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Children's Songs
Children's songs are in great demand and make up perhaps the largest corner of the folk music market. But there's a lot of syrupy schlock out there which is about as good for kids' minds as soda pop is for their teeth - including songs about brushing their teeth.
Historically, good economic times make the middle class sentimental about children. They are all cute little angels - except for the occasional monster. During these periods, children's charities experience a big boom while the larger social and economic causes of their plight get ignored. Children's entertainment takes on a Martha Stewart mentality - insulating fantasies and lessons for good living.
There was a big boom in "children's culture" during the flush Victorian Age, for instance, both here and in England. Mark Twain, one of the few to keep his head, excoriated writers who used literature to moralize at kids and to instruct them about everything from manners and geography. This only succeeded in creating bad literature and making children hate it. On the other hand, some of our most cherished children's writers came from the same period: Twain here, Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in England. The Brothers Grimm were rediscovered about this time too, and the Child Ballads were collected by - who else - Child. Coincidence???
All these stories, poems and songs employ nonsense, satire and some pretty esoteric knowledge in fields like history, math, and linguistics. They initiate children into a world that is mysterious, absurd, a little scary, and yet somehow graspable and manageable by young heroes whose imaginations are untamed and untainted. Beyond the reach of the pragmatic self-improvement philosophies of the bourgeoisie, literature, folk tales and folk music have always managed to speak to both the inner and outer child in the language of dreams. In today's economic boom, kiddie lit is once again big business, and the same warnings apply. Donna Scanlon, in a review for the British e-zine Brambles, is more pragmatic:
"Like the best children's books, the best children's music should appeal to both children and adults. The performers should not condescend to children, nor should they be winking broadly at adults over the children's heads. If there is a "lesson," it should be both secondary and unobtrusive."
For netlinks to some of the better children's music resources and collections of songs, see my Children's Music Netlinks page. You can find a college student's startled musings about violent weirdness in kids' songs or a Girl Guides of Canada collection of hundreds of campfire songs. There are also links to artists like Shel Silverstein and Bill Harley who buck the current of sap that flows through the folk scene. Even more dependable are adult artists when they create something for young ears and minds - like storytellers Jennings & Ponder, who tell folktales from around the world or Greg Brown who has recorded his own settings of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience and a collection called Bathtub Blues.
Still, I don't know nearly enough about the field. So, when Scott MacKinnon of WSMU in North Dartmouth, MA posted an excellent selection of songs from his annual 3-hour Children's Show, I thought others might enjoy perusing his choices as much as I did. Maybe you'll discover some new artists and material.
Below is Scott's posting to the FolkDJ-List. Thanks, Scott for giving me permission to re-post this. "Root 'n Branch", an eclectic mix of folk and acoustic music on WSMU 91.1fm, North Dartmouth, MA every Sat. evening from 5-8pm, realtime. Now in it's tenth year hosted by Scott MacKinnon:
Tonight is my annual "Kids" program. I've done this for ten years...formating music, new and old, created for children and the child within us all. This is an entire program I air once per year, totally dedicated to Childrens Music. If any record companies or artists are interested in providing promotional recordings for this annual event, you may send them to the stations or my home address listed at the end of the playlist.
TOURE KUNDA - Fatouyo (I am Fatou) - World Playground - Putumayo
NAZARI PEREIA - Bonjour Pra Voce (Good Morning to You) - World
Playground - Putumayo
TAJ MAHAL & LINDA TILLERY & THE CULTURAL HERITAGE CHOIR
- Beans & Cornbread - Shakin' A Feather - Music for Little
People
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO - Iko Iko - Choo Choo Boogaloo - Music for Little
People
MICHAEL DUCET W/FAMILY & FRIENDS - Johnny Peut Pas Dancer
(Johnny Can't
Dance) - Le Hoogie Boogie - Rounder
ELLA JENKINS - ABC's - Smithsonian Folkways Childrens Music
Collection - Smithsonian Folkways
THE HUBBARDS - Old Mother Hubbard - Olde Mother Goose: Classic
Nursery Rhymes - North Star
PETER ROWAN - Whether the Weather - Laughing Waters - Alacazam!
PETER ROWAN - Alfred the Hog - Laughing Waters - Alacazam!
