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Music Education

Along with introducing The Captain and The Nipper to the Clash and Joy Division, it’s important to me that they both have a healthy dose of folk music and protest songs. So this past couple of weeks have been Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary, and yes, even some Joan Baez. So we were watching some videos tonight before bed (“If I Had a Hammer” has been one of the nightly songs for the last two weeks), and we watched the following version of that same song. As the video began, The Nipper, who usually only has eyes full of watching, points his still-chubby pointy-finger at the screen and says: “Hey look! They’re singing in cheese!”

I just thought that was pretty awesome, and I figured you’d want to share the awesome. So here you have it: Peter, Paul, and Mary with “If I Had A Hammer” in a cheese:

And no, that does not mean the music is cheesy. It means they don’t make stage props like they used to.

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cenobyte

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10 responses to “Music Education”

  1. cenobyte Avatar
    cenobyte

    RAtM is not appropriate for my nine- and four-year-old. Also, and this is the really important bit, **NONE OF THOSE OTHER PEOPLE SING IN A CHEESE**.

    Pffft.

    Reply
  2. Silent Winged Coyote Avatar
    Silent Winged Coyote

    Don’t forget Joni Mitchell, and get some Buffy St. Marie! (I’m like a distant cousin of hers.)

    And if you don’t mind your kids saying fuck a lot, then go for the Rage Against the Machine. Nothing makes you want to tear down society more than listenin’ to ole Zac(k?) rip on the system.

    Reply
  3. Cori Avatar
    Cori

    I love, love, love Peter, Paul and Mary, and can sing most of their songs.

    Reply
  4. der kaptin Avatar
    der kaptin

    I guess Joni’s voice is just too girly for you, the high falsetto parts, although as she got older her lower register became pretty interesting as well. Or maybe it’s all the minor this’s and diminished thats. I find it interesting that she was so into open tuning that when she wanted to redo some of her older songs, she had to hire someone to listen to the old recordings and transcribe the music for her. There’s something so anarchistic, so absolutely hippie about that…

    Anyway, here’s the thing that occurred to me — how was it that the Nipper could identify round things as cheese? He would almost never see rounds of cheese in his daily life. He must have gotten it from books. Or cartoons.

    Reply
  5. cenobyte Avatar
    cenobyte

    Yeah, Mary would have made an awesome Janis Joplin. But seriously. Can’t stand Joni Mitchell. Maybe if I heard her sing someone else’s songs…I dunno.

    But wait – are you saying that you don’t think that set looked like a giant cheese? I mean, even if Picasso or Matisse had done it, or Warhol Himself, it would still have looked like a cheese to a four-year-old.

    Reply
  6. der kaptin Avatar
    der kaptin

    Just when I start thinking you actually know something, you go and make those Joni remarks. Snap out of it.

    Just imagine how Mary could have shouted out those tunes if she was allowed to wear bell-bottom jeans with a macrame belt, a peasant blouse and harachi sandals, instead of the Doris Day hand-me-downs.

    I guess in addition to the chillins’ music education, you’ll have to start introducing a little visual arts awareness into their lives. Then they’ll recognize op-art when they see it.

    Reply
  7. cenobyte Avatar
    cenobyte

    Oh. Also, I wouldn’t inflict Joni Mitchell on my worst enemy. Gah, that woman’s voice is annoying.

    Reply
  8. cenobyte Avatar
    cenobyte

    Nope. Just don’t like Joni Mitchell. Never have.

    But, DK, did you see the video? It looks like they’re inside of a *swiss* cheese. And yes, he has seen rounds of cheese in his daily life – one of my favourite places in the universe is the Bulk Cheese Warehouse.

    Reply
  9. thunderhowl Avatar
    thunderhowl

    I have a cover of “If I Had a Hammer” by Leonard Nimoy.
    Struth.

    Reply
  10. viperpilot Avatar
    viperpilot

    Nimoy’s version is fantastic. In fact, most of his folk covers outshine the originals.

    I could just be a Nimoy fanboy, though.

    Reply

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