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Do you remember your favourite song as a kid?
I’m not going to lie, I still get a little dreamy over my preteen crush when I hear Hungry Eyes. And when Wilson Phillips appeared at the end of Bridesmaids, my best gals and I turned straight into unadulterated 13-years-olds, singing every single word with maximum drama and pride. What would have happened if Tiffany or New Kids had belted out? Nostalgia meltdown most likely.
Wilson Phillips – Hold On. Go On Gals, You Know You Want To.
I’m guessing most of us remember the music we listened to as teens, but what about as really small kids?
I’m not ashamed to say that I spent every day of my four year old life sat crying to Abba’s Super Trouper and the theme tune to The Thorn Birds. What does that say about me as an adult? Well, I’d prefer not to speculate, but I am very nearly, almost definitely over my priest obsession.
Why is Music So Good For You?
I asked Dr Johanne Brodeur, head of the Children’s Music Department at the Victoria Conservatory of Music why musical experiences are so important to children. Here’s what she said: “Kids who grow up hearing music, singing songs, and moving to the beat are enjoying a rich sensory environment. Musical experiences are an important way to help create pathways in the brain, also called neural connections. Although listening to music is certainly key to creating these pathways, it’s when kids actively participate in music that they make the strongest connections.”
Well I am always up for a bit of musical participation, so along with my trusty toddler sidekicks, let’s call them Luciano, Bach and Emmylou, I decided to put a few kids’ favourites to the test. After asking some local experts in the field of kids, kid’s music and good old rock n roll, we limbered up, ate some raisins (THE toddler party high) and hit the dance floor. All choices were awarded a dance star rating out of five dependent on how wild our moves got.
Ladies and Gents, please join us for the ultimate kids music dance off!
Stretching out before the big dance off.
Expert: Katie from the VCM: “my FAVOURITE music when I was little was Raffi”
Song Choice: Little Red Wagon
Summary: The kids loved it, they were bound to, it’s Raffi!
Dance Star Rating: 4
Expert: Neil Osborne, lead singer of Canada’s premier rock band 54:40: “Pretty much the Beatles”
Song Choice: Most popular search choice for Beatles’ music was Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Summary: – Perfect kids’ chorus, some interest lost in verses, opening synths a little creepy for toddlers! (memo to self: choose earlier Beatles next time!)
Dance Star Rating: verse – 3, chorus – 4
Expert: Paul Laverick, ukulele teacher and strings expert at Larsen Music, Victoria.
Song Choice: Baggy Trousers by Madness.
Summary: If you have a toddler nearby, play this now, it will prove hilarious, I promise!
Dance Star Rating: 5
Madness, Baggy Trousers
Expert: Marnie from MusicWithMarnie one of Canada’s top children’s entertainers – “My Hugest Inspiration was the Muppets & Electric Company”
Song Choice: Muppet Show, Electric Mayhem – Ain’t Misbehavin
Summary: This is a really smooth jazz tune with a lot of sax. Very mellow. Kids dancing though, likely still lost in the ‘Madness madness’.
Dance Star Rating: 4
Expert: Kristina Quinn, owner of kids’ party planning and events company Par-T-Perfect: “I vividly remember Donald Duck singing Macho Duck”
Summary: Okay, I am now on the hunt for the Mickey Mouse Disco album, this was so much fun. Must work on my duck voice though, I’d like to perfect it.
Dance Star Rating: 5
Expert: Shirley Broback host of Real Parenting on CFAX1070 and organiser of the Vancouver Island Baby Fair.
Song Choice:“Puff the Magic Dragon sung by Peter, Paul & Mary. Great memory.”
Summary: Totally timeless, the kids loved it, I loved it and no one mentioned it’s shady alternative meaning (because no one but me can talk).
Dance Star Rating: 5
Peter, Paul and Mary, Puff The Magic Dragon
Expert: The folks at Hip Baby, a local kids store in Victoria and Vancouver
Song Choice: Hippo in the Bath Tub by Anne Murray
Summary: This was my first Ann Murray experience. Now I feel truly and honourably Canadian.
Dance Star Rating: 4
Experts: The Kerplunks, winners of the 2011 WCMA for Children’s Recording of the Year for their Album, Number 3.
Choice: Well there are four of them and they kindly chose their childhood faves and their modern faves, so we finished our dance party with a one big mash up of their choices and then some Kerplunks and MusicWithMarnie originals.
Summary: When I tell you the choices included The Jackson Five, Pointer Sisters, Kermit and They Might be Giants, you can probably imagine the musical hysteria that just went on in my front room. Wow.
Dance Star Rating: 5 if not 6 huge stars out of 5
Overall winner: Well Baggy Trousers certainly deserves an honourable mention and Puff The Magic Dragon is pretty much the perfect kids’ song, but gold has to go to The Jackson Five’s ABC, chosen by Tina from The Kerplunks, that really had the party going!
The Jackson 5 – ABC
So now it’s your turn, do you remember your favourite songs from when you were a kid or teenager, something that still gives you goosebumps and floods you with memories? Send us the link so we can put it to the toddler test!
Amber R Bosma
Marketing Manager at UsedEverywhere.com. Lover of yoga, bees, red wine, rock n roll music, good books and mountain views.
