Let’s (not) talk about sex – aka – The 7:00pm dance party
February 20, 2008 at 6:30 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
This post is dedicated to Young MC – sorry I can’t play you for my kids…
There is no better way of ensuring a good night’s sleep for the kids than some serious move-bustin’ right before bed. Ben Franklin said, “…in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.” I would like to add ‘kids dancing’ to that list. They love it and they’ll do it almost on demand.
But, speaking of bustin’ a move, how many songs are there that are great but just a little too racy?
Theatre gets dark just to start the show, then you spot a fine woman sittin’ in your row.
She’s dressed in yellow, she says hello, come sit next to me ya fine fellow.
You run over there without a second to lose, and what comes next,hey, bust a move…
Here’s a short list of songs kids would love but that…you just don’t want to be answering the questions until they’re 15 (or 16…or 23…)
- Bust a Move – Young MC
- I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt – Right Said Fred
- Let’s Talk About Sex – Salt and Peppa
- A whole bunch of Barry White tunes
- Let’s Get Physical – Olivia Newton John
- Love Shack – B-52’s
- Vous le Vous Couche Avec Moi ce Soir…although this one at least introduces bilingualism, but I’d go with Dora the Explorer as opposed to Patty LaBelle.
- We are Family – Sister Sledge
- Dancing Queen – ABBA
- Pump Up the Volume – Colourbox
- Movin’ On Up – Primal Scream
- Funkytown – Lipps, Inc.
- Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order (Don’t ask, because, in spite of the title, I have no idea what this song is about. It does make a great dance tune for the kids, though. As a bonus, it is so stunningly ’80’s, it’s like synthesizer history lesson for the little ones…here’s a clip – bizarre-love-triangle.mp3)
In the end, it doesn’t matter.- put on whatever it was you danced to (be sure it’s the radio mix unless you want to supplant story time with a talk on the birds and bees) and…well, you know – bust a move.
Side by Side – an MP3 for you – Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 15, 2008 at 6:32 am | In Fun for Your Family, Music for You, kids music | Leave a CommentTags: Bing Crosby, free mp3, side by side, Valentines Day
Here’s a great old tune – “Side by Side” performed by Paul Whiteman and the Rhythm Boys recorded in 1927 and featuring a 24 year old Bing Crosby on vocals.
Bing loves ya, baby – Side by Side!
Here are the lyrics – seemed appropriate for V-day to me…
Oh, we ain’t got a barrel of money
Maybe we’re ragged and funny
But well travel along
Singing a song
Side by side
I don’t know whats a-comin’ tomorrow
Maybe its trouble and sorrow
But well travel the road
Sharing our load
Side by side
Thru all kinds of weather
What if the sky should fall
Just as long as were together
It doesn’t matter at all
When they’ve all had their quarrels and parted
Well be the same as we started
Just traveling along
Singing a song
Side by side
I love my Mom, I love my Wife…why doesn’t Disney?
February 13, 2008 at 6:10 am | In Being a Dad, Musings, Reviews | 3 CommentsTags: aladin, Bambi, cars, cinderella, Disney, Disney Dead Mom’s Club, dombo. snow white, Evanescence, jungle book, max and goofy, Nemo, pinocchio, Pixar, pochahontas, the fox and the hound, the little mermaid
Read the second part of this post here!
The opening lines of the Disney-Pixar film “Finding Nemo” relate a (somewhat) touching exchange between a husband and wife as they settle into their new home and contemplate their soon-to-be family…They are in essence ‘ pregnant’ (the fertilized eggs are outside the fish…cuts down on labor pain), and are setting up the new nursery (we’ve all been there) – here are the lines:
Marlin: Wow.
Coral: Mmm.
Marlin: Wow.
Coral: Mm-hmm.
Marlin: Wow.
Coral: Yes, Marlin. I… No, I see it. It’s beautiful.
Marlin: So, Coral, when you said you wanted an ocean view, you didn’t think you were going to get the whole ocean, did you? Huh?
[deep breath]
Marlin: Oh, yeah. A fish can breathe out here. Did your man deliver, or did he deliver?
In the ensuing scene, Coral (aka MOM/WIFE) and all but one of the eggs are devoured by some ravenous sea creature (an eel?). True to Disney’s longstanding tradition, mom and wife are killed off and taken out of the picture before she has any impact at all. Hmmmmm….
“Mom? Mom…where are you!?”
