I finally reached a point last year when I could not take any more childrens music. However, I also got off the cool music train at the station marked 2001, popular radio just doesn't do it for me. Plus, you can't listen to half that stuff with kids in the car.
So, lately I've been hearkening back to my youth and making mix CDs for the kids and I to listen to in the car. The music either matches the time of the year (upbeat for summer) or marks a season like Christmas (we actually got through the whole season without hearing It's Christmas Eve in Washington or that terribly sad song Christmas Shoes).
I was just putting together another mix and I realized that there are certain songs that children should be exposed to in order to have a well rounded cultural experience. It goes without saying that children should be exposed to the Beatles and Elvis in their original form (the bastarization of classics masquarading as Children's Music is sickening). However, there are so many more songs that kids should know the words to and learn to appreciate so that they will remain woven in to the fabric of our cultural collective.
Below are some of the songs that I recently put on our "Songs You Need to Know" CD. It is an eclectic grouping that includes classic rock, musicals, country, ect. Please give me your suggestions and then make sure that your kids don't grow up only learning I Love You, You Love Me from Barney. That would truly be the end of American civilation as we know it.
How Do I Live- LeAnne Rimes
I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston
We Are Family- Sister Sledge
Under African Skies- Paul Simon (but really the entire Graceland album)
You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman- Aretha Franklin
Yesterday- Beatles
Hey Jude- Paul McCarney
I Enjoy Being A Girl- Flower Drum Song
Your Daddy's Son- Ragtime
Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
Swining on a Star- Bing Crosby
Phantom of the Opera
Memory- Cats
Unforgetable- Nat King Cole
Children Will Listen- In to the Woods
Come on people. I have given you a jumping off point. Show me what you got!