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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 to 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 games and 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 universally praised kids' 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.The playlist is reprinted by Scott's permission.
View Scott MacKinnon's playlist - over 100 great children's songs -> 1 - 2
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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