traditional songs -- the first printed version of the song was done in minstrel dialect and was partially racist. And "Dinah" was a generic name for an African-American woman. Guess I have yet another reason for singing my kids' names instead from now on. (Listen to a ukelele-based version here. Raffi's and Laurie Berkner's versions are excellent, as is Johnny Bregar's, which you can listen to a sample of here.)

8. "Down by the Bay" - traditional: Y'know, if every time I came home, my mother insisted on asking utterly non-sensical questions, maybe I'd stay away, too. "For the last time, Mom, I've never seen a whale with a freakin' polka-dot tail! [Breaks into uncontrollable sobs]" Having said that, it's an animal song and a rhyming-challenge song, probably the best in that regard. (Raffi's version is the standard, but Candy Band's version at the link is a little more, uh, rocking. Loretta Lucas' version on the Family Hootenanny comp is appealing, too -- listen to a sample here.)

7. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" - traditional: Such a simple little song, the best hand/finger-motion song out there. Of course, as Ralph Covert noted on one of his Ralph's World songs, it's a very existentialist song -- the spider climbs up, the rain washes the spider down, and the spider goes back up again. (Now playing: The Camus Children's Album!) See Devon's thoughts here... though, I'm sorry, "eensey weensey" just sounds wrong to me. (Despite the fact that Gwendolyn agrees with Devon, I like her version -- click on the Get Up & Dance album to listen. Listen to a snippet of Ralph's version here, watch Carly Simon work it into her last big hit here. I remember that video. I don't remember it being nearly 7 minutes long, though...)

6. "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotten: This is a kids' song that was, well, written by a kid. Cotten wrote this song when she was just 11 or 12 years old. Now, she didn't record this song until nearly 50 years afterwards, when through a series of coincidences, she ended up working in the Seeger household. (Yes, those Seegers.) And it was at that point, when she was approaching 60, that she started her singing career. She toured for more than 30 years, until she was 90+ years of age. I love the way the song slides in between major and minor keys. It's about trains! (But, uh, much more.) (Watch Cotten perform her song here. I've also always been partial to Elizabeth Mitchell's rendition, which you can listen to here (click on "Flower," then "Listen").)

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We're in the homestretch, folks.

Unfortunately, because they missed the top 10, these songs just missed being on the "Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time" tour that will be coming to America arenas and sheds this summer.

Previous entries:

Songs 16 through 20
Songs 21 through 25
Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

15. "Five Little Monkeys" - traditional: I'm not sure there's really a set melody for this song, it's all in the lyrics. They jump on the bed, they fall off, their mother (and it's always their mother) calls the doctor. One would think that the co-payment system of today's modern American medical system would incentivize the mother to not make 5 calls to the doctor, so perhaps these are Canadian monkeys. (For more on the song, check out this timely post -- including video -- from Devon at Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that....)

14. "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" - traditional: Speaking of head, shoulders, and knees, this might just be the best movement song I know. Teaches body parts, gets the kids moving, and is perfectly adaptable to other body parts ("Knuckles, elbows, neck and waist..."). I mean, I do feel like I'm doing calisthenics when I'm singing along, but its secret weapon is an elegant melody. (Mama Lisa has a recording plus lyrics in several languages here. Perfect for those Swedish immersion classes.)

13. "Old MacDonald" - traditional: We're definitely in the "best song about X" portion of the list, and this, simply, is the best song about animals. Everybody knows the melodya and everybody has fun listing animals whose sounds are unknown and, therefore, available for making up. (What sound does a giraffe make? I like to think of it as an "Ooooop.") The most creative versions, of course, are the ones that talk about different things that the farmer might have. (My favorite reworking by far is Raffi's at the end of Singable Songs for the Very Young. Listen to a sample here.)

12. "The Ants Go Marching" - traditional: It's actually based on the Civil War song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (Newsradio fans have their own ending), and so it partially distinguishes itself by not being an all so cheery major chord song. It's a counting song, it's a rhyming song, and it's got rain in it, so speaking as a rain-deprived desert dweller, it's always very soothing. (Ralph Covert has a nice version on Songs for Wiggleworms, but Owen Duggan's jazzy version might be my favorite.)

