Lucy's Favorite Things: Music

I didn't think we would start listening to children's music this early, but in a moment of desperation during one "witching hour," I threw on the only kid's cd I had. And miracles of miracles, it worked. She stopped crying and just laid there in my lap. We rocked and listened for probably 20 minutes. Since then, we have been listening to my "Lucy music" station on Pandora quite frequently. I must admit, most kids music is really really bad. Just because someone is under 10 doesn't mean that the only songs they are capable of listening are those about monkeys or counting or boogers. But I have found a few that I don't find completely objectionable.

The winner: Tom Chapin

I grew up listening to Tom Chapin. I heart him. I've even seen him in "concert" at least two times. One time was a children's performance at the University of Illinois back when my dad was a grad student there. We went early and had a snack at one of the little university snack bar places and after sitting there a few minutes, guess who came in, grabbed a bagel and sat down - Tom Chapin! (okay, you could probably see that coming). I thought he was like a rock star so I was in awe the whole time and wanted to get his autograph but my mom made us leave him alone so he could eat in peace. Keep in mind I was only 7-8 years old or I would have known real "rock stars" don't have to eat bagels from the cafeteria.

But back to the point, his songs are fun and catchy without being stupid. And they feature a reoccurring cast so if you ask anyone in my family to describe "Bruno" they would know he isn't a dweeb but he owns a Saint Bernard and that Shirley and Sue made a fortune on lemonade but still like to play on swing sets. As a testimony to their catchiness, when Craig's brother and sister came to visit, I had it one as background noise one afternoon. Later that day, I "caught" Chad singing one of them.

One caveat though, since they are about a wide variety of topics, sometimes songs come up that we, as a family, don't really agree with. Nothing R-rated or anything like that, just a line here or about how we came from sludge or one there about mother earth. When Lucy is old enough that it's an issue, we'll probably handle it the same way my parent's did, by talking about it or asking questions "He just said that we came from apes. Some people believe that but what does the bible say about where humans came from?". And other times we'll just skip that song. Craig already asks me to skip "My town is a salad bowl" since it bugs him and we probably won't be listening to "Not on the test" any time soon either. It is normally limited to just one, maybe two songs per cd so I'm willing to put up with it. But I know that is a person decision and I didn't want anyone buying his cd and scratching their heads trying to figure out why the blonde REPUBLICAN couple recommended it.

Classical ?

This I'm stuck on. I want to find a good classical cd to have on during down time, especially for 20-30 minutes before we start our bedtime routine and maybe before naps but I'm having a hard time finding a good one.

The normal classical cds have to much variety. We will be listening to a nice, calm, quiet song and I feel like it is just the right time to move towards bath and pjs when BOOM - Ode to Joy comes blaring on. Or their are too many "downer" songs. I know that it might seem minor, but I really would like happier tunes only please.

So I tried checking out a kid's classical cd from the library but it was awful. The song choices were okay but the way they made it a "kids" cd was to play it on what sounded like a toy piano. Very plinky and not a lot of harmony. Yuck.

I bought a baby lullaby 3 cd pack from Target (you know, the end cap that you can listen to with all the $10 cds on it) and the cd is just what I wanted but cheap quality so it is already skipping and having issues. I'm not really comfortable having Lucy's bedtime routine depend on a cd that I have to insert 4-5 times into my cd player before it will be recognized. Some people like living on the edge, but not me!

So anyone have a good classical baby cd? Or other kids songs they like?