SHEL SILVERSTEIN - Sick - Where the Sidewalk Ends - CBS Records
PETER ALSOP - Safari into my Sisters Nose - Silly Songs &
Modern Lullabies - Sierra
BABY GRAMPS - Mouse & His Child - A Victory for Kids - Victory
Music
DAN CROW - Apples & Bananas - Oops! - Rounder
GLENN OHRLIN - My Home's in Montana - The Land of Yahoe - Rounder
CISCO HOUSTON - Whoopie Ti Yi Yo - Smithsonian Folkways Childrens
Music Collection - Smithsonian Folkways
DAVID GRISMAN & JERRY GARCIA - A Horse Named Bill - Not for
Kids Only - Acoustic Disc
JEFF WARNER & JEFF DAVIS - Fooba Wooba - Old-Time Songs for
Kids - (Indie Cassette)
MIKE, PEGGY,BARBARA, & PENNY SEEGER - There was an Old Frog
- Animal Folk Songs for Children - Rounder
TOM GRANT - Secrets on the Farm - Streams of Consciousness - All
Wax, No Wane Music (Indie CD)
PETE SEEGER - All Around the Kitchen - Smithsonian Folkways Childrens
Music Collection - Smithsonian Folkways
WOODY GUTHRIE & ARLO GUTHRIE - Mail Myself to You - This Land
is Your Land - Rounder
STEPHEN BENNETT - Thornton's Creek - Oasis Acoustic: Instrumentals
Vol. 2 - Oasis Acoustic
CHILDSPLAY - Farwell Marian - Oasis Acoustic: Instrumentals Vol.
2 - Oasis Acoustic
NADA BROWN - Spirit Dance - Oasis Acoustic: Instrumentals Vol.
2 - Oasis Acoustic
BARBARA PHANEUP - Pajama Song - Good Company - (Indie CD)
BOB FRANKE - Straw Against the Chill - The 12 Steps of Christmas
& Other
Holiday Fare - Providence Music Works
TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA - My Hair had a Party Last Night -
Family Music Party - Trout Records
CATHY FINK & MARCY MARXER - Ten Cats Down - A Cathy &
Marcy Collection for Kids - Rounder
JON GAILMOR - Backhoe Girl - Childish Eyes - Softwood Recordings
JESSICA HARPER - Nora's Room - Nora's Room - Alacazam!
BILL HARLEY - Dad Threw the TV out the Window - You're in Trouble
- Round River
KERMIT THE FROG W/ LINDA RONSTADT - All I have to do is Dream
- Kermit
Unpigged - Jim Henson Records
BILL STAINES - A Place in the Choir - Happy Wanderer - Red House
SHEL SILVERSTEIN - Forgotten Language - Where the Sidewalk Ends
- Columbia
KENNY LOGGINS & JIM MESSINA - House at Pooh Corner - A Child's
Celebration of Song - Music for Little People
SHEL SILVERSTEIN - Bear in There - A light in the Attic - Columbia
PRISCILLA HERDMAN - Moon Upon the Left - Star Dreamer - Alacazam!
TED JACOBS & AMY DEEGAN - The Moon - A Childs Garden of Songs
- Music for Little People
JOHNNY CUNNINGHAM - (from the "Peter" recording on Alula...I
forgot to write down the particulars on this one..sorry)
LELAND BROWN - Time Can Be so Magic - Time Can Be so Magic:
Songs from
Captain Kangaroo - North Star/Little Star
DAVID PERRY - Nap Time Blues - Outer Space Playground - (Indie
Cassette)
DOC WATSON - My Little Buckaroo - Daddies Sing Goodnight - Sugar
Hill
JUDY COLLINS - All the Pretty Horses - Lullaby: A Collection -
Music for Little People
LIBANA - Swedish Lullaby - Lullaby: A Collection - Music for Little
People
NEELAM SHRESTHA - (Lullaby from Nepal) - The World Sings Goodnight
- Silver Wave Records
CONNIE KALDOR & CARMEN CAMPAGNE - I've been Told - Lullaby
Berceuse - Oak St. Music (Indie CD)
JUDY GARLAND - Over the Rainbow - A Child's Celebration of Song
- Music for Little People
THE MONKS OF NAM GYAL MONASTERY/ & THE BURNS SISTERS DAUGHTERS
(From the Burns Sisters CD) - Tibetian Prayer for Peace / Child's
Wishes - Tradition - Rounder
BILL HARLEY - Mr. Anderson-Bus Driver - Lunchroom Tales: A
Natural History of the Cafetorium - Round River
BILL HARLEY - In the Back of the Bus - Lunchroom Tales: A Natural
History of the Cafetorium - Round River
GREG BROWN - God Bless the Moon - Bath Tub Blues - Red House
GAMBLE ROGERS - Two Little Boys - Oklawaha County Laissez Faire
- Oklawaha Records
TOWNES VAN ZANDT - Hey Willie Boy - Daddies Sing Goodnight - Sugar
Hill
TIM O'BRIEN - Full Circle - Daddies Sing Goodnight - Sugar Hill
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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