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This is my first post for Fatherhood Friday, hopefully there will be plenty more.
As I have mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of kids music. But a little while back I realized that me not playing kiddie music for A.D. isn't fair to him. So I decided to pick up a few CDs for him to see how he liked them.
First of all, not playing music while driving around, or cooking, or cleaning the house isn't an option. I have to have it on in the background... that's just how I am. And I figured that he's about at that age where I worry about him listening to some of the music I like.
The first CDs I got was a collection of Little Tikes CDs. There are four of them... and they are awful. One of the CDs is "Toddler Dance Favorites," which includes The Chicken Dance and Baa Baa Black Sheep... Another CD is "Nursery Rhyme Favorites," and includes Little Teapot, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Three Nice Mice. Oh yeah, you heard me... Three Nice Mice, a politically correct version. Apparently violence towards rodents in the form of chopping off their little tails isn't condoned by Little Tikes.
But honestly, the songs wouldn't be that bad if they didn't sound like they were recorded in a garage by a mom and a few of her kid's tone-deaf friends. So I started thinking about some music that I like that I think the little man would like too... So here's a short list of some kid-friendly music that is both worthy of him learning, and certainly recorded by some talented people (complete with YouTube links in case you want to hear the song).
- We're Going to be Friends - The White Stripes (yeah, that's the song from Napoleon Dynamite)
- Under African Skies - Paul Simon & Linda Ronstadt (because everyone needs to know a song from Graceland other than You Can Call Me Al)
- The Christmas Song - Dave Matthews (because Dave tells a quick little story about Jesus)
- Return to Pooh Corner - Kenny Loggins (because, what kid doesn't like Pooh?)
- If I Had A Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies (because I can't wait for him to yell "Ha-vent you always wanted a Mon-Key!?")
- Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might Be Giants (because TMBG crack me up... sorry, no good video for that one)
- Upside Down - Jack Johnson (because the video has Curious George in it... and we like Curious George)
- Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez (because it's a perfect lullaby song)
- New Shoes - Paolo Nutini (because it's a good dance song for a little one)
Honestly, it's been a long Friday and that's all the music my brain can muster up right now. Any other good ones that you can think of, please shoot them my way. One day I'll post my final list of the greatest kid's CD of all time...
-- Tim
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6 comments:
Buy the Curious George soundtrack by Jack Johnson.
And Snacktime by BNL.
I'm about to order some new stuff, I'll let you know if any of it is worthy.
Yeah, I heard Snackime is good. I may pick that one up.
Hey man, welcome to FF! You have a lot of good music choices there. We usually only listen to music in the car or at bedtime. All of our cds sound like the Little Tike ones that you bought LOL. I generally have PBS or a kids video on for background static.
That does sound like a cool CD. Ever check out "Mary had a Little Amp?" Pretty cool. I really like White Stripes so I will have to check out their version of that song. Have a great weekend.
We love the TMBG "Here Comes the ABCs" cd... Charlotte has also been a fan of James Taylor and I recently introduced her to some good 'ol Elvis Costello.
Sweet... I didn't know TMBG had an ABCs album. And I didn't think about Elvis Costello, but I can easly get him rocking to "Radio, Radio" or "Watching the Detectives."
Side note, Elvis Costello's hotel name when he travels (and old pseudonym for obscure music) is Napoleon Dynamite...
Full circle...Weird.
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