A little while back, on a whim, I downloaded Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George, a set of songs by crunchy-mellow-surferdude Jack Johnson. I haven't seen the movie and I don't own any other Johnson albums, but my kid went through a Curious George phase, so I figured he might like it.
I'm somewhat embarrassed to reveal that he's not the only one. In the shower the other day I found myself humming:
If you have two
Give one to your friend
If you have three
Give one to your friend and me
It's always more fun
To share with everyone
I can't help it. It's catchy!
Anyway, most "kid music" is utterly insipid, so it's nice to find something for the boy that's just simple and good.
I bring all this up because a fairly strong environmental theme runs throughout the disc -- Johnson is a long-time greenie -- and the subject of pop songs came up a while back. Here are the lyrics to "The Three R's," a spin-off of the Schoolhouse Rocks classic "Three Is a Magic Number":
Three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
Because two times three is six
And three times six is eighteen
And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R
We've got three R's we're going to talk about today
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Because three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
3, 3, 3
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36
33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, and
3, it's a magic number
Sing along at home!
Update [2006-4-30 23:53:40 by David Roberts]: Apparently Johnson also started a foundation to bring environmental education to Hawaii's schools.
(Thanks, Lea!)
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caniscandida Posted 6:15 am
01 May 2006
On the general insipidity of children's music: No doubt that is true. Nevertheless, we are fond of an album by Sandra Boynton, the name of which I cannot now remember. Each song is about a different animal, and is sung by people with more or less big names, such as Meryl Streep and Patti LuPone. Our favorite is "Snuggle Puppy," sung by Eric Stolz. There is nothing especially "green" about the album, unless you consider celebrating animals a "green" thing to do. As I do.
On Curious George: Not my favorite children's-book character, but to each his own. (I am more a Babar man, myself.) There is an episode of The Simpsons in which Bart is shown reading "Curious George and the Ebola Virus." Presumably the moral is something like, "So you see, boys and girls, if somebody offers you bush meat, just say no."
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jbetzzall Posted 6:58 am
01 May 2006
As a former children's librarian who currently collects "green" songs for children I'd be very interested to hear other people's recommendations. My current favorites are Sarah Pirtle http://www.gentlewind.com/perform.htm and a duo called "Magpie", which performs a very catchy number titled "Shut off the water, [Don't let it run]" on their "Circle of Life" album http://www.magpiemusic.com/mag_rec.htm
Cheerio! Jonathan
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David Roberts Posted 6:59 am
01 May 2006
Basically this happy, curious monkey gets trapped by a white hunter, taken on a ship, gets disoriented, pukes, falls overboard and almost drowns, tries to escape when they get to NYC, and finally accepts his new role as an indentured servant.
The imperialistic overtones are inescapable. You really should check it out.
www.grist.org
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kmp Posted 7:20 am
01 May 2006
I would say "The Man in the Yellow Hat" ominously to my Mom the way other kids would say "boogeyman."
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Biodiversivist Posted 7:11 pm
01 May 2006
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com
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amazingdrx Posted 11:23 pm
01 May 2006
I got caught whistling "Singing In The Rain" whilst biking on my favorite trail yesterday.
The happiness of every living thing was palpable as the spring rain turned a brush firing potential drought to jungle energy.
The guy by the boat landing (non-motorized)with the retriever and giant ram tough gas guzzler quickly fled the scene and closed his truck door. Apparently he was more embarrassed? I bet it was because he felt the same way, hunters and treehuggers have a lot in common.
I kept on my ride.
Check out Woody Guthrie's children's songs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_to_Grow_on_for_Mother_and_Child
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog
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accel2 Posted 12:04 am
02 May 2006
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ourearthmusic Posted 5:24 pm
26 May 2006
Anne Leighton says in her newsletters:
"Wendy Flower has a sweet, Jackie DeShannon-esque ecologically-minded and animal-loving CD, FLOWER POWER. Proceeds go to Freethechildren.org, an education program for children in 45 countries.
. . . FLOWER POWER is perfect for families trying to educate their young children about principles offered in scary movies like AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. The web site is wendyflower.com, and her e-mail is (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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