Blast from the past
There was this tape that we listened to over and over when I was a little kid. In the manner of children, I didn't know what the name of the tape was, or who was on it, or even the names of the songs, really; I just knew that I loved it.
The subject of this tape recently came up in conversation with my mom, and I remembered how awesome this music was, and how much I enjoyed listening to it as a kid. So Mom went to the library and found a copy on CD.
It is actually a Disney CD, recorded to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. It is called "For Our Children." This is the track list.
01. Give a Little Love - Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
02. This Old Man - Bob Dylan
03. Cushie Butterfield - Sting
04. Mary Had a Little Lamb - Paul McCartney
05. The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Stephen Bishop
06. Itsy Bitsy Spider - Little Richard
07. Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips - Bruce Springsteen
08. Country Feelin's - Brian Wilson
09. Blueberry Pie - Bette Midler
10. The Pacifier - Elton John
11. Getting to Know You - James Taylor
12. Autumn to May - Ann & Nancy Wilson
13. Child of Mine - Carole King
14. Tell Me Why - Pat Benetar
15. A Medley of Rhymes - Debbie Gibson
16. Blanket for a Sail - Harry Nilsson
17. Good Night, My Love (Pleasant Dreams) - Paula Abdul
18. Gartan Mother's Lullaby - Meryl Streep
19. Golden Slumbers - Jackson Browne & Jennifer Warnes
20. A Child is Born - Barbra Streisand
This album just blows my mind. Look at those artists! I mean HELLO-I grew up listening to Bob Dylan, Little Richard, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand, and The Boss sing kids' songs while riding around in my mom's old grey Chevy Caprice?! Elton John? Bette Midler? Carole King? Ziggy Marley? Paul McCartney? Meryl Streep?!
These were the voices of my childhood, and I had no idea how cool that tape was until just recently. I'm listening to it right now, for the first time in years, and it's like I'm six years old again...... I can smell graham crackers, I see the big front window of the apartment we used to live in on 6th St., the drive back and forth from Mom's house to Dad's house. I know every inch of that drive, I could do it in my sleep.
Somewhere in my subconscious I know every note of this album. Some of the songs sound slightly unfamiliar-I remember them differently after not hearing them for ten years. I recognize the voices now, which is strange. It's not just some guy singing "This Old Man;" I know it's Dylan, and I have very different associations with Dylan now. I don't connect him to my childhood, I connect him to my adolescence. But here is his voice, singing this song from when I was a little kid.
But I know this album. I might not remember every word, but I feel these songs. They're physically a part of me, they grew into me as I was growing up. My brain might not recognize the song title "Country Feelin's," but something else in me remembers how the song goes on its most basic level, when the chord changes, when the key changes.
Because it's just an awesome song, under the cut is the text to Bruce Springsteen's "Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips." Words and music by John & Nancy Cassidy.
All right
A-one, two
A-one, two, three, four
Well this is to all you kids out there who hate your mom and pop forcin' you to eat everything that's on your dinner plate every night
When I was a little kid
I never liked to eat
Mom would put things on my plate
And I'd dump 'em on her feet
But then one day she made this soup
I ate it all in bed
I asked her what she put in it
And this is what she said:
"Oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise"
I went into the bathroom
And I stood beside the sink
I said, "I'm feelin' slightly ill
And I think I'd like a drink"
Mama said, "I've just the thing
I'll get it in a wink
It's full of lots of protein
And vitamins, I think"
It was chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise
The subject of this tape recently came up in conversation with my mom, and I remembered how awesome this music was, and how much I enjoyed listening to it as a kid. So Mom went to the library and found a copy on CD.
It is actually a Disney CD, recorded to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. It is called "For Our Children." This is the track list.
01. Give a Little Love - Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
02. This Old Man - Bob Dylan
03. Cushie Butterfield - Sting
04. Mary Had a Little Lamb - Paul McCartney
05. The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Stephen Bishop
06. Itsy Bitsy Spider - Little Richard
07. Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips - Bruce Springsteen
08. Country Feelin's - Brian Wilson
09. Blueberry Pie - Bette Midler
10. The Pacifier - Elton John
11. Getting to Know You - James Taylor
12. Autumn to May - Ann & Nancy Wilson
13. Child of Mine - Carole King
14. Tell Me Why - Pat Benetar
15. A Medley of Rhymes - Debbie Gibson
16. Blanket for a Sail - Harry Nilsson
17. Good Night, My Love (Pleasant Dreams) - Paula Abdul
18. Gartan Mother's Lullaby - Meryl Streep
19. Golden Slumbers - Jackson Browne & Jennifer Warnes
20. A Child is Born - Barbra Streisand
This album just blows my mind. Look at those artists! I mean HELLO-I grew up listening to Bob Dylan, Little Richard, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand, and The Boss sing kids' songs while riding around in my mom's old grey Chevy Caprice?! Elton John? Bette Midler? Carole King? Ziggy Marley? Paul McCartney? Meryl Streep?!
These were the voices of my childhood, and I had no idea how cool that tape was until just recently. I'm listening to it right now, for the first time in years, and it's like I'm six years old again...... I can smell graham crackers, I see the big front window of the apartment we used to live in on 6th St., the drive back and forth from Mom's house to Dad's house. I know every inch of that drive, I could do it in my sleep.
Somewhere in my subconscious I know every note of this album. Some of the songs sound slightly unfamiliar-I remember them differently after not hearing them for ten years. I recognize the voices now, which is strange. It's not just some guy singing "This Old Man;" I know it's Dylan, and I have very different associations with Dylan now. I don't connect him to my childhood, I connect him to my adolescence. But here is his voice, singing this song from when I was a little kid.
But I know this album. I might not remember every word, but I feel these songs. They're physically a part of me, they grew into me as I was growing up. My brain might not recognize the song title "Country Feelin's," but something else in me remembers how the song goes on its most basic level, when the chord changes, when the key changes.
Because it's just an awesome song, under the cut is the text to Bruce Springsteen's "Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips." Words and music by John & Nancy Cassidy.
All right
A-one, two
A-one, two, three, four
Well this is to all you kids out there who hate your mom and pop forcin' you to eat everything that's on your dinner plate every night
When I was a little kid
I never liked to eat
Mom would put things on my plate
And I'd dump 'em on her feet
But then one day she made this soup
I ate it all in bed
I asked her what she put in it
And this is what she said:
"Oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise"
I went into the bathroom
And I stood beside the sink
I said, "I'm feelin' slightly ill
And I think I'd like a drink"
Mama said, "I've just the thing
I'll get it in a wink
It's full of lots of protein
And vitamins, I think"
It was chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise