we got the beat

When Joey was very small, I started thinking about how I should expose him to music early so that he loves it like I do.  Well, mostly I thought music would be a good way to drown out the screaming.  So I bought a Raffi CD.  I found it on Amazon and it was called Singable Songs for the Very Young and I thought it would be perfect for us. But after five songs I wanted to kill myself so I turned it off and decided to make him a CD myself.  A CD of good songs.  Songs I could stand listening to and that would let him hear that music is more than just banjos and peanut butter sandwiches.

These are the songs on the CD I made:

Nature Boy- Nat King Cole
Your Song- Elton John
I Just Called to Say I Love You- Stevie Wonder
The Rose- Bette Midler
I Hope You Dance- Ronan Keating
Baby Mine- Bette Midler
More Than Words- Extreme
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head- Burt Bacharach
Devoted to You- Everly Brothers
Easy Like Sunday Morning- The Commodores
Hey Jude- The Beatles
If- Bread
Open Arms- Journey
Imagine- John Lennon
L-O-V-E- Nat King Cole
Strange Beautiful Music- Joe Satriani

And we would listen to the CD in the house sometimes but mostly in the car on those days in his very early life when his enthusiasm for crying would overwhelm me until I felt my nervous system would explode out of my body and inside the dryer started looking like the only safe (and soundproof) place for me to hang out.  Once I figured out that little babies will always sleep in the car, I drove.  Every day I drove around endlessly, first exploring areas of my town that I’d never seen because there are no stores, just houses, and then I started taking longer trips, following winding roads and once ending up so lost that it took me an hour to find my way home.

Now that he’s older, and on a nap schedule, he never sleeps in the car.  The car is for destinations, not distraction, and so when we’re in there we listen to loud fun music.  He doesn’t need lullabyes and soothing music. He needs rock and pop and sometimes brand new songs mama makes up on the fly about other drivers who SUCK and don’t know how to signal and ALMOST CRASH US OFF THE ROAD.  La la la la la chicka-bow.

So now that he’s out of the lullabye phase, we listen to normal CDs from my collection.  Stuff like the Beastie Boys and The Chili Peppers, Janet Jackson and Gwen Stefani.  And he likes it all, but he is in LOVE with Gwen.  I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been playing the CD every night while I make dinner for the past few months, or because she’s so lovely, but when we watch videos on MTV and VH-1 (yes, I let my child watch videos.  It’s the only good thing on early in the morning when we wake up and it’s better than news, though I could have happily lived the rest of my life never knowing there was a whole song AND VIDEO about My Hump, My Hump, My Lovely Lady Lumps!) and Gwen comes on all smooth and pretty, singing about E-gyp-shun cott-aaainnn he goes crazy and walks up as close to the TV as he can get to stare at her until the whole video is over.  I admit, I am also mesmerized by Gwen, but after the 20th damn time seeing the same video, I’m over it. 

I made a new CD for the car so we can rock out on our trips to the grocery store, and this one has much livelier songs, full of bass.  Except in the middle where I slowed it down and fell into that old trap of not being able to make one mix CD that does not include something by Lionel Ritchie.

Cry Me a River- Justin Timberlake
Jump Around- House of Pain
Build Me Up Buttercup- The Goops
Short Skirt Long Jacket- Cake
Rich Girl- Gwen Stefani
Body Movin’- Beastie Boys
Where It’s At- Beck
Let’s Push Things Forward- The Streets
You Give Love a Bad Name- Bon Jovi
Stuck on You- Lionel Ritchie
Maybe I’m Amazed- Paul McCartney
Afternoon Delight- Starland Vocal Band
Give It Away- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rhythm Nation- Janet Jackson
Walk This Way- Run DMC & Aerosmith
Don’t Mug Yourself- The Streets

I know when he’s a little older, Raffi lyrics will be more appropriate for him.  And he will relate better to songs about peanut butter sandwiches and tooth brushing much more than songs about love and pain, heartbreak and bitches.  And I know I don’t want to be stuck trying to explain about the schoolgirl swinging with the boys in school, or never eating pigs ‘cause a pig is a cop to a three-year-old. 

Comments

[sherry]

See, we don't watch videos since we currently don't have any such channels in our package but I must sheepishly admit my 3-year-old sings along - quite well - to that My Humps song. Eep.

[hubs]

you'll love this. hump my tunnel.
http://www.stereogum.com/TheSilenceXperiment%20-%20Hump%20My%20Tunnel.mp3