Geckos Rock!

Thanks again to Bill and Ella for having me on this morning's Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child broadcast. I had a great time playing some rockin' tunes talking about the care and feeding of geckos with the two of 'em. And happy early birthday to Liam, too! For those of you who care, my notes on my playlist... 1. The Call - Let the Day Begin -- I heard this recently and was reminded how much I like this song. An anti-lullaby song of sorts. In a good way. 2. Ralph's World -- The Coffee Song -- My wife loves (or at least needs) coffee while I can't stand the stuff. This is her favorite Ralph's World song. 3. Anne Hathaway -- Great Big World -- Our daughter loves this song and sings along. (Listen to the broadcast for my discussion with Ella on why you can't find it in stores anymore.) 4. The New Pornographers -- The Laws Have Changed -- The insane number of layers this song has sonically floors me. And it is, as far as I can tell, kid-friendly. (Bill says he's checked.) 5. Asylum Street Spankers -- Sliver -- I like this version better than the original. 6. Lunch Money -- I Want A Dog -- We do not have a dog, but lyrically Molly Ledford nails the pleading/hopeful voice of a child perfectly -- for any object. (It's about here that the show digresses into a gecko-fest. My wife wishes me to emphasize that gecko invasions only happen during the summer.) 7. Dan Zanes -- Rattlin' Bog -- A couple years ago when our daughter was obsessed with this song, she could track back the order better than I could. 8. Gabby Pahinui -- Aloha Ka Manini -- Our few slack key guitars CDs get a lot of play. They're excellent quiet time music. 9. Elizabeth Mitchell - Jubilee -- This song makes me feel warm all over. 10. Semisonic -- Closing Time -- Go ahead and guess what this song is about. (You'll have to listen to the broadcast, or read drummer Jacob Schlichter's excellent set of diaries on life as a musician on a major label, So You Wanna Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star, to find out.) 11. Justin Roberts -- Cartwheels and Somersaults -- There might be better songs by Roberts, but this is the one that meant the most to our family after our son's arrival 12. Talking Heads -- This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) -- Because "Stay Up Late" was too obvious and "The Great Curve" wasn't nearly so kid-friendly. "Love me 'til heart stops. Love me 'til I'm dead." It might just be the best rock song about family ever. 13. They Might Be Giants -- Theme From Higglytown Heroes -- Our daughter has never seen "Higglytown Heroes," only the video promo on the "Here Come the ABCs" DVD. But she loves the song anyway. (Y'know, maybe it's because of the video promo...) And just because it is a cool (and kid-friendly) video...

KidVid: "I Found It!" - Brady Rymer

The first video from New York musician Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could, for the peppy roots-rockin' "I Found It!," has been available on Rymer's website for a couple weeks now, but I was waiting for it to appear on YouTube. Well, now I've found it! (Groan.) I like the song, I like the way the backup singers appear everywhere, I like the general good-naturedness of the video. It's actually reminiscent of a lot of videos for adult bands. It's a concert video with a lot of happy fans, but it's that general good-naturedness -- the way Rymer sings about his '57 Gibson guitar -- that distinguishes it from what you might have seen on MTV 20 years ago.

KidVid: I Hog (the Ground) - Steve Burns with Steven Drozd

[Edit: Copyright infringements everywhere... just go here to watch. I know Mrs. Davis already posted this, but I've been waiting for somebody to get Steve Burns' and Steven Drozd's "I Hog (The Ground)" to YouTube, because, hey, this might be the kids' music song of the year, and it's only January. So I don't care that I was time-crunched and didn't get around to posting this until tonight (like Amy, I searched for this daily), and this rocks.
Steve Burns: I Hog the Ground

michelle | MySpace Video The version below is even better than the version on the Jack's preview disk, because it includes the occasional pop-up comment from Jack. The only thing better than seeing kids jump around playing air guitar is having Jack pop-up and shout "Air guitar!" [Ed: It's worse because it's, er, been removed.] The song sounds like a Dinosaur Jr. cut, and it'll send the parents into air guitar and (in my case) air drumming fits just like the kids. Kinda funny that Burns spends all this time breaking free of kids television, and with this one cut, he's created a song that's an instant kids music classic.

KidVid: "Farm Song" - Laurie Berkner

If it doesn't quite have the propulsive energy of last year's "Walk Along the River," Laurie Berkner's new song "Farm Song" does have farm animal noises and Berkner's sweet voice. Not at the same time, luckily. It's 2 minutes and 30 seconds of animal noises, mad bongo conga drum skillz, and tons of kids' animal costumes. (Jack evidently has a very large costuming budget.) An appealing enough video and a song that'll probably end up on a Laurie "greatest hits" CD someday in the future. View the video here. Read a profile in the New York Times here. (Who knew therapy could produce a popular kids' tune?)

KidVid: "Polar Bear" - The Quiet Two

Opening lines aren't quite so big a deal in songs as they are in novels, but the opening line in "Polar Bear," by The Quiet Two, is pretty cool: "Straight to the point, I wanna be a polar bear." Direct enough for kids, odd enough to pull in the parents. And now that the song has its own video on the debut Season Two episode of Jack's Big Music Show, it's about to go huge. Just like the song itself, the video is direct enough for kids (kids jumping around in polar bear outfits) and odd enough for the parents (the goofy animal masks and facial expressions). To see the video, go to the videoplayer at Jack's page. Want the lyrics or to singalong, karaoke-style? Go here. Want a snippet of the regular track? Go here. (And if you're not familiar with Make Some Noise, their debut album, you really, really should be.)