I’m going to take a little break from the music scene to contemplate this Disney curiosity (pathology?). First a list of films (that I can recollect) that belong to the Disney Dead Mom’s Club (These are in no particular order):
- Bambi
- Dumbo (OK,not dead, but caged and considered insane)
- Snow White
- Cinderella
- Pinocchio (Maybe this is unfair, Gepetto is a pretty irresponsible Dad, though, getting pregnant with no mom to support him…)
- Jungle Book (OK, Walt was an equal opportunity killer there, knocking Mom and Dad off…Speaking of equal opportunity, how about that “Lion King?” Just Dad was killed…)
- The Little Mermaid (Actually, this may have been a divorce situation…in any event, mom/wife is no where to be seen.)
- Pocahantas
- Aladin (neither the hero or the heroine have a Mom)
- The Fox and the Hound (another orphan situation with Tod, the fox)
- Beauty and the Beast
- Max and Goofy…(again, it’s hard to say here, who would marry Goofy after all? Some quasi-dog lady probably just went home with him one night after one-too-many at the local pub, then left him with the kid…)
- Cars (Just kidding, Cars don’t really talk or have relationships – they are made on production lines which, if I remember my high school biology correctly, might also be referred to as asexual reproduction.)
So, as this large body of work demonstrates, Walt Disney, and the whole Disney family, it would seem, has an issue with parents generally, and specifically with moms…why? An internet search of Walt’s family history doesn’t offer a lot of insight (granted, I didn’t look too hard)…Wikipedia states, “Walt and his sister Ruth attended the Benton Grammar School where he met Walter Pfeiffer. The Pfeiffers were theatre aficionados, and introduced Walt to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Soon, Walt was spending more time at the Pfeiffers’ than at home… [6]“(Read the whole bio here: Walt Disney at Wikipedia). Does the fact that Walt effectively left home at the age of 9 indicate some deep divisions in the Disney home? Could he have left home because of a domineering Mom who emasculated him and ensured that generations thereafter would suffer through scores of animated features which are, in essence, Walt’s working out his childhood demons based on his fear of his mother? Probably, but without some major research, we can only speculate.
The other option, of course, is that Walt and company needed a quick dramatic jolt to jettison their early films deep into the public consciousness. What better than the death of a mom? What, after all, is more sacred than motherhood? The concept is shocking, and it doesn’t take a cynic to imagine Walt and the boys sitting around trying to figure out how to move their little children’s film from average to blockbuster. The room, of course, was full of cigar smoke, and one of the guys said, “Let’s off the mom…that’ll get some attention…” It’s cheap, easy emotion, and, in a two hour film, it leaves lots of room for musical numbers and some comedy. After that first time, when Bambi hit the big numbers, the boys were hooked, and they’ve never looked back. It keeps paying, as “Nemo” showed us in 2003, sixty-one years after Bambi’s 1942 release.
So why doesn’t Disney love Moms? Simple, it doesn’t pay, and, in spite of what Mickey and the rest would have you believe, this is all about the money…they can’t let a few moms get in the way…
So, in tribute to Bambi’s and all the other Disney moms and wives out there – here’s an Evanescence song…we’re with you Bambi and Bambi’s Mom, Nemo and Coral, Dumbo and Dumbo’s Mom, etc….you live on, no matter what Walt put you through!
Reggae, Anyone?
February 9, 2008 at 5:59 pm | In Being a Dad, Music for You, kids music | Leave a CommentTags: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals, UB40
Will someone tell me what it is about Reggae that enchants children so? Something tells me it’s not the choice of colors. (although they are appealing):
No, it is the music that captures kids – and I will admit, for me as well, reggae is enchanting…I’ve spent more time in my life than I probably should have at Jimmy Cliff concerts, reggae fests, Wailers shows (Bob had died by then, alas), UB40 shows, Toots and the Maytal shows, English Beat/General Public shows, etc., etc…I get it – and so do kids, from the womb, it would seem (maybe the reggae beat mimics the mothers’ heartbeat…Mom’s Heart – Bob Marley?) .
I’m not kidding here – try it. A friend of mine told me about a reggae album he had for kids – it’s titled “Reggae for Kids” (wow, the originality is overwhelming, there). My response is, why bother? Just put on Peter Tosh (OK, skip “Legalize It” if you want to avoid a strange conversation with your six year old), Bob Marley, Steel Pulse…it doesn’t matter, kids hear that characteristic ‘chunk-kunk, chunk-kunk” (here it is from Peter T. – Pick Myself Up.mp3), or that rhythmic lead in on the high timbale (here it is from Steel Pulse – Steppin Out.mp3), and they’re dancin’…
I have experimented with this a bunch, in my own music…here’re a couple of clips of our attempts at reggae:
…and with my own kids – here, as evidence that Reggae works, are some photos of Gus, who had been sitting at the table painting, but couldn’t helped being moved to dance right in his seat…irie!
