The curse of all parents; the dreaded kids' music playing in the car. I thought I had it licked when I found All You Need is Love: Beatles Songs for Kids. It wasn't exactly like listening to The Fab Four but at least when a song go stuck in your head, you didn't want to gouge your eyes (ears?) out.
A couple of years ago, my neighbor turned the boys and me on to They Might be Giants: Here Come the 123s. It's positively adorable. And catchy. This year, as Santa was making his list, he was very pleased to find TMBG's latest installment, Here Comes Science.
Big hits include I Am a Paleontologist and (my personal favorite) The Bloodmobile, which talks about "the delivery service inside us, carrying oxygen, nutrients, things that fight infection and the trash collection..."
Don't get me wrong, the reason my kids watched Baby Einstein videos was because they (the videos) were innocuous, bright, and allowed me to shower, vacuum, or make a meal without a child strapped to me. But with lyrics like "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma" I'm pretty sure these guys might be geniuses. And I can't help but wonder if their music might be spreading just a little of that super-brainpower around.
At a minimum, my boys are comfortable hearing and sometimes using words that wouldn't enter their lexicon for quite a few years to come. Best case scenario is that we're opening discussions about science and the physical world in ways that I simply wouldn't have come up with.
And I don't want to gouge my ears out. That's what I call a win/win.
* The preceeding was not a paid post. Simply me expressing an opinion. :-)
Fun With Rockets
4 days ago
7 comments:
You might also want to check out Barenaked Ladies kids CD, Snacktime. I love it for all the same reasons that you love TMBG - sometimes I actually listen to it on purpose when my daughter isn't in the car! :-)
Just like Schoolhouse Rock--they'll remember this stuff forever.
Just like I remember exactly how a bill becomes a law!
I have the science CD and was just about to recommend the Bear Naked CD, super cute. I love the song snack time and there is one about I don't wanna, hysterical. It is a huge hit in Canada but hasn't really caught on here as much
I'll have to check out TMBG, sounds like a good one. I've been a fan of Laurie Berknor, I like her folksy guitar, but we've listened to "We are the Dinosaurs" wayyyyy too much lately. I think the key is not giving in to kids' desire to listen to the same music over and over, day after day, week after week . . . gotta update my ipod!
That is not the easiest stuff to write a song about. I think they probably are geniuses.
Ha - that's awesome! I still remember some of the Schoolhouse Rocks songs I learned in 3rd grade. Those were great!
When my son was little, he somehow got really attached to Bob Marley. The Legend cd was his favorite--for bedtime, traveling, playing games. It was great.
I'll never forget when we went camping and had just invited over a group of college girls to share our fire and as we're roasting marshamallows, my 6 yr old breaks out with I Shot The Sheriff. A priceless moment.
Our favorite is "E Eats Everything." Great bassline.
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