I'll Give You a Song
Since there was a great, vigorous discussion about e-publishing already taking place in the comment trails of the past two posts, I was tempted to just skip my blog today, but, well, I’d better do my duty. Work first, then play is my motto!
Ha ha! Actually, that’s a gigantic fib. I’m perfectly capable—unfortunately—of ignoring work and playing instead (hello, email and Twitter). If someone paid me for the skill of procrastinating work, I’d be rich, though I’m guessing if someone volunteered to pay me for procrastination, they’d be the type of person who’d never get around to sending me the check.
Today’s topic: music. My daughter wanted me to buy the new Mana single (I know that's not typed correctly--I tried to figure out how to make an accent mark but failed). Mana is a Latin rock band my daughters love. I don’t speak Spanish, but both of my daughters study it—one daughter is in AP Spanish Literature and the other is minoring in Spanish at BYU. I think it is absolutely awesome that they’re both on their way to becoming fluent. I never got past the “Hola, como estas” two-years-of-high-school-Spanish phase, so to see them actually learning a new language is exciting. It’s also handy. The other day I was playing Sorry with my two youngest children and we had a dispute about the rules, with the six-year-old insisting you couldn’t do something and me saying you could. She grabbed the rule sheet, but it turned out to be in Spanish; we’d lost the English one. So I took the rule sheet downstairs, handed it to my 17-year-old, told her our question, and she found the section in question and translated (turns out the six-year-old was right :).
Um . . . anyway. Where was I? Yes, buying a song. So my daughter was messaging me, saying I needed to enter my info into iTunes so they could get the song. I accused her of whining and said I was trying to finish writing my blog and she was raining on my parade. She said that wasn’t a valid use of that idiom. I typed, “so you’re the idiom police now?” She typed, “you told me to get a job.”
Later, she messaged, asking “do you have a song for me?” I said sure, but her words sparked a memory, so I gave her the following song (though at the time I messed up the first line-hey, it had been a while since I'd heard it):
“I’ll give you a song
That I think is tops
If you keep up this racket
I’m calling the cops.”
She was amused. This song, written by Joseph A. Bailey and Sam Pottle, was sung by Oscar the Grouch on a Sesame Street album that my sister and I loved when we were young. Thinking of that song made me think of the album, which made me think wouldn’t it be fun to have that album again? I went to iTunes and searched for it and to my delight, there it was—Sesame Street: Bert and Ernie Sing-Along, originally released in 1975. Bert is taking a bath and singing to himself. Ernie hears him singing and decides a sing-along is a good idea (“Ernie! What are you doing—you can’t push the piano through the bathroom door!” “Sure I can, Bert. Watch!”). A bunch of fun songs follow, and it’s remarkable how familiar the album is, even though heaven knows how many years have passed since I heard it. Music is like that; it really sticks in your head. I’m not a little kid anymore, but I still love that album (my six-year-old did NOT want to hear it at first—perhaps she felt it was beneath her dignity—but later conceded it wasn’t bad).
How about you? Is there any music that you loved as a kid and still love or have recently rediscovered?
Ha ha! Actually, that’s a gigantic fib. I’m perfectly capable—unfortunately—of ignoring work and playing instead (hello, email and Twitter). If someone paid me for the skill of procrastinating work, I’d be rich, though I’m guessing if someone volunteered to pay me for procrastination, they’d be the type of person who’d never get around to sending me the check.
Today’s topic: music. My daughter wanted me to buy the new Mana single (I know that's not typed correctly--I tried to figure out how to make an accent mark but failed). Mana is a Latin rock band my daughters love. I don’t speak Spanish, but both of my daughters study it—one daughter is in AP Spanish Literature and the other is minoring in Spanish at BYU. I think it is absolutely awesome that they’re both on their way to becoming fluent. I never got past the “Hola, como estas” two-years-of-high-school-Spanish phase, so to see them actually learning a new language is exciting. It’s also handy. The other day I was playing Sorry with my two youngest children and we had a dispute about the rules, with the six-year-old insisting you couldn’t do something and me saying you could. She grabbed the rule sheet, but it turned out to be in Spanish; we’d lost the English one. So I took the rule sheet downstairs, handed it to my 17-year-old, told her our question, and she found the section in question and translated (turns out the six-year-old was right :).
