Or, Kids' Music That Isn't Annoying, Part Three
Several months back, I was listening to music on www.pandora.com which, if you're poor and cheap, er, frugal like me, is an awesome thing. Any-hoo, on one of my stations, a song came on by Elizabeth Mitchell. I can't remember what it was, but I liked it a lot, so I looked up some info about her and found that she has recorded at least 3 CDs for children. We checked out You Are My Little Bird from the Library back in December and liked it, but then went to Lesotho and sort of forgot about it for a while. To take a break from Raffi and Buddy Holly, I checked it out again and now my little "Old Man" likes to hear it every day. He calls it "Wiza Jane," referencing the first song, "Little Liza Jane." Then I discovered that another library in our system had her CD You are my Sunshine, so we checked that out 2 weeks ago and have listened to it on all our recent trips to Gobby's house. Because "Old Man" doesn't like to bother to say Elizabeth Mitchell, we call this CD, "New Wiza Jane."
If you like the folkie kind of kids' music, which I obviously do (must have been all the Peter, Paul, & Mary, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Simon & Garfunkel I heard as a kid), you should definitely love her music. Even the Daddy-O seems to like it, and I don't even think it sounds exclusively like children's music, although her husband, daughter, and nieces and nephews join in on some of the songs.
If you read reviews of her work, the critics refer to it as "kid's music that's actually cool." When I first read that, I thought, "Well, of course, 'cuz I AM a trendsetter, after all." Then, the more I thought about it, I worried that you all might think I just like her because she's supposed to be cool. Au contraire! That's just not "how I roll." I can't tell you how many unpopular things I've liked; the number of TV shows I've liked that have been cancelled in the first season is quite remarkable. And Elizabeth Mitchell just has a wonderful, pure voice. Some of her songs may be quite "old," but they have a fun, fresh quality. It's just not "overdone" or ridiculous, like so much of kids' entertainment. And my kid loves it. I can't tell you how much I enjoy listening to him sing along with "Peace Like A River," "Three Little Birds," or "Ooby Dooby." And did I mention that she covers "The Ladybug Picnic?" How could I not like her?!?!
If you like the folkie kind of kids' music, which I obviously do (must have been all the Peter, Paul, & Mary, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Simon & Garfunkel I heard as a kid), you should definitely love her music. Even the Daddy-O seems to like it, and I don't even think it sounds exclusively like children's music, although her husband, daughter, and nieces and nephews join in on some of the songs.
If you read reviews of her work, the critics refer to it as "kid's music that's actually cool." When I first read that, I thought, "Well, of course, 'cuz I AM a trendsetter, after all." Then, the more I thought about it, I worried that you all might think I just like her because she's supposed to be cool. Au contraire! That's just not "how I roll." I can't tell you how many unpopular things I've liked; the number of TV shows I've liked that have been cancelled in the first season is quite remarkable. And Elizabeth Mitchell just has a wonderful, pure voice. Some of her songs may be quite "old," but they have a fun, fresh quality. It's just not "overdone" or ridiculous, like so much of kids' entertainment. And my kid loves it. I can't tell you how much I enjoy listening to him sing along with "Peace Like A River," "Three Little Birds," or "Ooby Dooby." And did I mention that she covers "The Ladybug Picnic?" How could I not like her?!?!
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