The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 21-25

Once again, somebody asked when the next entry in this series would be posted just as I planning the post. My readers are nothing if not persistent and possibly endowed with mind-reading abilities. Just another side benefit of reading this website.

With this entry, your opportunity to enter my contest to guess the Top 5 is rapidly disappearing. All entries are due before I post songs 16 through 20, which I expect to do this upcoming week. Winner gets a free CD. You might want to look at the previous entries...

Songs 26 through 30
Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

25. "Teddy Bears' Picnic" - John Walter Bratton (music) / Jimmy Kennedy (lyrics): Amazing what you learn in putting these lists together. Did you know the music for this song was written exactly 100 years ago? And then when words were added 25 years later, the resulting recording sold more than one million copies? (Thanks, Wikipedia!) The lyrics are probably what amuses the kiddos, but I love the way the melody bounces up and around. Recorded by many (Trout Fishing in America and Garcia/Grisman, among others), but why not listen to the original million-seller here?

24. "We Are the Dinosaurs" - Laurie Berkner: Long after Jack's Big Music Show has ended production, long after CDs have stopped production for some method of music distribution we can't even fathom, little kids will be singing this song. The earworm-y beginning -- "we are the dinosaurs, marching, marching, we are the dinosaurs..." followed by the "WHADDAYA THINK OF THAT?!!" and the timpani drum is, well, the opening strains of Beethoven's Fifth of the late 20th century kids' music resurgence. (Watch Laurie's Noggin video here.)

23. "This Little Light" - Traditional: It's a Christian hymn, but it's been used in the civil rights struggle of the 1960's and in countless other secular situations. Can I hide this song under a bushel? No! (You can listen to one of my personal favorite renditions -- the very first song on Elizabeth Mitchell's very first kids' album You Are My Flower -- on Mitchell's website. Click on "flower," then "listen".)

22. "Row Row Row Your Boat - Traditional (lyrics), Eliphalet Orem Lyte (music): While I'm not quite sure I agree with Wikipedia's existential explication of the lyrics, it's definitely not the most mind-easing set of lyrics if the parent is really paying attention to the lyric. Luckily, the words are so ingrained in our brain we don't need to pay attention to it in order to sing it. (And, as a result, there is absolutely no need to give you a sound clip. It's already stuck in your brain now anyway.)

21. "Baby Beluga" - Raffi and Debi Pike: This is the biggest hit from the biggest children's musician of all time. Shouldn't this be, like, #2? I feel bad putting it at #21 instead of somewhat higher, but I don't think it's the easiest song for kids to sing by themselves. But there are a bunch of kids who are singing it with their parents (who sang it with their parents). (Listen to the song at Raffi's Myspace page.)

The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 26-30

We are finally completing the "Others Receiving Votes" section of The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time. Except, of course, unless Top 25 college rankings, we actually rank items 26 on down. (Somewhere 'round here I actually have an "others receiving votes" listing for song #s 51+.)

A few mid-majors with strong performances, a few songs close to not quite at the top of the major conference standings...

In case you're tuning in late, here are the previous entries:

Songs 31 through 35
Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

There is still time (but not so much) to enter the contest to guess the Top 5. Winner gets one million dollars a free CD.

30. "Buckeye Jim" - traditional: This is just such a delightfully weird song. "Way up yonder in the sky / A blue bird lived in a jaybird's eye" the song starts off, and the meaning gets no clearer. Wonderful imagery, though I'm not sure the original songwriter was in a completely happy place when writing. (Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Zanes do the song; so do The Hollow Trees -- click on track 17.)

29. "Marvelous Toy" - Tom Paxton: This is one of the few songs on this list that's old but not traditional -- Tom Paxton wrote it but Peter, Paul and Mary made it famous. John Denver recorded it, too. (And apparently it was the Chad Mitchell Trio's biggest hit, but, uh, I've never heard of them.) I like the mystery about the toy -- "It went "Zip" when it moved and "Pop" when it stopped / "Whirrr" when it stood still / I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will." Indeed. (Listen to Amazon's miserly 30-second clip here.)

28. "All the Pretty Little Horses" - traditional: Oooooh. A lullaby that's not in a major key! Despite that the fact that the narrator's basically bribing the baby to go to sleep ("Hushabye, don't you cry / Go to sleep, little baby / When you wake, you'll cake / And all the pretty little horses"), I sing this quite a lot. (Did you know Olivia Netwon-John recorded an album of lullabies? I didn't. Anyone care to tell us how good it is? Even just the "All the Pretty Little Horses" sample?)

27. "Hot Potato" - The Wiggles: Yeah, deal. It's simple enough for kids to master, it's got hand motions, and 4 guys from Australia built a freakin' empire on this song. Sorry that this song will now be in your head today while you have that meeting with Terry from marketing. (Ah, YouTube, what would we ever do without you?)

26. "This Old Man" - traditional: Yeah, you're probably bored of singing it, but in the best folk song tradition, change the lyrics. At least the first line... "Britney Spears / She played one..." "John McCain / He played one..." "Shaquille O'Neal / He played one..." (No, I am not going to find a sample for you. If, however, you can find one of the three people listed above singing it...)

The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 31-35

The list continues. I'd been planning to post this entry this morning, so I found the fact that somebody just posted a comment on the last list of "Hey, whatever happened to the rest of the list?" amusing.

And to think I originally thought I'd crank these out in about two weeks.

In any case, here are the previous entries:

Songs 36 through 40
Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

And don't forget, there's still time to enter the contest. You can win a free CD!

35. "All Through the Night" - traditional: A traditional Welsh lullaby with less than straightforward lyrical hurdles to jump ("Soft the drowsy hours are creeping / Hill and dale in slumber steeping"), it's the melody that makes this classic. I'm amazed that this isn't covered more -- it's not like the lyrics are that difficult -- easily within the reach of a parent tired of singing more familiar lullabies. (Listen to a sample from Mae Robertson's rendition here.)

34. "Skidamarink" - traditional: Most uptempo lullaby ever. Actually, I'm not sure it's even a lullaby -- I just first heard it on a lullaby album. Compared to the very serious lullabies (see #35, for example), this is a refreshing alternative. (You can hear a sample of the version that introduced me to the song here. Listen to a sample from the Old Town School of Folk Music rendition here. A bit more uptempo.)

33. "Skip To My Lou" - traditional. There's the innocuous version ("Fly's in the buttermilk / Shoo, fly, shoo") and the embittered, scorned-preschooler version ("Lost my partnet / What'll I do?... / I'll find another one / Prettier than you"). (Raffi does the innocuous version, Bullfrog Jumped includes the other version.)

32. "If You're Happy and You Know It" - traditional. One of those songs that if you're the least bit cynical and tired you're just not going to appreciate. But it's a very simple song that kids have fun with -- who doesn't like clapping their hands or stomping their feet when they're 3? (The Old Town School of Folk Music -- who else? -- does a fun version on Songs For Wiggleworms -- sample here.)

31. "BINGO" - traditional. Actually, this is kinda hard for kids to completely master, though they'll have fun clapping. Now that I think about it, by the time the song gets to "clap, clap, CLAP CLAP OH!," I still have problems with it. Unfortunately, I can't think of any must-hear versions of the song -- it's too prescriptive for massive creativity. (Still, you can always go back to Wiggleworms Love You here.)

The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 36-40

For those tuning in late...

Songs 41 through 45
Songs 46 through 50

Contest

On to the songs...

40. "The More We Get Together" - traditional: "Traditional," but when the single most influential kids music artist of all time starts his very first album off with this song, it's forever owned by Raffi. (Listen to a cheesy government-funded instrumental version here. Shudder. Or another version here. I'm not even gonna try it. Clear out your brains with a 30-second sample of the classic version here.)

39. "Mr. Rabbit" - traditional: "Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit / You've been in my cabbage patch / Yes, my friend / And I ain't never comin' back / Every little soul must / Shine shine shine." Excuse me? What? That's, like, 3 non-sequiturs of a lyric. And somehow it's still catch and popular. (Sorry, no links. Johnny Keener's got a nice version on Elephants Over The Fence.)

38. "Rainbow Connection" - Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams: This would be a lot higher on the list, but I tell ya, that key change halfway through is just a difficult one to handle. Kermit's version is classic, of course, but almost too banjo-y, if such a thing can be said to exist. I think I actually prefer the Dixie Chicks' version on Mary Had A Little Amp. (Watch Kermit on YouTube.)

37. "My Hair Had a Party Last Night" - Trout Fishing in America: They've had a bunch of good songs ("Alien in my Nose" came close to making this list), but this is the one that's been covered a number of times already. "It started out friendly but there must've been a fight." (Listen to a sample of a live version here.)

36. "Pig on Her Head" - Laurie Berkner: One great thing about Laurie Berkner is that she writes kids songs that parents can actually sing. Admittedly, she's writing for toddlers, so that's on purpose, but we still sing this song with our youngest and occasionally oldest kids. Great imagery. (Imagery illustrated by the Noggin video, which can be accessed on this page.)

The Top 50 Kids Songs of All Time: Songs 41-45

If you're new here, you can see songs 46 through 50 here.

And there's still time to enter the contest.

On to songs 41 through 45...

45. "Fee Fi Fo Fum" - Ralph's World: There are many great Ralph's World songs, but this I think this song is likely to stick around, combining simple lyrics ("It doesn’t matter what you look like if you got some Fee Fi Fo Fum / It doesn’t matter what you look like and let me tell you everybody got some") with an infectious melodic line. It will make for great covers many years from now. (Listen to the whole song at Ralph's music page.)

44. "Conjunction Junction" - Bob Dorough: The whole Schoolhouse Rock! series was a flash of inspiration, trying to use the medium of advertising to hook kids on learning. This song, like so many others in the series, took complex subjects and rendered them instantly easy to grasp. The cartoon visuals are fabulous, of course, but even divested of those visuals, tracks like this one are still models of songwriting thirty years after they were first written. (Listen to samples from the orignal show here.)

43. "Muffin Man" - traditional: Do you know the Muffin Man? The Muffin Man? On Drury Lane? The basis for a joke in the Shrek movies. Unsurprisingly, the song comes from England. In researching this entry, I learned that Frank Zappa sang a version of the song. The Ralph's World version I suspect is more conventional, but it's got a fun energy nonetheless. (Listen to a sample of Ralph's version at Ralph's music page.)

42. "Frog Went Courting" - traditional: In his liner notes to his We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions disk, Bruce Springsteen says this song can be tracked back to (at least) a Scottish tune from 1549. It seems to me that any song that gets recorded 450 years after originally written deserves some sort of spot on this list. (Besides Bruce, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Mitchell, Dan Zanes, and scores of others have recorded the song. Here's a Pete Seeger version.)

41. "Rubber Duckie" - OK, my all-time Sesame Street performance is R.E.M. singing "Furry Happy Monsters," but I'm pretty sure that this song here will be sung many years from now. It has a timeless ragtime feel. If only I could find a rubber duckie that squeaked like Ernie's. (I'm not gonna post a listen link, because the one I'm enjoying now is squeaking past copyright law. You're smart. Google it.)