11. "The Wheels on the Bus" - traditional: Wah-wah-wah! Wah-wah-wah! The babies on the bus go wah-wah-wah! It's a kids' song that lets you mock your whiny kid! OK, in the end the parents love them, but still. And talk about adaptable -- I sing this song every week (with much different lyrics) in the baby-and-me swimming lessons I'm taking with our son. Oh, and it's the best song about buses, bar none. (Devon again is spot-on with his thoughts. Hear a sample of Raffi's version here.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ooooh. Top 20. We're definitely getting into "you should definitely know these" territory.

With this entry, your opportunity to enter my contest has now ended. I know there have been a number of entries submitted, but I haven't really looked at them. Might be interesting now that I know what my Top 5 are.

Songs 16 through 20
Songs 21 through 25
Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

20. "Hokey Pokey" - traditional: This far into the list, the songs here are usually easily adpatable to whatever variations you want to provide, which helps keep the song itself fresh. So if you want to put your patella in, or gluteous maximus in, or if you're a pirate, your pegleg in, go ahead. My own memory of this song is attempting to do this on roller skates. High comedy. (Listen to Dan Zanes -- with an assist from Father Goose -- give his take here.

19. "De Colores" - traditional: There was a point, very early on in our children's music lives, when probably half of our CDs had some version of this traditional Spanish-language folk song somewhere in the track listing. This is probably why my wife strongly dislikes this song. To this day, I can sing (phonetically) "Daaaaay" and not even get to "Colores" before she gives me "the look." Despite this, and the fact that a good English translation just does not exist, it has a beautiful, loping melody that conveys the point even if you don't understand much Spanish. (Go here for a bad English translation and Nana Mouskouri's version of the song.)

18. "Mama Don't Allow" - Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport: I just found out that this song was written by a man who was known by the name "Cow Cow." It was not his given name (mama don't allow no odd names on the birth certificate, apparently), but I kinda like it. The song, which encourages listener insubordination of the best kind (it's as if Mo Willems wrote Don't Let The Pigeon Stomp His Feet!), is a great music and movement song. (Hear a snippet of Fox & Branch's version or Brady Rymer's version.)

17. "Oh Susanna" - Stephen Foster: 160 years old this year, Wikipedia describes the lyrics here as "nonsense verse," which worried me, because the lyrics make perfect sense to me. OK, "It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry," doesn't make perfect sense, but it's songwriter's license. Kids love the "Oh Susanna" part. (Thankfully, Foster's shudderingly racist verse is no longer used.) (I kinda like Brian's energetic if slightly off-key version on the We Are... The Laurie Berkner Band DVD, and YouTube offers a copyright-unclear version here.)

16. "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" - traditional: First printed in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag (see my review of Dan Zanes' take on the book), the melody is what sells the piece. Oh, and the ad libs artists throw in when they're singing about, say, wool pajamas ("itch, scratch" says Laurie Berkner). And I say we throw the part about killing the rooster back into common usage. Kids gotta know where their dino-nuggets are coming from, though I guess they offer tofu dino-nuggets now, too. (Oh, you can find tons of great versions -- Laurie Berkner, Raffi, and Pete Seeger, to name just three -- but this made my day.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Once again, somebody asked when the next entry in this series would be posted just as I planning the post. My readers are nothing if not persistent and possibly endowed with mind-reading abilities. Just another side benefit of reading this website.

With this entry, your opportunity to enter my contest to guess the Top 5 is rapidly disappearing. All entries are due before I post songs 16 through 20, which I expect to do this upcoming week. Winner gets a free CD. You might want to look at the previous entries...

Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

25. "Teddy Bears' Picnic" - John Walter Bratton (music) / Jimmy Kennedy (lyrics): Amazing what you learn in putting these lists together. Did you know the music for this song was written exactly 100 years ago? And then when words were added 25 years later, the resulting recording sold more than one million copies? (Thanks, Wikipedia!) The lyrics are probably what amuses the kiddos, but I love the way the melody bounces up and around. Recorded by many (Trout Fishing in America and Garcia/Grisman, among others), but why not listen to the original million-seller here?