“Don’t worry….
…about a thing…
“…cause every little thing…”
“…is gonna be alright!”
Easy Reader, that’s my name, uh, uh, uh…
February 7, 2008 at 6:08 am | In Musings, Reviews, kids music | 1 CommentTags: Easy Reader, Morgan Freeman, Pink Floyd, The Electric Company, The Wall
For some reason the other day, I thought of Easy Reader…come on now, you remember him that super cool, funky, far-out guy on “The Electric Company.” I just had to pay Youtube a visit and take a walk, or should I say a ‘trip,’ down memory lane. Just to get you in the groove, here’s a little Easy Reader to help you remember…
Yes, my friends, that is Morgan Freeman, otherwise known in Hollywood these days as ‘God’ (“Bruce Almighty,” “Evan Almighty” and of course the ominous voice from above in “March of the Penguins…”). So before he was God, he was Easy Reader…”Top to bottom left to right reading stuff is out of sight…”
Like my parents and millions of other parents did in the ’70’s I’m going to ignore the obvious and somewhat problematic fact that Morgan Freeman, as much as portraying a reader in these skits, was portraying a reading junkie – he needs his reading ‘fix’ – then his man (or etch-a-sketch) on the street, Stanley, always cuts him off, ‘just as he’s getting into the groove.’ Then he starts looking around desparately for his reading fix – a match-book, a dollar bill, you name it. I’ll ignore all that, and focus instead on the message…See, I agree with Easy’s message, ‘reading IS out of sight…’ OH, and then there’s the music…
In addition to Easy Reader, I got a few other Electric Company Skits for the kids, and, like everything else in the show, the music is a constant of stream of either funkadelic 70’s or “Free To Be You and Me.” One particularly psychedelic musical moment prompted Isabel to ask, “Why is the music so weird…?” You would have thought we were listening to Pink Floyd – “The Wall.” Here’s one example…
Then there’s the opening credits…”Moving out in a new way, moving out in a new way…we’re gonna turn it on, we’re gonna give you the power…” You get the idea.
OK, so I have to say, in spite of the fact that the Electric Company overdid it on the psychedelia at times, I love this stuff. It has it all, great music, and unbelievable cast (Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers, Mr. Freeman, etc.) and it’s hilarious. I’m pretty certain Saturday Night Live owes a lot to The Electric Company…at the very least Lorne Michaels and the early SNL cast were big fans, I just know it…so, I’ll leave you with the lyrics to the first “Sign Song” from the Electric Company…out of sight!
I like fish food. You do, too.
Don’t look now; your hair is blue.
Walk right in and see the zoo.
Up is down, and I love you.Stop and go and dance a dance,
All the way from here to France.
Day and night, all bright and new.
Left is right, and I love you.
A tribute to old friends…
February 4, 2008 at 8:43 am | In Being a Dad, Music for You, Musings | Leave a CommentAbout six months ago, Abe’s buddy Cayden moved out of town. It was tough for Abe’s four year old psyche to handle, and we ended up having a number of conversations about the transient nature of friendship (ok, I’ll admit I never used the word ‘transient’ in those discussions…also, the conversations usually were more transient than any friendship I know of, because Abe would get distracted by a matchbox dump truck or something after about 90 seconds of deep conversation, but it was still touching…). Anyway, Cayden came back to town this week for a visit, and he and Abe hit every note (sizing each other up, playing beautifully together, arguing about sharing, parallel playing, and even a hug) within about four minutes. It got me thinking about my old friends, and then (and this couldn’t have been better timed unless it was in some bad movie), my long time buddy Chris sent me an e-mail.
I met Chris my first day in high school; you remember that day, don’t you? You wander around, looking for anyone who looks vaguely approachable…Chris was in a bunch of my classes and somehow, in our first conversation, we ended up talking about Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” Chris knew about Springsteen, I had heard Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s remake…who do you think was cooler? Anyway, one thing led to another, and Chris and I formed a band. After looking at a bunch of book spines at a local bookstore, we named our band “Onyx,” after the famous book by Jacqueline Briskin (you know it, don’t you?) You can find it here if you’re interested. Here we are in an undated promo photo (I’m thinking it was sometime in the late eighties…twenty or so years ago (ouch):
Onyx – circa ?
We recorded a few CD’s on a Tascam 4 track – here’s a sample, to give you an idea… Letter.mp3 .