Scott Valentine
Great blog Amber! Reading your musical memories had me lost in time, Moonwalking to Michael Jackson and belting out 80’s soft rock with Glass Tiger. As a young teen I visited Penny Lane on a pilgrimage with my parents and my love for music has only diversified and grown even more since then.
Music is a fundamental form of emotional expression and I love experiencing the joy of my daughter as she listens to Feist and Elmo mashups on YouTube. I can’t wait to show Bella these vids and rate her dance excitement!
Amber R Bosma
I would love to see a video of Bella getting down to Baggy trousers, Scott!
Carly Russell-Huntley
“I think we’re alone now” by Tiffany. She was the teenage rebel who left her parents at age 13 to find fortune and fame ( only to lose it quickly and later find it again boxing against other B-list celebrities on cable). Lol! Oh how I looked up to her. I can’t help but belt out those lyrics everytime I hear it. Oh and my other favorite theme song is “Jem and the Holocosts.” I idolized them…Boo to the Misfits!
fred
adam and the ants — stand and deliver /// used to lose my shit over that song … now where is that white lipstick ….
Becci
Chameleon was my childhood song… BRILLIANT!!!
Megan
Having a young mum in the 80’s – my childhood song was Suicide Blonde by INXS………Only I thought the lyrics were “Sitting by the frog”, not Suicide Blonde.
Nadine
Well, I was in LOVE with Wilson Phillips, and my favourite song for a long time was If a Tree Falls by Bruce Cockburn. (YEs, I am Canadian). I also did a lot of dancing to INXS, surprisingly or not so all of these faves were created in the Kootenays. I wonder what that means? haha. Now I sing jazz and Stevie Wonder, music is life though, it has a large part in molding you as a big human.
RyanRutley
I LOVED Everybody Wants to Rule the World when I was little — took at least ten years to sort out what the song was! Still a favourite.
Ruth Wilson
Has to be the huge influence of the music my parents and their friends listened to mostly played from a good old fashioned juke box!!! Music from the 50’s and 60’s – Rock & Roll and R&B…. My fav being the likes of Jailhouse Rock Elvis and Rock Around the Clock (I think by Chuck Berry!?). I still get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I hear music from that era – even tho they were way before my time!
Amber R Bosma
Ha ha, you ladies are of my era it seems! 😉
comea comea comea comea chameleon… oh how I loved Culture Club!
Becca
I’m going to have to try some of these out with my little boy – he loves a good boogie! I was also brought up with music and dancing and it is still a big part of my life. I hope it affects my children in the same way.
Thanks for a great blog!
Deanna
Great article Amber! Brings me back to Raffi, Valdi, and Sharon, Lois and Bram (I am obviously Canadian as well 🙂 In my pre-teen years it was The Bangles, Tiffany, Mini Pops, Phil Collins, Bruce Cockburn, Huey Lewis and the News, Michael Jackson – duh!- and Corey Hart. Okay, okay…most of these were also danced hard to in the family livingroom while dressing my brother up like the lead singer (or just as any girl because it was more fun). High school came round and so did Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Zepplin, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, U2 and so many others. Probably the most overplayed album in my collection was U2’s Actung Baby. So, so many songs to fall in love to and have my heart broken to. Love the flashbacks this article brings!
Amber R Bosma
You guys are hilarious! I tired so hard to get my little one to pose with the album cover of U2’s War, but wasn’t a big fan as a kid…except Love Is Blindness, I could have a good cry to that. Which means I am giving the impression I cry a lot… honestly, I don’t anymore….
Amber R Bosma
I am guessing we’re all 80s kids!
Mairead
My fave kid song was something about the “Last Unicorn” and Raffi was a big hit around our house (“Joshua Giraffe” and “Baby Beluga”) 🙂
I also fondly remember listening to Simon and Garfunkel (Really Liked “At the Zoo”), The Eagles, The Pointer Sisters and The Beatles in the car with Mum. Loved “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da” as a kid, too!
Rosie
I loved the Russian dance from the nutcracker and German beer drinking song also sea chanties (modern music was banned in my house growing up!)
Kate Random Love
Fabulous blog! My earliest music memories were 1) whenever my parents had dinner parties they’d play Pearl’s a Singer over and over (god knows how their guests felt about it!); 2) Every Thursday, when TOTP was on, my mum woudl push back the sofa and we’d stand in fron tof our tiny B&W tv set and mum would teach us routines to all the songs; 3) Dancing round my bedroom to Blondie’s Heart of Glass aged 4, wearing plastic heels and a feather boa, thinking ‘agh! I’ve grown up!’; 5) driving to the south of France to go camping with my parents. The only cassettes we took were Paul Simon’s Graceland and Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s Dancer With Bruised Knees. We must’ve listening to them hundreds of times. I still know every word.
Kate Random Love
Ps sorry for typos!
Kimberly from vogelJoy
There are so many good songs from my childhood!! I would have to say that I was a bit of a movie girl and still am and so most of my favourite songs come from movies! Like: The Bare Necessities from the Jungle Book is Fantastic! And Step in Time from Mary Poppins is still a lot of fun. And I always thought Nora from Pete’s Dragon was so beautiful and I just loved the song Candle On The Water. But the funnest song off that show would have to be: ‘A Dragon, A Dragon, I swear I Saw A Dragon!’ and it’s definitely tied with the hilarious song from the same movie ‘Every Little Piece’