24. "We Are the Dinosaurs" - Laurie Berkner: Long after Jack's Big Music Show has ended production, long after CDs have stopped production for some method of music distribution we can't even fathom, little kids will be singing this song. The earworm-y beginning -- "we are the dinosaurs, marching, marching, we are the dinosaurs..." followed by the "WHADDAYA THINK OF THAT?!!" and the timpani drum is, well, the opening strains of Beethoven's Fifth of the late 20th century kids' music resurgence. (Watch Laurie's Noggin video here.)

23. "This Little Light" - Traditional: It's a Christian hymn, but it's been used in the civil rights struggle of the 1960's and in countless other secular situations. Can I hide this song under a bushel? No! (You can listen to one of my personal favorite renditions -- the very first song on Elizabeth Mitchell's very first kids' album You Are My Flower -- on Mitchell's website. Click on "flower," then "listen".)

22. "Row Row Row Your Boat - Traditional (lyrics), Eliphalet Orem Lyte (music): While I'm not quite sure I agree with Wikipedia's existential explication of the lyrics, it's definitely not the most mind-easing set of lyrics if the parent is really paying attention to the lyric. Luckily, the words are so ingrained in our brain we don't need to pay attention to it in order to sing it. (And, as a result, there is absolutely no need to give you a sound clip. It's already stuck in your brain now anyway.)

21. "Baby Beluga" - Raffi and Debi Pike: This is the biggest hit from the biggest children's musician of all time. Shouldn't this be, like, #2? I feel bad putting it at #21 instead of somewhat higher, but I don't think it's the easiest song for kids to sing by themselves. But there are a bunch of kids who are singing it with their parents (who sang it with their parents). (Listen to the song at Raffi's Myspace page.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are finally completing the "Others Receiving Votes" section of The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time. Except, of course, unless Top 25 college rankings, we actually rank items 26 on down. (Somewhere 'round here I actually have an "others receiving votes" listing for song #s 51+.)

A few mid-majors with strong performances, a few songs close to not quite at the top of the major conference standings...

In case you're tuning in late, here are the previous entries:

Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

There is still time (but not so much) to enter the contest to guess the Top 5. Winner gets one million dollars a free CD.

30. "Buckeye Jim" - traditional: This is just such a delightfully weird song. "Way up yonder in the sky / A blue bird lived in a jaybird's eye" the song starts off, and the meaning gets no clearer. Wonderful imagery, though I'm not sure the original songwriter was in a completely happy place when writing. (Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Zanes do the song; so do The Hollow Trees -- click on track 17.)

29. "Marvelous Toy" - Tom Paxton: This is one of the few songs on this list that's old but not traditional -- Tom Paxton wrote it but Peter, Paul and Mary made it famous. John Denver recorded it, too. (And apparently it was the Chad Mitchell Trio's biggest hit, but, uh, I've never heard of them.) I like the mystery about the toy -- "It went "Zip" when it moved and "Pop" when it stopped / "Whirrr" when it stood still / I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will." Indeed. (Listen to Amazon's miserly 30-second clip here.)

28. "All the Pretty Little Horses" - traditional: Oooooh. A lullaby that's not in a major key! Despite that the fact that the narrator's basically bribing the baby to go to sleep ("Hushabye, don't you cry / Go to sleep, little baby / When you wake, you'll cake / And all the pretty little horses"), I sing this quite a lot. (Did you know Olivia Netwon-John recorded an album of lullabies? I didn't. Anyone care to tell us how good it is? Even just the "All the Pretty Little Horses" sample?)

27. "Hot Potato" - The Wiggles: Yeah, deal. It's simple enough for kids to master, it's got hand motions, and 4 guys from Australia built a freakin' empire on this song. Sorry that this song will now be in your head today while you have that meeting with Terry from marketing. (Ah, YouTube, what would we ever do without you?)

26. "This Old Man" - traditional: Yeah, you're probably bored of singing it, but in the best folk song tradition, change the lyrics. At least the first line... "Britney Spears / She played one..." "John McCain / He played one..." "Shaquille O'Neal / He played one..." (No, I am not going to find a sample for you. If, however, you can find one of the three people listed above singing it...)