Um . . . anyway. Where was I? Yes, buying a song. So my daughter was messaging me, saying I needed to enter my info into iTunes so they could get the song. I accused her of whining and said I was trying to finish writing my blog and she was raining on my parade. She said that wasn’t a valid use of that idiom. I typed, “so you’re the idiom police now?” She typed, “you told me to get a job.”
Later, she messaged, asking “do you have a song for me?” I said sure, but her words sparked a memory, so I gave her the following song (though at the time I messed up the first line-hey, it had been a while since I'd heard it):
“I’ll give you a song
That I think is tops
If you keep up this racket
I’m calling the cops.”
She was amused. This song, written by Joseph A. Bailey and Sam Pottle, was sung by Oscar the Grouch on a Sesame Street album that my sister and I loved when we were young. Thinking of that song made me think of the album, which made me think wouldn’t it be fun to have that album again? I went to iTunes and searched for it and to my delight, there it was—Sesame Street: Bert and Ernie Sing-Along, originally released in 1975. Bert is taking a bath and singing to himself. Ernie hears him singing and decides a sing-along is a good idea (“Ernie! What are you doing—you can’t push the piano through the bathroom door!” “Sure I can, Bert. Watch!”). A bunch of fun songs follow, and it’s remarkable how familiar the album is, even though heaven knows how many years have passed since I heard it. Music is like that; it really sticks in your head. I’m not a little kid anymore, but I still love that album (my six-year-old did NOT want to hear it at first—perhaps she felt it was beneath her dignity—but later conceded it wasn’t bad).
How about you? Is there any music that you loved as a kid and still love or have recently rediscovered?
Stephanie Black — 3/23/2011 01:58:00 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
It is actually a Sesame Street movie with Music, does that count? Follow That Bird rocks. I fould the DVD in the bargin bin at Walmart and it gets watched frequently at my house.
ñ is made by holding down the alt key and then 0241. Not the fastest letter to create but how often do you need to type ñ?
I LOVE that album. It was our family's go-to car album for years, and when my oldest was about to make his first long car ride I looked it up and bought a used tape on Ebay. I need to get a digital copy of it.
Oscar don't allow no drum-drum drumming here...
Something like this just came up this week. My wife was prepping a cherry pie for a family gathering and a scrap of lyric popped into my head : "Can you bake a cherry pie, something-something?" She was sure I was just making it up (really, who can blame her?), but I searched it on Google and it turns out that the somethings at the end are the name of the song : Billy Boy.
Link: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/billyboy.htm
I couldn't figure out where I would have heard this folk song from 1930, so I asked Mom. She said that her mother had sung it to her when she was little, so she (her mom) probably sang it to me when I was little. Awwwwww.
The record I wore out as a kid was the Mary Poppins soundtrack.
Also: glad to see your 2nd daughter has "police" aspirations. Must be genetic. I think it would be a correct use of the idiom if you really enjoyed blogging and she was preventing you from writing it.
But we know better. ;)
I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the storm cloud that rains on your parade!
Kelsi Rose, a movie definitely counts!
Janice, thanks--I actually needed an "a" with an accent mark--is there a code for that one?
Emily M., I'm excited to find someone else who knows and loves that album!
"Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy, can she bake a cherry pie, charming Billy?" A classic, definitely. And I rather mixed my daughters in the blog; the 17-yo translated the instructions, the 19-yo is the member of the idiom police; both wanted the Mana song. The 17-yo has no police aspirations. :)
Mary Poppins--that's definitely some great music!
That shows what my years of Spanish did for me. I didn't even know what letter needed accents.
all the accents are here http://www.spanishnewyork.com/spanish-characters.html
Me hace sonreir!
Thank you, Janice! I appreciate it!
David, I asked my daughter to translate your comment for me :) Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
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