The kids have been obsessed lately with the film Curious George, and its accompanying soundtrack. All the songs are by Jack Johnson, and they are mellow and sweet and I really, really love them. I like the jangly guitar and the unassuming tunes and the softness of the songs.

But most of all, I adore the upbeat lyrics. The songs are all about how beautiful nature is, and how wonderful it is to have a good friend, and how important it is to recycle. Sure, they are meant for kids, but they aren’t silly or pandering or simplistic, like songs by The Wiggles (who, don’t get me wrong, I also like) or The Doodlebops (who, don’t mistake me, I absolutely despise). Instead, Jack Johnson’s stuff is actually enjoyable by happy, optimistic adults everywhere.

And to think I was really into The Cure and The Smiths in university. Goth is dead, people! No pun intended.

We have the Curious George CD on permanent repeat in the car and we often listen to it inside as well. The other day was searching for the Jack Johnson songs in iTunes so he could queue them up, and he discovered that we actually have one other Jack Johnson song in our music library. It’s a track from Maybe This Christmas, one of my favourite Christmas CDs (although, I am quite the Christmas music lover, and pretty much anything that mentions Santa or snow while jingle bells jingle in the background is a big hit in this house).

Anyway, the Jack Johnson Christmas track is “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” But in true Jack fashion, he couldn’t just leave it at, “Then all the reindeer loved him.” Instead, he adds this extra verse at the end, after “You’ll go down in history”:

But Rudolph he didn’t go for that
He said, “I see through your silly games”
“How can you look me in the face
When only yesterday you called me names?”

All of the other reindeer, well,
They sure did feel ashamed
“Rudolph you know we’re sorry,
We’re truly gonna try to change.”

And that’s what makes this my all-time favourite version of Rudolph. Adorable, and jangly, and upbeat, just the way I like it.

Plus, when Captain Jelly Belly and I were discussing Rudolph the other day, and singing the song, the Captain pointed out that it was NOT very nice of the other reindeer to laugh, and that their sudden change of heart seemed disingenuous (although he didn’t quite phrase it that way). I was able to pull out this version of the song and we talked about apologies and kindness and not calling people names. Nice.

Jack rocks!