It's a pity that this, the final video from The Hipwaders' A Kindie Christmas album, came out so close to Christmas that it didn't necessarily attract a lot of pre-Christmas attention. Because the video for "Yes, It's Christmas" is the best of the bunch. Dig the band in animated Victorian gear. Dickens totally would've written about chainsaws, had chainsaws been invented when he was alive.
The Hipwaders - "Yes, It's Christmas" [YouTube]
Video: "The Kid with the Replaceable Head" - Richard Hell
Really, when you think about it, this might almost be the perfect Pancake Mountain song -- punk, with a kid-friendly-in-a-Roald-Dahl-sort-of-way narrative. The song's performed by Richard Hell (Television and a solo career, primarily), and although the song's pushing 30 years old at this point, I'm guessing this version is from his new Destiny Street Repaired release.
Really, though, it's about 10 months too late, as the animation (and song) is just about perfect for Halloween...
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - "The Kid with the Replaceable Head" [YouTube]
Video: "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotten
Imagine, if you will, Mick Jagger performing "Satisfaction" at John Lennon's house, where John and Yoko record him for posterity.
This is the kids' music equivalent. Elizabeth Cotten performing "Freight Train" at Pete and Toshi Seeger's house, as recorded by the Seegers. The sound quality isn't the best, and I've noted this clip before, but now it's been posted to YouTube. Given how little video we have of the early days of recorded family music, this is quite valuable. (Not to mention a great song.)
Elizabeth Cotten - "Freight Train" [YouTube]
Video: "One Shoe Blues" - Sandra Boynton (B.B. King)
I like Sandra Boynton's music, and this, her first video, for "One Shoe Blues" featuring B.B. King, is just as droll as the rest of her output. Not clear what NPR's favorite part was. I liked the stone-faced sock -- "Momsock" -- with glasses and purple hair.
That is a sentence I'm pretty sure has never been written before. The video isn't embeddable, but here's a "making of" video that's, er, longer than the actual video.
Video: "Dreidel Bird" - The Macaroons
This was either the last kids music video for Hanukkah 2009, or it's the first kids music video for Hanukkah 2010. It's "Dreidel Bird" from The Macaroons, and the video for the fanciful alt-country tune is the finest use of backwards video since Coldplay's "The Scientist." (Or maybe not.)
The Macaroons - "Dreidel Bird" [YouTube]
Video: "They All Ask'd For You" (Live) - Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem
I've been starting to listen to Ranky Tanky, the first and forthcoming family album from Connecticut's Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, so I was glad to see that Bill had captured them (not literally, just on video) recording an in-studio performance for a future show. They're making their way out west this spring; I'm looking forward to hearing them do a few tracks off the album here in Arizona in May. But here they are doing their cover of the Meters' "They All Ask'd For You" and making the N'Awlins classic song very much their own... Dig the fiddle. I always dig the fiddle.
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem - "They All Ask'd For You" (Live) [YouTube]
Ranky Tanky track listing after the jump...