Posted by SAShepherd at 04:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The list continues. I'd been planning to post this entry this morning, so I found the fact that somebody just posted a comment on the last list of "Hey, whatever happened to the rest of the list?" amusing.

And to think I originally thought I'd crank these out in about two weeks.

In any case, here are the previous entries:

Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

And don't forget, there's still time to enter the contest. You can win a free CD!

35. "All Through the Night" - traditional: A traditional Welsh lullaby with less than straightforward lyrical hurdles to jump ("Soft the drowsy hours are creeping / Hill and dale in slumber steeping"), it's the melody that makes this classic. I'm amazed that this isn't covered more -- it's not like the lyrics are that difficult -- easily within the reach of a parent tired of singing more familiar lullabies. (Listen to a sample from Mae Robertson's rendition here.)

34. "Skidamarink" - traditional: Most uptempo lullaby ever. Actually, I'm not sure it's even a lullaby -- I just first heard it on a lullaby album. Compared to the very serious lullabies (see #35, for example), this is a refreshing alternative. (You can hear a sample of the version that introduced me to the song here. Listen to a sample from the Old Town School of Folk Music rendition here. A bit more uptempo.)

33. "Skip To My Lou" - traditional. There's the innocuous version ("Fly's in the buttermilk / Shoo, fly, shoo") and the embittered, scorned-preschooler version ("Lost my partnet / What'll I do?... / I'll find another one / Prettier than you"). (Raffi does the innocuous version, Bullfrog Jumped includes the other version.)

32. "If You're Happy and You Know It" - traditional. One of those songs that if you're the least bit cynical and tired you're just not going to appreciate. But it's a very simple song that kids have fun with -- who doesn't like clapping their hands or stomping their feet when they're 3? (The Old Town School of Folk Music -- who else? -- does a fun version on Songs For Wiggleworms -- sample here.)

31. "BINGO" - traditional. Actually, this is kinda hard for kids to completely master, though they'll have fun clapping. Now that I think about it, by the time the song gets to "clap, clap, CLAP CLAP OH!," I still have problems with it. Unfortunately, I can't think of any must-hear versions of the song -- it's too prescriptive for massive creativity. (Still, you can always go back to Wiggleworms Love You here.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 03:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For those tuning in late...

Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

Contest

On to the songs...

40. "The More We Get Together" - traditional: "Traditional," but when the single most influential kids music artist of all time starts his very first album off with this song, it's forever owned by Raffi. (Listen to a cheesy government-funded instrumental version here. Shudder. Or another version here. I'm not even gonna try it. Clear out your brains with a 30-second sample of the classic version here.)

39. "Mr. Rabbit" - traditional: "Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit / You've been in my cabbage patch / Yes, my friend / And I ain't never comin' back / Every little soul must / Shine shine shine." Excuse me? What? That's, like, 3 non-sequiturs of a lyric. And somehow it's still catch and popular. (Sorry, no links. Johnny Keener's got a nice version on Elephants Over The Fence.)

38. "Rainbow Connection" - Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams: This would be a lot higher on the list, but I tell ya, that key change halfway through is just a difficult one to handle. Kermit's version is classic, of course, but almost too banjo-y, if such a thing can be said to exist. I think I actually prefer the Dixie Chicks' version on Mary Had A Little Amp. (Watch Kermit on YouTube.)

37. "My Hair Had a Party Last Night" - Trout Fishing in America: They've had a bunch of good songs ("Alien in my Nose" came close to making this list), but this is the one that's been covered a number of times already. "It started out friendly but there must've been a fight." (Listen to a sample of a live version here.)

36. "Pig on Her Head" - Laurie Berkner: One great thing about Laurie Berkner is that she writes kids songs that parents can actually sing. Admittedly, she's writing for toddlers, so that's on purpose, but we still sing this song with our youngest and occasionally oldest kids. Great imagery. (Imagery illustrated by the Noggin video, which can be accessed on this page.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

If you're new here, you can see songs 46 through 50 here.

And there's still time to enter the contest.

On to songs 41 through 45...

