Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Shake Your Ya-Yas Out
A Child's Celebration of Silliest Songs is a collection of silly-themed and sounding songs recorded by several well-known artists representing a variety of styles. There is Raffi, of course, starting things off with "Shake My Sillies Out" and Shelley Duvall with a cool-jazz rendition of "Three Little Fishies" that is fun, strange and a wee bit creepy. Styles range from funky ("Beans and Cornbread" by Taj Mahal and Linda Tillery; "Ain't We Crazy" by The Persuasions), through ragtime jazz, bluegrass, an impassioned gospel performance by Little Richard of "On Top of Spaghetti" and even Buckwheat Zydeco (whose entire repertoire makes for excellent kid-friendly stomping), and to classic 1950s popular recording sounds by Danny Kaye and Burl Ives. There's even Julie Andrews and Dick "Don't Mind Me Accent, Guv'nor" Van Dyke extolling the linguistic virtues of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the Mary Poppins soundtrack.
For my money, the topper is "My Name is Cheech the School Bus Driver" by Cheech Marin. Full of word play, joking asides, the song detours through the African savanna, and throws in much more that bears repeated listening.
Interspersed among these tracks are several wonderfully performed silly classics - "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" and "Apples and Bananas" rank highest among these - that are strangely uncredited on the CD cover. I could have done without three different versions of "Be Kind To Your Web Footed Friends" - I now have John Philip Soussa stuck in my head. But don't let that stop you from checking this 1999 record from your local library. I have yet to test it on my own kids, but I reckon they will enjoy it mightily.
For my money, the topper is "My Name is Cheech the School Bus Driver" by Cheech Marin. Full of word play, joking asides, the song detours through the African savanna, and throws in much more that bears repeated listening.
Interspersed among these tracks are several wonderfully performed silly classics - "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" and "Apples and Bananas" rank highest among these - that are strangely uncredited on the CD cover. I could have done without three different versions of "Be Kind To Your Web Footed Friends" - I now have John Philip Soussa stuck in my head. But don't let that stop you from checking this 1999 record from your local library. I have yet to test it on my own kids, but I reckon they will enjoy it mightily.
