Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.
Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org.
I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album image or name), plus links to Amazon MP3 downloads, when available, for those who want only the singles. (Click the song name.) I also have a widget after the jump that will let you preview most of the songs without leaving Mombian.
Happy New Year Everyone!
We can’t wait to see what the New Year will bring. We thought we’d start 2010 off with a bang and so we approached this month’s column a little differently than previous columns. We asked our musical friends at Kindiefest what their hopes, dreams and goals would be for 2010 and if they had any songs that reflected that. We were blown away by the songs that were shared with us. So we’ve an abundance of heartfelt tunes and wishes to pass on!
Enjoy!
“Everything Possible
Back in the early ’90s Grammy winners Cathy and Marcy were trailblazing with a stunning rendition of Fred Small’s “Everything Possible.” A parent tucking their child in at night offers words of comfort and unconditional love, with the hope that their child grows to be anything they wanted, with no limits or censorship from the world.
I will sing you a song no one sang to me
May it keep you good company
You can be anybody you want to be
You can love whomever you will
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know I will love you still
Wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place if every child were able to hear these words from their parents?
“A World of Happiness” (HyLo, A World of Happiness
HyLo’s mission is a great one to adopt for the New Year: teach kindness, compassion, tolerance and self-reliance to children of all ages. The title track from the CD A World of Happiness encapsulates the spirit of building a better world through sharing, loving, giving and having fun – and to top it off, it is delivered by the late, great Lou Rawls:
Come on everybody, join in with me
All you children around the world
You know you can make the world a better place
All you gotta do is keep a smile on your baby’s face
Written, arranged and produced by Tor Hyams, this CD picks up the torch from Free to Be…You and Me and gallops with it — so do yourself and your family a favor and just go buy the whole darn thing now!
“We’ll Build a Better World” (Roger Day, Why Does Gray Matter?
Well, since we’re reminiscing about the ’70s kids music scene, we would be sorely remiss in not mentioning that Roger Day’s new CD Why Does Gray Matter? sure does remind us of School House Rock! All of the songs are literally smart and brainy, but the tune “We’ll Build a Better World” is also about hopes and dreams. It’s a great mission for the New Year.
You and I, we’ll make each other smarter
And then we’ll leave a brighter future when we’re done
Oh, we’ll build a better world
“This Year
Our song for January is a joyous celebration of all the good things to come in the New Year — because our narrators are wiser for all the mistakes they made last year. This song is a list of all the things that our narrators did last year that they now know to never, never, do again this year — like shampooing the hamster, feeding the cat Play-Doh, and do-it-yourself haircuts with unfortunate results. Live and learn!
We believe in getting kids music out of the ipod and into homes or classrooms! Whether you write something, draw something or get on your feet and do something, find an activity to tie music into daily life. So in each blog we’ll offer a tried and true accompanying activity.
Write Something New: Make a list of New Year’s Resolutions. What are some things that you would like to do that you’ve never done before? What are some things that you did this year that you now know to never do again?
Do Something New: The Narrator suggests that some rather bad things happened last year. Act out scenes that are described in the song – when the Narrator shampooed her brother’s hamster, buried the car keys, blamed her messy room on an elf. Then, act out what happened when her family discovered what she had done!
PS: It wouldn’t be New Year’s if we didn’t make just one resolution, so here’s one we’re intending to keep: “Be Good to Your Mama
