Welcome to readers of Brady Rymer's newsletter, which mentioned this site and my recent NPR appearance in its most recent edition. (Thanks, Brady!) Please take a look around, check out the links and reviews there on the right, and stop by anytime. We add new stuff on a regular basis. Glad you're here!
Song of the Day: Wake Up - The Ditty Bops
Last night I went to an open house at the school where our daughter will be attending kindergarten in the fall. The youngster was a bundle of nerves -- so hyper that a brownie and ice cream calmed her down. I was trying to encourage her to say hello to her (prospective) teachers, to look around, but she just bounced off the walls with her friends. I can tell she's really going to enjoy kindergarten (she went nuts -- or more so -- in the music room with all the instruments out), but there is also the realization that she's reaching another milestone.
Let's start the "Song of the Day" with the "adult" song -- "Wake Up," off the Ditty Bops' eponymous debut album. The Ditty Bops write wry folk-rock songs -- think Suzanne Vega perhaps, but somehow "Wake Up" got played on XM Kids one day. Perhaps this is why:
"Don't cause a scene / Mind your manners / Speak only if spoken to / You know what you are not do / Watch and learn
What if you never were short for time / All meetings cancelled clocks stopped at nine / Without alarms the silence beams / Watch and learn"
Yeah, OK. Kinda makes me wonder about all those boundaries we're setting. Would it really be so bad if the kids ran around outside until late at night? (Please don't answer that.) The lyrics are written to get adults to look at their own lives, but it's raising questions for the parents out there, no?
For a similar perspective, but targeted much more at the parents, check out Brady Rymer's "Dilly Dally Daisy," which, in the midst of a song about a cute but perhaps frustrating-to-the-parent daughter, includes these lines:
"Oh man, I wanna let her go
And see the world her own way, ya know?
'Cause pretty soon they're gonna get her in line
They'll say, 'Stand up straight! Tuck in your shirt!
Know where you're going and get there on time!' "
Those lines will go right over the head of the 4-year-old and right to the heart of the parent.
There aren't a lot of songs about how one chooses to be a parent. Those two, one accidentally, one on purpose, are two of the few.
Listen to "Wake Up" here. Listen to a clip of "Dilly Dally Daisy" here.
Baseball Songs
I don't like to change posting dates, but I'm adding so many songs here, and this predates the time a lot of people started visiting the site, so I'm making an exception here. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, or something like that. Originally posted April 2, 2006. Last revised May 16, 2006
I'm ignoring the fact that the baseball season is one game old. Baseball starts Monday, during the day, and nobody can tell me otherwise.
There are very few sports-related children's songs that come to mind. I can understand why, as sports like football and hockey require a lot of equipment and are typically for older kids (this is especially the case for football). Basketball and baseball are easier to play, perhaps -- less equipment, introduced at an earlier age. Since the major sports typically become mostly a spectator sport as we grow up, perhaps it's good that there isn't much children's music about sports since a song about watching other people do something is kinda depressing as a kids' song. (It does make me think that the genre of children's soccer songs is a niche waiting to be filled.)
In any case, the list of songs about baseball for all ages is reeeeeeaaaaalllllllly short. (OK, not so short anymore) Here goes:
-- "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (well, duh) -- try Wiggleworms Love You, from the Old Town School of Folk Music (nicely bipartisan, cheering for both the Cubs and White Sox)
-- "Baseball Dreams" -- off At the Bottom of the Sea, by Ralph's World (Cubs all the way in this one)
-- "I'm Gonna Catch You" -- off Under a Shady Tree, by Laurie Berkner (it has one relevant line -- "So I jumped into Saturday / And I had a baseball batter-day" -- yeah, I'm really reachin' here)
-- "Centerfield" -- off Centerfield, by John Fogerty (not kids' music, but a great song anyway)
-- "Talkin' Baseball -- off countless albums by Steve Cashman, who just re-records and updates his song -- baseball history lesson in 3 minutes
-- "Big Train" -- off the RTT's Turn It Up Mommy!, as noted in the comments. About Walter "Big Train" Johnson. I'd probably disagree that he's the best pitcher ever, but that's another blog. Good song.
-- "Right Field" -- Peter, Paul and Mary. Again, see the comments.
-- "Cryin' in the Dugout" -- off Daddy-A-Go-Go's upcoming Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate album. A humorous song -- "Baseball Dreams" played for laughs instead of nostalgia.
-- "The Greatest" -- Kenny Rogers. See the comments.
-- "Roll Around" -- Peter Himmelman, off of his My Lemonade Stand CD. A fun, rollicking song about a baseball who retires, then comes back to his calling.
