Thinking of the children...

We've only bought three CDs for the kid that were labeled under the category of 'children's music'. It's not like we went out of our way to avoid these types of CDs, but we didn't go out of our way to look them up, either. The first one I actually bought before the kid was born, at a Haddonfield Symphony (aka Symphony in C) concert back when Benjamin Loeb was assistant conductor. He'd invited his sister--you may have have heard of her, Lisa Loeb?(heh)--to perform at their annual holiday concert and afterwards she was signing autographs and selling CDs. I'm not one for autographs, but I will always, always buy CDs at a venue when the artist is selling them directly, no matter who they are, so we picked up an out of print children's CD she'd done with a friend of hers years before.

The second CD was They Might Be Giants' 'Here Come the ABCs', although technically that was a CD/DVD combo and the DVD got played far, far more than the CD ever did (we love the Alphabet of Nations because of the shout out to Iran, and I'm personally very fond of F is for Fun. )

Funnily enough, we never got around to playing the third CD until just very recently; again, given that I think the label child appropriate music is pretty much hogwash, I've played what I listen to for the kid (or, I guess, it's more accurate to say, the kid has to listen to whatever we listen to, because we're not exactly going out of way to cater to his taste. Well, freaking opera not withstanding). I picked up the third CD mostly because of the title--'The Bottle Let Me Down'--the perfect irony of which, if you knew the history of the kid's first couple of years, would not escape you. Anyway, he came across it recently (I'm finally letting him rummage through the CDs and pick what he wants, now that he has had some decent musical appreciation instilled in him by yours truly and is--at least to my ears--showing really good judgement and taste. Heh.) The CD's been in heavy rotation in L's car, as well as the kid's little MP3 player, and we've all settled on our favorites. Given that this is my blog, though, here is my top choice, which just happens to be one of the many covers on the CD (there are some original songs). I've included the original artist's version, too (from back in the 60s; of course, what other decade could've produced such a delightfully saucy song?). It's been covered by several other artists too, but I have to say this so called children's version? Is the most innuendo-riddled one in tone of all.

(Seriously, I think everyone should listen to this CD, parent or not. And if you want to establish your cred as the hip uncle/aunt/friend etc.? Get this for your spawn-burdened friends. If they don't appreciate it, you should probably dump them. I mean, seriously, there is a version of Rubber Ducky that brings up images of Marilyn Monroe's rendition of the birthday song, with an invitation to "Let's get wet." If that doesn't get them, move on, I say.)

Li'l Red Riding Hood (cover) - Freakwater




Li'l Red Riding Hood - Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs