14 August 2007

Tom Chapin

Anyone who's ever had satellite radio can tell you exactly why it is aptly nick-named "Crack Radio." I am lucky enough to have Sirius Satellite radio in my car and even though I also have AM/FM radio and a 6-CD player, I listen to my satellite radio exclusively. And for those of you who immediately think of Howard Stern, I have never listened to him once.

However, I have discovered a number of artists I might not other wise have heard of. Especially in kids' music. Sirius channel 116, Kids Stuff, is all kids music all the time and Zoe just loves it. While I think the station name should be changed to Laurie Berkner and friends radio, I am so pleased that we discovered Tom Chapin through this station.

Tom Chapin is the brother of the late Harry Chapin and as it turns out he is a fairly prolific musician. His songs are really great and have wonderful lyrics that are just right for younger kids, but enjoyable for grown-ups too. Of course the brother of the man who wrote 30,000 Pounds of Bananas should have the same talent for lyrics. (Yes, we have no bananas in Scranton, PA...)

One of my favorites songs of his is called "Questions" The chorus goes like this: "I want to know why and how and which and what and where and when so I am gonna ask and ask and ask and ask and ask again." Then he goes on to pose a long list of questions. The funniest part is that when the song comes on Zoe will provide an answer to each one of the questions.

Some examples:

How does an iPod play?
You turn it on.

Who puts the stuff in stores?
Trucks bring the stuff.

When did your hair turn gray?
When you got old.

Why do we still have wars?
Because boys are mean.

Where do you go when you die?
Heaven

And my favorite is...

How does the tooth fairy know?
Practice.

1 comment:

bluepearl70 said...

Hello ZoesMom.

My kids love Kids Stuff on Sirius, a.k.a. "crack radio" (funny, and true) in my car.

I'm the father of a boy in 2nd grade and a girl in kindergarten, and I always hear them around the house signing something they heard on Kids Stuff. The past couple of days it's been "I want to know why and how and which and what and where and when so I am gonna ask and ask and ask and ask and ask again" over and over again. haha

The way I found your blog was doing a Google search on Tom Chapin. They love the song "Questions", and my kids also answer each question with their own little idea. They also like the song "Two Kids of Seagulls" (I think it's called) by Tom Chapin. Good stuff.

Glad to hear other kids out there enjoy the channel as much as mine do. ...and believe it or not, I actually enjoy it sometimes too, for example, when they play some older tunes like something from "The Muppet Movie" or some Schoolhouse Rock (from our generation). Then of course, like adults do, I have to bore them with a story about how I used to listen to this when I was their age. ha

I DEFINITELY have to agree with you that sometimes there's too much Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes, not that they are bad or anything, it just gets monotonous at times.

I have to admit, once the kids are all dropped off at school and I'm on my way to work, I AM a Howard Stern listener haha ..but I certainly don't mind, and actually enjoy, much of the programming on Kids Stuff as well.

Anyways, just thought your post was interesting and I decided to comment.

Enjoy!