My sister FameThrowa came by on the weekend with a cool gift for the Captain — a mixed CD of kid-friendly tunes she’d made herself. So far the Captain’s favourites are (surprise, surprise) the Phil Collins song and the Ricky Martin song (a poor man’s Enrique, he says).
But also at the top of the list, surprisingly, is “My Girl” by The Temptations. I’m pretty happy that he likes the song, and also happy that FameThrowa put several cool selections from the 50s and 60s on the CD. I’ve been searching for family-friendly music for the Captain for a while, and although we have several CDs that are expressly made for children, I’ve found that my personal favourites are early rock albums, like those by The Beatles and Elton John.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about older songs from the 50s and 60s, and how Captain Jelly Belly will never hear them if I’m not really proactive about playing them. They just don’t play a lot of music from that era on the radio anymore. When I was growing up, my mom listened to an “oldies” station that played 50s and 60s stuff — stuff from her youth — all the time, so I know all kinds of songs by big bands like the Beach Boys and The Four Seasons, but also songs by one-hit wonders like Booker T and MGs or The Singing Nun. Now, our local “oldies” station plays stuff from the 80s and 90s — stuff from my youth — and the 50s and 60s stuff is all but gone. Sometimes you’ll hear a Beatles tune on the easy listening station, or a Rolling Stones song on the classic rock station, but there’s no one out there these days playing a lot of Elvis or Smokey Robinson or The Supremes. I guess it’s because all the folks that are my mom’s age have moved over to listening to the CBC.
When I was a kid, we used to have “song nights” at my house where we’d haul out my mom’s 45s (she had hundreds of them) and I’d play DJ, and my sisters and I would groove to the old tunes all evening. I don’t even have a turntable now, so there’s just no way to play those songs. It makes me sad — like a whole generation of good music (better than the 80s, as evidenced by that embarrassing local “oldies” station) is disappearing. I vow to do my best to illegally download all the old favourites I can remember, and play them for Captain Jelly Belly as much as possible. Maybe I’ll make my mom a CD, too.
TurtleHead 
And that’s one of the big reasons I wanted to make that CD. If you ever want a custom-made one, just let me know. I take requests! Failing that, you can be sure there will be a volume 2 soon enough.
Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it!
Most Buddy Holly songs are family-friendly…
And I bet he’d like La Bamba
Excellent suggestions! I will definitely put Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on our play list. I’ll throw in The Big Bopper too, just to complete the trio — I always used to sing “Chantilly Lace” for the Captain as a baby :).
Fantastic! Two songs that he likes that we don’t have on CD (just MP3s on the computer) are Here Comes The Sun by the Beatles, and Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison (censored version for little ears). I’d also love to have a copy of When I’m 64 by the Beatles.
I think next time we’re in Cambridge, if I remember, I will get out mom’s old 45s and have a look at them, and make up a list. Coolio!
I forgot to mention that another reason I’ve been thinking about the oldies is Moulin Rouge. When they sing that medly of (mostly old) love songs, I remember how dazzled I was to recognise song after song. There’s a few in there that younger listeners probably have never heard of — so maybe I will track down the original artists and request those. It’s one reason I bought the best of Elton John — so the Captain could get to know “Your Song” and recognise it in the movie :).
Okee doke. I’ve put these on the list for the next mix. Keep ’em coming!