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.
Spring Songs
Today was the first full day of spring. In most places, it's time for the onset of spring fever, but in the Arizona desert, it's a warning that the good times will soon come to an end. Temperate weather will soon be a distant memory. Our front flower bed can only go downhill from here.
I tried to find some songs about spring in my collection, but pretty much came up empty. Winter has no shortage of songs, as snow and the [pick-your-religion-winter-celebration] lend themselves to songwriting. The other three seasons have fewer songs (I can only think of Laurie Berkner's "What Falls in the Fall?" from Whaddaya Think Of That? as a specifically autumn-related song), but spring I think is particularly deficient. What happens in the spring? Not much visibly, compared to autumn (falling leaves) or summer (general goofing off).
Here, then, is a list of spring-ish songs. Flowers and bugs and a little rain. Rain isn't necessarily for spring alone, but we've gone without much rain this winter and spring and so it's a bit of wishful thinking.
Raffi, "Robin in the Rain" (Singable Songs for the Very Young)
Elizabeth Mitchell, "You Are My Flower" (You Are My Flower)
Laurie Berkner, "In the Clouds" (Buzz Buzz)
Elizabeth Mitchell, "Ladybug Picnic" (You Are My Sunshine)
Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell, "Butterfly" (Catch the Moon)
Ralph Covert, "The Ants Go Marching" (from Songs For Wiggleworms)
Dan Zanes and Dar Williams, "Wild Mountain Thyme" (Night Time!)
Dan Zanes, "On the Sunnyside of the Street" (Rocket Ship Beach)
I suppose there's always XTC's "Grass" or the Talking Heads' "(Nothing But) Flowers," but those aren't really for kids for assorted reasons, now are they?
Review: Wiggleworms Love You - Old Town School of Folk Music
In the mid-80s, the writer/director John Hughes produced Pretty in Pink, in which the less-than-upper-middle-class main character (played by Molly Ringwald, natch) has to decide romantically between her best friend Ducky and a boy from the "right side of the tracks." To many viewers' great chagrin -- how could you not pick Ducky! -- she picks the golden boy. A few years later, Hughes basically rewrote Pink as Some Kind of Wonderful and reversed the ending, with the main character picking his from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks best friend as his romantic partner. It's a much more satisfying ending.
What does this have to do with Wiggleworms Love You, the 2005 album from the Old Town School of Folk Music. OK, aside from the fact that both Hughes and the Old Town School are associated with Chicago. Well, this new album is sort of like the "golden boy" character with all the advantages compared to the poor original, Songs For Wiggleworms. The first album sounded like it was recorded in an actual Old Town classroom, with time constraints reminiscent of parent-teacher conferences. ("I'm sorry, it's 6:45, it's time for the Sweeneys.") Very few of the songs had anything more than voice and acoustic guitar.
This new album is greatly expanded sonically. It sounds much better, and the instrumentation is, on some tracks, surprisingly full. Percussion, bass, stringed instruments of all kinds (banjo, mandolin, fiddle) -- heck, there's an accordion on seven tracks. It sounds much more like a "folk music" album. (All of this may be the result of the fact that an honest-to-goodness record company, Bloodshot Records, released the CD.)
So why wouldn't you want this CD? Well, you would... if you already had Songs For Wiggleworms. The problem is that they already got most of the great tunes on the first CD. There are fewer of the great "oh, I'm gonna sing that to my young'uns" songs. There are maybe 12-15 songs that meet that criteria on the CD, or about 1/3 of the 42 songs on the album. The other songs are obscure to varying degrees, usually dependent on how familiar you are with the early Raffi oeuvre. (I can't believe I just used the phrase "Raffi oeuvre.") That's not to say that there aren't some great tracks on the album -- "If I Was a Bird," the meta-rave-up "Mama Don't Allow," and the tailfeather-shaking "Looby Loo" are three standouts. But unlike the first CD, on which the listener could sing virtually every song, many without the CD, this CD may be great to listen to but isn't necessarily as user-friendly for taking that out into the daily world with your child.
This sounds like a mixed review, but it's really not. It's just that I think the first album's ragged charm is just so perfect for its intended use that this more polished sequel slightly disappoints. If you already have Songs, I recommend Wiggleworms Love You wholeheartedly. If you don't, I think the first album is the better starting point. The CD is for children aged 0 through 6 and is available through the links above, plus the usual online suspects.
Top Five Lullabies I Actually Sing
Yeah, there are a whole bunch of lullabies out there, but there only about five I sing on a regular basis.
5. You Are My Sunshine -- Not the original version (check out the O Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack for a nice version of that), but the shorter version on the Songs For Wiggleworms disc. It's much more loving and doesn't include the lyric "You have shattered all my dreams," which I frankly think is a bit of a downer, lullaby-wise.
4. Wake Up, by the Arcade Fire -- Just kidding.
4. All The Pretty Little Horses -- A sweet melody; I try to remember that it doesn't matter if I can't remember what order "blacks," "bays," "dapples," and "grays" go in.
3. Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star -- An easy melody, simple words (except that nobody -- including me -- can remember anything other than the first verse. There are something like four or five verses.)
2. Brahms' Lullaby -- Which we all call the "doo doo doo" song. For fun with older kids, ask them to sing it in the style of animals. ("Quack quack quaaaaack, quack quack quaaaack...")
1. Skidamarink -- A bit uptempo for a lullaby, but it's a fun melody, easy lyrics, and even offers freedom to solo. Love this song.
There are lots of lullabies I like to hear (e.g., "The Water Is Wide"), but unless the melody and lyrics are both super easy, they are just unlikely to be sung in actual nurseries...
Review: Songs For Wiggleworms - Old Town School of Folk Music
It doesn't take much to turn a tired old chestnut of a kids' song into one worth hearing. Usually a little bit of enthusiasm does the trick.
Songs For Wiggleworms, from Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, has 38 mostly classic kids' songs crammed into one 50-minute disc and has enthusiasm in spades. You've probably heard most of these songs ("Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "If You're Happy And You Know It...", etc.) but a few our family didn't know before hearing this CD. Regardless of whether the songs are new or old to you, your child (and you) will enjoy these lively renditions, sung by assorted musicians at the school (even Ralph Covert makes an appearance). The enjoyment of the musicians is evident in the renditions, whose occasionally ragged nature make it sound like you're sitting in an Old Town class. Thankfully, accompanied by little more than a guitar, if that, the musicians also stay away from "Star Search" vocal acrobatics.
There are some French-language and Spanish-language folk songs, too, along with a few non-kids songs ("Twist & Shout") to go along with the English-language classics. My favorite song on the album is "You Are My Sunshine," whose lyrics are modified slightly to eliminate the darker overtones of the original. And the songs I don't like? Well, as I said, there are 38 songs on a 50-minute CD -- just wait a minute, there'll be a new song coming up shortly. This CD is targeted at kids from birth to age 4 or 5.
The CD was out of print for a while, but is available once more here at CDBaby.com. Trust me, I've heard a number of nursery school song CD collections -- this is one you'll actually enjoy and the only one worth getting.
