Review in Brief: My Precious One - Miss Amy

OK, to begin with, no, that's not the best album cover I've ever seen ("What exactly is she looking at?," you might be thinking). But parenting is about not judging things by their cover and expecting everything to be perfectly designed, because if you do, you'll be disappointed and miss out on some cool stuff.

So My Precious One, the third album from New Jersey-based Miss Amy does have some cool stuff. Unlike her first two CDs, which took a fairly uptempo approach, this CD, released last year, is a collection of quiet songs and lullabies. It's also my favorite of her three CDs. As lullaby albums go, it deftly sidesteps the traditional list of lullabies, only including "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Water Is Wide" as familiar melodies here. While some songs don't work so well (the whistling on the cowboy-inspired "Get Along" being a prime example), there are some sweet arrangements here, particularly the wordless vocals on "Soft As the Snow" and "Goodnight Sweetheart." I also like the sly humor of recording a lullaby called "Are You Ready To Rock?"

These are for the most part actual lullabies, so I'll peg the age range here at ages 0 through 5. You can samples from the album (which also raises funds for the March of Dimes) at its CD Baby page or hear her rendition of "The Water Is Wide" at her Myspace page.

There's no reinventing the wheel here, Miss Amy's My Precious One is simply an album of lullabies that melds tasteful arrangements with a nice voice and sweet melodies. As lullaby albums go, this is a pretty good one.

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.)

Readers Who Need Readers: Help Identify This Album

A request from a reader who is disdainful of capitalization (but that's ok, i am too sometimes):

i am hoping you can help me put a name to a musician i remember from
my childhood... here are all the details i can remember:
> early 70s
> it was on a cassette tape (possibly from sears)
> the cassette had a face on it, with the reel holes being eyes
> folk songs interspersed with short narration about the songs
> the only songs i can remember for sure: someone's in the kitchen, jimmy crack corn, something about flies (shoo fly ple?)
> mostly (if not all) guitar and maybe banjo

A brief Google search on my part turned up nothing -- I think this is going to have to rely on a reader with a long memory. Any suggestions? Leave 'em in the comments.

KidVid Tournament 2007 Semifinals: "Tricycle" (2) vs. "I Hope My Mama Says YES!" (3)

Our second semi-final for KidVid Tournament 2007 is the underdog side of the bracket -- two artists that knocked off #1 seeds. We've got a #2 seed, "Tricycle" from Frances England, going against "I Hope My Mama Says YES!" - AudraRox, the #3 seed. These are both cute videos, but for completely different reasons. Another tough call.

Vote in the comments below. Rules: Video with most votes wins. One vote per e-mail address, please. Votes due by Friday 11 PM-ish East Coast time.

[Note: As I've said before, sorry about just showing links instead of embedding the videos. I'm trying to keep the playing field relatively level here -- if I can't show both videos here (i.e., they're not both on YouTube and clearly placed there at the artists' request) I'm only going to show the links for both of 'em.]

"Tricycle" - Frances England

To view this video, click on the YouTubed version here.

"I Hope My Mama Says YES!" - AudraRox

To view this video, head to Jack's Big Music Show player. Roll over the picture of a red-hair-streaked Audra on the right, kid on the left.

Contest: Somebody Will Win the Deedle Deedle Dees' New Record. Just Not You.

Regular readers will know that the occasionally history-obsessed Deedle Deedle Dees recently released their excellent second album, Freedom in a Box (review).

When I talked with Lloyd Miller (Ulysses Dee) recently, he mentioned how a lot of the new kids music is still out of reach for a lot of kids -- meaning (and these are my words here) that it costs money to see the artists in concert or buy their CDs, of course, and that's not doable (on a regular basis at least) for many families. As a result, they don't get exposed to as much (or any) music that's particularly age-appropriate. It was something I've thought about as well, but Miller really crystalized my thinking.

So while we've let readers win a lot of stuff here (and don't worry, your chance will come again very shortly), for this contest, we want to give the Dees' latest album away to a school or library -- some place that will let a lot of kids be exposed to some pretty cool music.

Here's the skinny: in the comments below, describe what North American historical event or personage you'd like to see the Deedle Deedle Dees write a song about. I will pick one entry at random, and then ask that person to designate a public school, charter school, or library system to which they'd like to donate a copy of the CD and the accompanying book. (If you'd like to mention your designee in your entry that's fine, but not required.) All entries are due by 11 PM-ish (East Coast time) Thursday, April 5.

Thanks and good luck! Your local kids are counting on you to enter!