And finally, an artist reviewed here on this very site wrote me to suggest four more songs, including at least one I'm miffed I forgot... the comments in quotes are the artist's, not mine.
-- "Catfish" -- off Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. I am unfamiliar with this one. But it's Dylan.
-- "Joe DiMaggio’s Done it Again" -– Wilco and Billy Bragg, from their Mermaid Ave Vol. 2
-- "A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request" –- Steve Goodman – "Classic, and very funny." See "Talkin' Baseball," above.
-- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" -- Brave Combo - "two very cool versions... wacky and fun." It's Brave Combo, how could it not be fun?
If any of you have more suggestions (or can point me to a family-friendly soccer song), leave me a comment.
Please Release Me (May 2006 Edition)
An admittedly selective (or perhaps not) list of upcoming children and family music releases:
May 2: Beethoven's Wig 3 (Richard Perlmutter), Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate (Daddy-A-Go-Go)
May 9 (or 16): Catch That Train! (Dan Zanes and Friends)
May 16 (without a doubt): Johnny Cash Children's Album (Johnny Cash, natch)
May 20: Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales (Monty Harper) -- kids' librarians, check out www.ReadingSongs.com for more info
May 23: Folk Playground (Putumayo, Various Artists)
We'll be reviewing many of these CDs in the weeks ahead. We'll be reviewing a whole bunch of other stuff, too, so if the stuff above doesn't tickle your fancy-bone, maybe something else will.
In addition to these releases, we expect new albums from a bunch of Zooglobble favorites, but we'll wait until we hear something more definite before mentioning it. Cautious are we. Talk like Yoda we do sometimes.
V-I-D... E-O-S...
... on the M-O-U-S-E!
Dan Zanes' latest (April 25) newsletter informs us that he filmed videos for 4 songs back in January and that those videos -- "Catch That Train!," "Let's Shake," "Malti," and "Down in the Valley," -- will be airing on Playhouse Disney. They apparently will include singing, dancing, and egg-frying. (I'm down with the first two, unsure of the last.)
The newsletter also notes that the new Catch That Train! CD will be released on May 16. Somebody better tell Amazon, because they still have a May 9 release date listed...
Let me also take this opportunity to note that I'm adding links to Noggin's music videos on the sidebar. Just in case, you know, you need to watch music videos on your tiny computer screen. Playhouse Disney, at this point, is evidently concerned about the long-term effects of squinting on the nation's youth and their parents, as no link is currently available to their videos...
Review: Silly Reflection - Lunch Money
I think the best way to introduce this review is by talking about how much stuff our daughter has. I'm not talking about massive amounts of overblown toys and games. I'm just talking about her stuffed animals, which almost crowd her out of her bed. Or her My Little Ponies, which she decorates with her ponytail holders. Kids' lives are defined as much by objects and things as they are by people -- favorite books, favorite clothes, favorite foods.
Children's music tends to focus on feelings (I'm happy! I'm sad!) or concepts (numbers, letters). But Silly Reflection, the late-2004 debut album from the South Carolina-based trio Lunch Money, draws its inspiration from kids' stuff. Trains ("Caboose"), roller coasters ("Roller Coaster," natch), umbrellas ("Umbrella") -- these are the things that fascinate kids because they've never seen such things before. Singer/songwriter Molly Ledford likes to use similes to describe these things in ways concrete ("I'd like to introduce the caboose / Last in line, red like a stop sign") and a little more abstract ("Umbrella, you're quite the little magic trick / You start off looking like a stick / But with a little rain / You bloom like a flower"). And here is a sampling of the words used on the album: "vamoose," "esprit," "ukulele," "amphibians," and the phrase "thick as thieves." These are not typical kids' music words.
But it's the music that I really dig -- it's very Kill The Moonlight-era Spoon with some Yo La Tengo and Shins mixed in. Wonderful melodies with the barest of instrumentation which make the small musical flourishes -- trumpet and double bass and fingersnaps and handclaps -- stand out that much more. It's hard for me to pick out a favorite song, but I love the way the wistful melody and harmonizing in "I Want A Dog" mixes with the longing lyrics of a child wanting a dog before getting too old (and constantly changing her mind as to the dog's name). All that, and it's wryly amusing, too. ("I look at the paper, but it's really not up to me / I'll just have to hope and look longingly.")
At 22 minutes long, Silly Reflection is short but sweet -- there isn't a bad song on the album. Lyrically, it will hit home most for kids age 3 through 7. But it really is one of those children's music albums you will find yourself playing when the kids aren't around. You can listen to three songs off the album here -- they're fairly representative of the CD, so if you like those, you'll like the rest of the album. You can buy the CD from Lunch Money direct or from the usual online suspects. Highly recommended.