Chris emailed to let me know that he had been checking out my blog and enjoying it – then, like any good old friend, he told me how great he thought the whole thing was…It’s not surprising that Chris, being the cooler of the two friends, started his blog long ago; he’s an old hand at it, so I took his compliments as words from a seasoned professional. He’s at http://blog.myspace.com/greenmtwriter , if you’re interested in reading some of of his sharp and very funny observations about the world. As you’re reading , remember that those little people who are fighting over dump trucks today in your living room, will eventually be teenagers making (very loud) music in that same living room, BUT THEN will eventually become old friends who, twenty or so years later, laugh about it all.
Froggie Went a’ Courtin’
February 3, 2008 at 9:51 pm | In Being a Dad, Music for You, Reviews, kids music | Leave a CommentTags: Bruce Springsteen, Froggie Went a Courtin', Nemo, Seeger Sessions, Snake
Bruce Springsteen’s 2006 release, The Seeger Sessions is a great CD for kids – try it some time. Recently Abe and I were listening to it as background music. “Froggie Went a Courtin’” came on – I’m sure you’ve heard it somewhere along the way, lots of kids singers have done very vanilla versions of the song, but not Bruce – not the BOSS. He does it like it ought to be done (of course), and Abe was groovin’ to the tune. If you’re familiar with the song, you know how it goes – Froggie goes a courtin,’ woos Miss Mousie, they have the wedding and then we get a list of all the guests…”First to come in was a flyin’ moth, she spread out the table cloth…” and so on.
“Next to come in was a BIG BLACK SNAKE!”
I want to pause for a moment here – and say two things. First, our kids are pretty naive. I wish I could tell you it’s because we knew what we were doing. Truth is, it was because of inertia. When Isabel went to pre-school, we had never moved beyond Sesame Street – why would we when it worked so well? (OK, I do need to admit that it took me awhile to get over Baby Bear’s speech impediment.) I’ll never forget ‘Daddy Pizza and Movie Night’ when we went to the pre-school with all the other kids and dads. The movie was “Finding Nemo,” and Isabel didn’t make it past the first scene (by the way, what’s Disney’s issues with Mom’s?) All the other kids wondered why my daughter was crying and saying “I want to go home…” At the time, I felt like saying, ‘It’s because the kid’s/fish’s mother was just killed – the biggest crisis she’s ever had to deal with on TV is Big Bird having trouble finding Ernie!!!’ I didn’t say that to all the jeering four and five year olds, though, I just picked up my crying little girl and left. The second thing I need to tell you is that Abe is a lyrics-hound. He listens intently and repeats lyrics to himself. He likes the sound of words. Sometimes, days after we see a movie, we’ll hear Abe repeating the lines…a little like the guy I hung out with in college who used to repeat Caddyshack lines…scary.
So, back to “Froggie Went a Courtin.’ As we made our way through the wedding, we eventually came to the line that Abe would repeat again and again. He’d listen to it with the same sort of glee that someone might go into a haunted house at an amusement park . The line is of course, “Next to come in was a Big Black Snake – chased them all into the lake…” Here it is, that line is, from Bruce, in all it’s glory – Springsteen Froggie Clip – For a coupe of weeks, that snake was the villain in our games, he woke up Abe (and, consequently Tonya and me) more than once in the middle of the night…to have the imagination of a child. Strangely, though, this song has intrigued a lot of people over the years…
Here’s one loyal Springsteen fan’s attept to list all the other recordings of the song – Versions of Froggie Went a Courtin’ . Another devotee of the song has listed the over 170 verses of the song that have been written or sung since it’s first printed incarnation in 1611 here – Froggie Verses . The song’s one drawback…it’s repetitive. Man, is this song repetitive – but that, of course, cuts both ways. It drives us adults crazy, but sucks our kids in – it’s probably the reason why this song has lasted so long, and probably why, 400 years after it was first written, it can still give a little boy the chills.
A piano played by a president…or “You’re not my Daddy anymore!”
January 31, 2008 at 7:17 am | In Being a Dad, Musings | Leave a CommentTags: beginner piano, Eight is Enough, Francestown, Franklin Pierce, Levi Woodbury, parenthood, Piano
We have a piano in the front room of our house that used to belong to the Francestown Academy. The Academy has been out of business for awhile now, but in its day, it was pretty impressive. It’s alumnae included a couple of US Senators, state Supreme Court Justices, a US Supreme Court Justice and Secretary of the Navy (Levi Woodbury), Eben Locke, “whose father fired the first gun of the Revolution,” and perhaps most famous, Franklin Pierce, US Senator and PRESIDENT of the United States.
