Kid friendly Rock n Roll songs

[TimothyBFan]

One of my great nieces (age 1) and one of my great nephews (age 2) are becoming big music lovers. My nephew Dane has learned how to use a real cd player and his parents have made him his own copies of their cds that he literally carries with him everywhere he goes, even to bed. Unfortunately, they are all country western cds-YUCK. My niece Lydia, whom I sit for, is always bopping around to music which is constantly playing in my house. I have started a project for both of them where I am going to make them their own Rock n Roll cds of "kid friendly" rock songs for Christmas this year.

I would love any suggestions anyone has. Here's what I have so far....

Yellow Submarine-Beatles
Octopus's Garden-Beatles
Boris The Spider-Who
Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog-3 Dog Night
They're Coming To Take Me Away-Dr Demento
C-Moon-Paul & Linda McCartney
Crockodile Rock-Elton John

Thanks in advance for your input!

[sodascouts]

Well, I have to say that some of the songs you listed I was not allowed to listen to as a kid! Admittedly, as you know, my parents are VERY old school. Their problems with the following:

"Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" encourages positive associations with drinking by having the cute frog drink a lot ("I helped him drink his wine - he always had some mighty fine wine").
"C Moon" talks about 17-year-olds having sex and hiding it from their parents ("Bobby Lived With Patty But They Never Told Her Daddy").

Also my parents mistakenly believed "Yellow Submarine" was about drugs and didn't want me listening to it because of that. Turns out it's perfect for the kids after all because that rumor was false!

Now, here's some of my ideas about what would be good songs for such small children, accompanied by videos so you can hear them and judge for yourself:

Don't Stop (great positive message and bright melody)- Fleetwood Mac
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8arvEzHsA8[/ame]

Big Girls Don't Cry (good message - "shame on you, you told a lie" etc. - all little girls want to be big girls) - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2s54WNBwiI[/ame]

Saturday Night (teaches spelling and also has bright melody) - Bay City Rollers (not the Eagles one lol)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBn2ux5vRHk[/ame]

Holiday Road (fun and it even has a dog barking at the end, lol) - Lindsey Buckingham
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLiQBV6A7c[/ame]

Sea Cruise (cute and fun, kids might especially like those ooh-wee, ooh-we lines)- Glenn Frey
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_TI2-fAPf4[/ame]

You might look at soundtracks for kid's movies to find more.

[EagleLady]

Well, Those are all good and all, But, I don't see what was bad about Joy To The World, Maybe it was an Anti drinking message, who knows.

[sodascouts]

Well, I think the "drinking makes you happy" message in those two lines is rather obvious once you think about it, EL, although admittedly it is not obvious if one just thinks about the chorus rather the verses. Of course, you can believe what you wish.

[EagleLady]

How about Bennie and The Jets? or Tommy's Holiday Camp by The Who

[luvthelighthouse]

Saturday Night (teaches spelling and also has bright melody) -

This had me cracking up!!! Teaches spelling!
I pretty much was brought up on all the top 40's of the 70's. Chicago, Eagles, Bee Gee's, etc. Thinking bac, my grandmother used to play My Ding A Ling for me all the time!

I'm not of the school of omitting too many songs, unless it's something along the lines of eminem. However, hints to sex or drinking are no biggie to me. I know I don't share much of my personal life on this board... but I'll say I'm around small children... and currently they are being brought up on anything I like. Mainly Eagles. (go figure)

I'm of no help... sorry...I will be thinking about it though. I

[sodascouts]

I'm not saying the songs are evil or something. I'm just saying I wouldn't call them "kid-friendly."

Here's how I define "kid-friendly":

1. Is about something kids would care about or find fun
2. Doesn't overtly refer to drugs, alcohol, or sex (kids don't care about sex anyway at the ages of 1 and 3, so this also falls under the above criteria)
3. Has a bright melody (this is also about fun factor)
4. Doesn't have any profanity, insults, or hateful language (kids repeat what they hear, especially at 1 and 3. Do you really want your kids running around cussing?)
4. Has a positive or at least harmless message; no encouragement of destructive behavior

Does every song you have to play when kids are in the room have to meet all the above criteria or else you're a bad parent? Certainly not! But if I were gonna give a kid a CD to play over and over and over again at such a young age, to sing along to, I'd think - do I really want this child singing about sex and drinking as they play with their toys and finger paint?

[TimothyBFan]

Soda--I actually just put Big Girls Don't Cry on my list.

ltlh--I'm the same. Shoot, when my son was 3, he often ran around singing Cat Scratch Fever by Terrible Ted or Big Balls by AC/DC. Bad parenting? Probably-but music was just one of those things we always had (and still do) going in our house at all times. Now my son listens to everything, from hip hop (Yuck) to Zappa, to thrasher rock, to Zeppelin to Sinatra. My daughter loves classic rock but also loves classical music and even her ringback tone is a Bach piece.

But that being said, this is for my niece and nephew and I have to behave because their parents may not like their 2 year old running around singing a little diddy by AC/DC called Big Balls.

[MikeA]

I think I told y'all about this once before. My Daughter and Son-In-Law along with Miles (three now but two when this happened)...were on their way home from somewhere in Iowa and decided to stay in Kansas City for the night and both knew that AmeriStar is a first rate hotel with good dining. Oh, it also is a Casino! But they weren't there for the gambling.

Coming from the parking lot to the hotel lobby, you walk down this long hallway. Phil said something to Amanda about it being a long CORRIDOR.

Oops! That triggered Miles! At the top of his lungs, he sang EVERY WORD of Hotel California <LOL> There was a group of Bikers leaving the Casino and when Miles started singing, they all stopped and listened with their jaws dropped open! When he finished, they gave him appropriate applause!

If they only knew that Miles knows most of the early Eagles stuff they would truly be amazed. I am. Doesn't seem to have hurt him much but then, the Eagles are a relatively "pure" group that have never depended on the "shock factor" that some artists resorted to in order to sell records. Still, hearing Miles sing "Life In The Fast Lane" word for word along with the recording is a bit unsettling <LOL>

The point is, I think Nancy is unquestionably right: Kids do repeat what they hear and some of them have minds like steel traps!

Oh, when Miles was just a little baby, not even crawling yet, the only way they could pacify him in his car seat was to put on Dilana and in particular her singing "Ring of Fire" and "The Cat's in the Cradle". He has literally grown up with Rock and Roll...my Daughter is no better an influence than am I and my wife.

[Prettymaid]

This is quite a discussion you've started Willie!

I always like the ever-useful phrase, "I listened to these songs as a kid and I turned out okay!"

Of course, I wasn't one year old or even three, but much older. I am never around small children so I have no idea what rock songs they would like. I would imagine any of the songs that promote peace and love would be good. Hey Willie, I know - how about Peace Train? It's a good message and it's about a train!