Back in kindergarten, my teacher made the mistake of playing us the song "Sneaky Snake" by Tom T. Hall. I say 'mistake' because my classmate Alton proceeded thereafter to ask for it every day.
Every. Single. Day.
My memories of kindergarten are a little sketchy, yet I do remember the teacher getting exasperated with the lobbying by Alton (and soon the rest of us) for wild "Sneaky Snake" dance parties during recess. But who could resist inventing crazy dance moves with your buddies while listening to a song about a snake who will slurp up all your root beer?
A love of goofy songs started there, but it didn't end there. Anybody remember K-Tel, the "As Seen on TV" company? My next door neighbor and good buddy Dominic solved a rainy weekend by dipping into his parents' record collection and pulling out K-Tel's 40 Funky Hits. The musicians were grownups pitching to a grownup audience, yet they were singing goofy songs about everything from cavemen to lollipops to the one-horned one-eyed flying purple people eater. Even as kids, we instantly recognized these songs had all the irreverent, rubbery, slapstick appeal of cartoons. We spent all weekend building sofa forts and Lego towers that kept getting destroyed because we were forever rhythmically jumping and be-bopping around the house -- some of my favorite childhood memories. (Click HERE for a list of songs on 40 Funky Hits and to see the funny album cover.)
A few years ago I went searching online only to discover 40 Funky Hits never made it to a CD and is now "a collectible" that can sell for hundreds of dollars! But the songs live on, many available on other compilations or on iTunes. Dominic's sons were reaching what I now think of as the Goofy Song Phase (which hopefully lasts throughout life), so I sent them some albums on CD. And then guess what happened this December? Eli suddenly couldn't get enough of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean and jettisoned everything of Raffi except for a deep love of "Bananaphone." Yes, with a proud sniff I realized my son, too, has reached the Goofy Song Phase. It was time to track down "Sneaky Snake" and create a Funky Hits playlist on my iPod.
Besides just getting a chance to sing silly songs on the way to the grocery store, part of the appeal of the Funky Hits playlist is that it takes us out of our music rut. I tend to listen to Celtic and Country while Eli sticks to his children's CDs or the pop songs made famous by recent animated movies. (How many times have we listened to Katy Perry's "Firework" from Madagascar 3?!) Many of the old goofball songs popped up in the 1950s or 1960s and have their roots in Doo-wop or early Rock n' Roll. Our playlist slides us into rhythms and styles that are no longer run-of-the-mill. By the time the 1970s and 1980s rolled around, performers like Ray Stevens, Steve Martin, and Weird Al Yankovic were taking a page from Vaudeville and blurring the lines between comedy sketches and music -- much to a five year-old's delight.
Want to make your own Funky Hits playlist? Chances are you probably already have some fun, silly songs hiding in your music stash. ("Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles or "Barbie Girl" by Aqua?) The link to the original 40 Funky Hits playlist above can give you ideas and I'm adding some links below to albums we like.
Click HERE for a list I compiled after getting feedback from this post.
Have fun! And if you have any goofball songs you love, please do share in the comments section.
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