45. "Fee Fi Fo Fum" - Ralph's World: There are many great Ralph's World songs, but this I think this song is likely to stick around, combining simple lyrics ("It doesn’t matter what you look like if you got some Fee Fi Fo Fum / It doesn’t matter what you look like and let me tell you everybody got some") with an infectious melodic line. It will make for great covers many years from now. (Listen to the whole song at Ralph's music page.)

44. "Conjunction Junction" - Bob Dorough: The whole Schoolhouse Rock! series was a flash of inspiration, trying to use the medium of advertising to hook kids on learning. This song, like so many others in the series, took complex subjects and rendered them instantly easy to grasp. The cartoon visuals are fabulous, of course, but even divested of those visuals, tracks like this one are still models of songwriting thirty years after they were first written. (Listen to samples from the orignal show here.)

43. "Muffin Man" - traditional: Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? On Drury Lane? The basis for a joke in the Shrek movies. Unsurprisingly, the song comes from England. In researching this entry, I learned that Frank Zappa sang a version of the song. The Ralph's World version I suspect is more conventional, but it's got a fun energy nonetheless. (Listen to a sample of Ralph's version at Ralph's music page.)

42. "Frog Went Courting" - traditional: In his liner notes to his We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions disk, Bruce Springsteen says this song can be tracked back to (at least) a Scottish tune from 1549. It seems to me that any song that gets recorded 450 years after originally written deserves some sort of spot on this list. (Besides Bruce, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Mitchell, Dan Zanes, and scores of others have recorded the song. Here's a Pete Seeger version.)

41. "Rubber Duckie" - OK, my all-time Sesame Street performance is R.E.M. singing "Furry Happy Monsters," but I'm pretty sure that this song here will be sung many years from now. It has a timeless ragtime feel. If only I could find a rubber duckie that squeaked like Ernie's. (I'm not gonna post a listen link, because the one I'm enjoying now is squeaking past copyright law. You're smart. Google it.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So here's the first installment of my quixotic attempt to produce a list of the Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time.

In general this list is supposed to produce a list of songs familiar to a wide range of kids, at least in English-speaking North America. (OK, I realize that's not quite so wide.) As we approach #1, the songs are more likely to be "classics," recorded multiple times, and familiar enough to people for them to join in singing spontaneously. Which is not to say that more recent and more recording-focused tunes won't make the list, just that they're probably more the exception than the rule.

And remember, if you haven't entered the contest to pick the top five, go do so now.

Without any further ado, then, here we go...

50. "Bicycle" - The Jellydots: Did I say this song wouldn't make this list? OK, I changed my mind. Of course, a lot of the Jellydots' tunes were written to help teacher guitar to kids, so maybe 20 years from now some 10-year-old kid will jam out on her own guitar to this. (Listen at the Jellydots' Myspace page.)

49. "Tricycle" - Lunch Money: "This tricycle / Was my brother's tricycle / And that's why it has / This dent in the fender." Lunch Money's debut Silly Reflection is a small gem of a CD and I could've picked any one of a half-dozen excellent songs here, but this one is the most accessible and relatable to kids and their parents. (Listen at Lunch Money's lyrics page for "Tricycle".)

48. "Car Car" - Woody Guthrie: Hard to believe this song is, what, 50 years old? Covered by Elizabeth Mitchell on You Are My Sunshine (with a "beep beep" that still makes us swivel our heads every time we listen to it in the car), it's still timely today. (Listen to a sample of Woody's version here.)

47. "Yellow Bus" - Justin Roberts: Roberts is one of the top 2 or 3 crafters of kids pop tunes working today. This track is a fine example of his folk-pop talent merged with his ample sense of humor -- kids and parents might not necessarily sing his music on their own all the time, but they'll definitely sing along. (Listen to a sample here.)

46. "Trot Ol' Joe" - traditional: An excellent example -- the first of many -- of songs that have been shaped through the years to fit slightly different melodies and lyrics. Also an excellent example of songs to combine with physical movements with toddlers. Love the "whoooooaaa, Joe" part.

Final note: Note the common thread here? Yes, all these songs deal with modes of transportation. No, the rest of the list will not be organized quite so neatly.

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)