We bought this piano at The Francestown Labor Day Festival for $50 (truth is, the $50 was more of a donation. I’m guessing the Francestown Historical Society would have paid us to get the thing off the stage – which I did, with three of my strongest friends, a piano jack, a couple of 2×8’s and a lot of luck). After it’s tenure with the Academy, our piano had played for many, many years, the second Saturday of each month in the Francestown Contra Dance – but, it had fallen out of tune, and they couldn’t seem to get it back in. We lucked onto the scene, and for a mere $50, and a few months of visits to the chiropractor, it was ours.
Franklin Pierce Played Here…
Actually, though, when I was driving home from work that Tuesday, I wasn’t thinking about the piano, the academy, or even US presidents. I was thinking about the fact that it was about 30 degrees in January, the sun was shining and it would be a perfect day to polish up our sled track in the back yard – we might finally get the luge track I’d been hoping for. Abe was at a friend’s house, Gus would probably be napping, and Isabel loves to sled. I walked in the door as Tonya was walking out, “I have to go get Abe, make sure you practice piano with Isabel…”
Suddenly that piano loomed large, blocking out sun and fun and sledding…”let’s go Isabel, let’s get this done, I want to get outside.” There were three songs – 48 notes, total (when you’re practicing with a beginning pianist, you have time to count). The first two went beautifully…the first half of the third song, “Legato Skips,” was great, but then…but then…the last eight notes, Isabel stalled. Lot’s of, “Come on, honey, you can do it…” “I can’t, I can’t…” ensued. Finally, I said, let’s just stop, and go outside, but then she wanted to finish – but still ‘couldn’t.’ We were frozen at the piano. I envisioned Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy, having a tantrum at this piano. I imagined Franklin Pierce trying to make his way through the 19th century’s equivalent of “Legato Skips” (which may well have been “Legato Skips…”)
As Isabel began crying at full tilt – stuck between wanting to please me and those 8 notes, my mind raced between trying to be patient, wondering if I was being too patient, and the sledding hill. Then, suddenly, she said it…”You’re not my daddy anymore!” (actually, she sort of cried/screamed it.) I should pause here. I’m assuming that, if you are reading this, you are a parent. If you’re not, you may not understand how my daughter could have uttered such a profound statement, which seems so out of proportion to the situation. Welcome to the twilight zone of parenthood where sometimes things happen that are so strange and out of context that you learn to accept the fact that there simply is no explanation (a little like what comets must have been to stone-age people).
Anyway, I wish I could say that I wept and embraced my daughter, and she cried and realized the error of her ways, like the end of an Eight is Enough episode. That’s not what happened, though. I got up and said, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” About five minutes later she came into the kitchen and said, “Daddy, do you still want to go sledding?” I said, “Sure, let’s go.” On our second run, as we reached speeds that neared those of a luge, and all was forgotten, I began to wonder if Franklin Pierce had ever slid down this hill.
Cluck Old Hen…Fiddlin’ Powers and Family or “For those about to Rock, We Salute You!”
January 29, 2008 at 7:20 am | In Music for You, kids music | Leave a CommentJust thought I’d share a song that I have come to love -it’s Cluck Old Hen by Fiddlin’ Powers and Family. It was originally recorded in 1925 on an Edison Diamond Disc test pressing. It’s currently open source audio – enjoy it, play it for your kids and remember that rock and roll is a state of mind…and these guys sure had it!
“You want some of this?!?” -Fiddlin’ Powers and Family -1925
Free Mp3’s – or Sleep Well Tonight!
January 28, 2008 at 7:58 am | In Music for You, kids music | 1 CommentTags: boy names, free mp3, girl names, lullaby, Music for You, sleep
For your entertainment and erudition, I reworked my reworking of You Shook Me All night Long – Please Sleep All Night Long.mp3 – same lyrics, slowed down a bit for the lullaby effect (sing it to your kids tonight and take glee in the fact that you’re singing them a little AC/DC)…and I added the full version of Abe’s Lullaby to the list of downloadable (and free) mp3’s (Abes Lullaby.mp3). If you have a son named Abraham, who is under the age of, oh, I don’t know, 17, sing it to him tonight before bed. Alternatively, any three syllable name would work – Caroline, Isabel, Stephanie, Sabrina, Christopher, Jaqueline, Miranda (Did you ever notice there are a lot more three-syllable girls’ names than boys’ – interesting.)
p.s. Promise, I’m done with the lullabies – everything I said here is still true!
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