When I hear about another adult artist making an album for kids, usually it makes some sort of sense -- they've got kids themselves, or perhaps they have a touch of goofiness that makes for an easy relationship with a kids' audience.
I can feel safe in saying that I never thought I'd include Neil Sedaka in the ever-burgeoning list.
And I feel doubly safe in saying that I never thought Sedaka would take to reworking his own classic songs for the kids' set.
I mean, I'm used to seeing punk and hip-hop and metal and classic rock songs reworked into kid-friendly tunes. But I'm not used to seeing Mick Jones or Missy Elliott or Metallica or Robert Plant reworking their own songs. What happens when a certified master of the pop song tweaks... himself?
We're about to find out -- on January 6, 2009, Sedaka will release Waking Up Is Hard To Do, featuring 11 tracks, including re-workings ("spoofs"? "re-imaginings" -- what the heck do we call these?) of "Breaking Up is Hard To Do," "Where the Boys Are," and "Love Will Keep Us Together."
As I said in the title to this piece -- I'm not sure there is any middle road here. It will either be a mess or something touched with a bit of genius.
Here's the tracklisting and album art.
Waking Up Is Hard to Do
Dinosaur Pet
Where the Toys Are
Lunch Will Keep Us Together
Happy Birthday Number Three
Laughter in the Rain
Rubber Duckie
Is This the Way to Cross The Street?
Little Devil
I Go Ape
Baby’s First Christmas Lullabye
