Dear listeners,
They tell you about the lack of sleep, the tantrums and of course the diapers, but what they don’t tell you about parenting young children is that there’s some … challenging music. For whatever reason, epochs of evolution have evolved small humans into creatures who like listening to some pretty mid stuff: insipid earworms with off-kilter instrumentation, uncanny-valley vocals and even sexist lyrics (“The mommies on the bus go, ‘Shh shh shh’ / The daddies on the bus go, ‘I love you’”).
Still, if you look hard enough, you can find music your little children enjoy — music in fact composed and recorded primarily to be enjoyed by little children — that is also agreeable to you. It may rarely be sophisticated, but it will often be smart, fun, good. Put such songs in your rotation and you may stave off the next time you have to hear about a certain blue cat’s certain white shoes, and you can get back to enjoying the company of your favorite people on the planet without the distraction of their baleful musical taste.
We’ll offer some standbys — no list is complete without Kermit the Frog or that rascal Puff, courtesy of Peter, Paul and Mary — but you may also be surprised to hear the lead singer of one of your favorite 1990s bands, a full orchestra and … Jerry Garcia?
Tapping across the Tappan Zee,
Marc
Listen along while you read.
1. Caspar Babypants: “Stompy the Bear”
“Caspar Babypants” is the nom de tune of Chris Ballew, better known to today’s parents as the bassist, lead singer and songwriter of the indie band the Presidents of the United States of America. Which makes sense: That group’s mid-90s (adult) hits like “Lump” and “Peaches” have the same insouciant catchiness you want in kids’ songs. As Caspar Babypants, Ballew has been an incredibly prolific (19 albums!) peddler of children’s music. This track comes off “Hot Dog!” (2012), though I was introduced to it via the Caspar Babypants Yoto Player card.
2. Jerry Garcia and David Grisman: “There Ain’t No Bugs on Me”
This newsletter’s title is borrowed from the 1993 album “Not for Kids Only,” in which Garcia — you know, Jerry Garcia — and David Grisman, a folk-revival veteran and accomplished mandolin player, presented traditional bluegrass tunes in a style both authentic and accessible. While the album opener, “Jenny Jenkins,” would not have sounded out of place at an actual Grateful Dead concert (complimentary, though I suppose you could take that observation another way), to make sure this playlist is for kids also, we will stick to this upbeat track.
3. Carole King: “Chicken Soup With Rice”
For a certain 1970s New York City vibe, is there a better pair than Carole King and Maurice Sendak? On “Really Rosie” (1975), King took Sendak poems that plumbed his Brooklyn childhood and made the bold Rosie and others come to life in songs like the brash title track, the ominous “Avenue P” and the showstopping ballad “Pierre.” Catchiest of all is this ode to a delicacy for all seasons. It may even persuade your children to try some.
4. The Philadelphia Orchestra: “Peter and the Wolf Op. 67: The Story Begins”
Is it cheating to include something from one of the 20th century’s great classical composers? Nyet! After all, Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf Op. 67” was conceived expressly as a symphony for children, with the different instruments of the orchestra didactically representing different characters in the story: The oboe is the duck, the clarinet is the cat, the French horns are the wolf, and so on. The theme for Peter (the strings) is a classic, one hummed as a lullaby by countless parents to countless kids. (I have occupied both ends of this equation.) If you want to listen on, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 1978 version contains narration by one David Bowie.
5. Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog: “Rainbow Connection”
The only song on our list to receive an Oscar nomination — best original song, from the 1979 “Muppet Movie” — with a killer bridge and gutting key change. The lyrics manage to be about nothing in particular yet totally intelligible. Try not to cry!
6. Bluey: “The Weekend”
Speaking of crying … do not get any millennial parent started on “Bluey,” the contemporary cartoon series about a family of four Australian cattle dogs. Its simple tales of domestic life, told in seven-minute increments, smash together delightfulness and profundity in a manner that resembles pop music at its best. And the show’s playful, original score is a key mood setter, regulating the emotions of child and parent alike. You could watch “The Weekend,” the early episode that this softer, mostly instrumental track by the Australian composers David Barber and Joff Bush, accompanies. But just listening may get the point across.
7. Elizabeth Mitchell: “Little Liza Jane”
A folk musician whose collaborators have included Lisa Loeb, Levon Helm and Ziggy Marley, Elizabeth Mitchell has released several albums geared toward children, none better than “You Are My Little Bird” (2006). At the risk of jinxing it, when Taylor Swift gets around to recording her kids’ album, one could imagine it sounding something like this.
8. Jessica Darrow (from “Encanto”): “Surface Pressure”
A neat thing about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original songs from the 2021 Disney film “Encanto” is that they double as Latin genre experiments. The Oscar-nominated, Spanish-language “Dos Oruguitas” is in the style of Colombian folk. The chart-topping “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” uses Cuban beats. And “Surface Pressure,” an eloquent lament of the taken-for-granted middle sister, is recognizably reggaeton — even as it also serves the story, is unmistakably a Miranda song (“Was Hercules ever like, ‘Yo I don’t want to fight Cerberus?’” is more or less straight out of “Hamilton”), and holds the attention of child and grown-up alike.
9. Peter, Paul and Mary: “Puff, the Magic Dragon”
You may have heard something about the true subject matter of this song composed by the recently deceased Peter Yarrow, who borrowed a poem by Leonard Lipton for the lyrics. But whatever its subtext, “Puff, the Magic Dragon” is foremost a gorgeous elegy for childhood. It conveys an appropriate sentiment for parenting young children, a vocation that constantly reminds you of its fleeting nature. Check out the version with a children’s choir from the group’s kids’ album, “Peter, Paul and Mommy” (1969), and stick around for other classics composed by Yarrow, Tom Paxton and even Shel Silverstein.
The Amplifier Playlist
“Not for Kids Only: 9 Children’s Songs Worth a Listen” track list
Track 1: Caspar Babypants, “Stompy the Bear”
Track 2: Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, “There Ain’t No Bugs on Me”
Track 3: Carole King, “Chicken Soup With Rice”
Track 4: The Philadelphia Orchestra, “Peter and the Wolf Op. 67: The Story Begins”
Track 5: Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, “Rainbow Connection”
Track 6: Bluey, “The Weekend”
Track 7: Elizabeth Mitchell, “Little Liza Jane”
Track 8: Jessica Darrow (from “Encanto”), “Surface Pressure”
Track 9: Peter, Paul and Mary, “Puff, the Magic Dragon”
The post Not for Kids Only: 9 Children’s Songs Worth a Listen appeared first on New York Times.
