Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Gabba Gabba Goo Goo?

Muppet ShowI found out that the library owns a music CD called Rockabye baby! Lullaby renditions of the Ramones. Being a Ramones fan for a quarter of a century, I had to check it out. After all, who hasn't spent every spare second of the last 2-3 decades wondering why the Ramones never broke into children's entertainment? If Alice Cooper could be on the Muppet Show, why didn't the Ramones appear on Captain Kangaroo, The Magic Garden, or better yet, sing "Blitzkrieg Bop" with Mister Rogers?

Hey! Ho! Let's Go!Rockabye Baby! is a CD series, including lullaby versions of Bjork, Green Day, and Smashing Pumpkins. Friends without children are bemused by this, but several parents are acquainted with and recommend them. A toddler's dad informed me that the U2 edition was good for about 5 listens, which would make these the perfect items for library check-out. Just as the family is getting tired of the novelty, it's time to return it to the library for a new one!

The Ramones lullabies are a good selection of their most well-known songs. I didn't have an infant or toddler on hand to test it with, so I popped the CD in on a Thursday afternoon while I was updating the Summer Reading information. The songs are instrumentals, so you don't need to fret about explaining a lobotomy to a preschooler. Considering the original material, it's remarkably tame and soothing and saturated with glockenspiel . It didn't put me to sleep, but it didn't put me in the 'Ramones Zone' either. I kept finding excuses to leap from my desk and head to different areas of the building. I Wanna be Sedated indeed!

DSM-IVI was tempted to try out Lullaby Renditions of Nine Inch Nails but... I'll wait for another brave soul to get to it first. This series is recommended to parents who want to listen to "their" music without dragging out the DSM-IV to explain the lyrics. If you'd like to introduce your children to all-ages music while they're awake, may I suggest Lead Belly sings for children.

Extra special thanks to aa @main for alerting me to the existence of the Ramones in Lullaby format!

2 comments:

alissa said...

Thanks for another fun & informative post, AM! I always enjoy them.

Anonymous said...

I can see Joey Ramone rolling in his grave!!! LOL!