Children Listen to Lyrics
When planning to have a 10 year old around I picked through my music collection to find stuff that would be enjoyable to Sara and I as well as enlighten and entertain The Niece. I should have thought my clever plan through. Don't get me wrong I was successful in "enlightening" and "entertaining" The Niece, the problem was it never occurred to me she'd actually pay close attention to the lyrics.
This one should have been obvious..even to me. I only heard a upbeat happy tune that gets stuck in your head and makes you want to dance.
Sara managed to hit skip in the first few bars...then she explained to me why. I admit it. I was an idiot on this one.
Similarly Sara hit quickly skipped past "The British Army" before it got to the chorus.
Now, The Wild Rover as you can see from the lyrics is a fine song for all ages. Leave it to the Booze Brothers however to embellish just enough to make ME skip past it. For instance, the original lyrics went something like this:
I took from my pocket ten sovereigns bright And the landlady's eyes opened wide with delight. She said "I have whiskey and wines of the best And the words that I spoke sure were only in jest."
The Booze Brothers version went something like this:
I took from me pocket ten sovereigns bright
And the landlady's legs opened wide with delight.
She said "I have women and liqueurs of the best"
And she took off her blouse and showed me her chest.
To the defense of their version, they repeat the clean version of the whole song...as a rap. Its AWESOME. But, I couldn't share that without sharing the song with the prostitute in it. Bummer.
I was perhaps too caution with Carbon Leaf's "The Boxer", but I was a little gun shy after three FAILS in a row. The Young Dubliners tune "Brown Dog" was heard with fingers poised over the skip button while Sara and I hoped and prayed there was nothing in there to cause trouble.
"Cindy" by The Chieftains with Ricky Scaggs and Kentucky Thunder should be OK. "...she's so sweet the honeybees swarm around her mouth..." this is ok I guess "...I wish I was an apple hanging from the tree, and every day that Cindy'd pass she'd take a bite of me..." Hmmm....perhaps we can slide the metaphor past a ten year old.
"Whiskey You're the Devil" I thought this one was OK. I mean it is an anti-drinking song after all. Right?
"When I was a fair maid" could have been OK, but I was worried about what she might ask her parents later if she spent too much time thinking about the story of a girl who pretended to be a man so she could be a sailor and was outed when a girl at port (thinking she was a he) tried to start a relationship of the personal nature.
Sligo Rag worked pretty well, "The Whiskey Never Lies" CLEARLY an anti-drinking song. "No Great Shakes" an honest song about relationships gone wrong. "Suite for a Drunken Sailor" All I would have to do is explain about The Captain's Daughter should she ask. Interestingly the issue with Sligo Rag didn't come from the 10 year old. It came from Sara. I had never noticed it, but they do sure use a lot of chimes in their music.
No worries though. I had an ace in the hole. In fact I had FIVE aces in the whole, in the form of five Great Big Sea CDs. "Captain Kidd", "Jack Hinks", "Mari Mac" "I'm a Rover", I could go on for hours. At "The Night Pat Murphy Died", I had to explain to her why they were so happy. I didn't know she had a think about funerals. Then we hit "The Mermaid" and I had to explain (via a lie) to The Niece that the line "That's how I get MY tail" refers to the fact that the mermaid turned him into a merman and they lived happily ever after. I think she bought it hook, line, sinker, and copy of Angling Times.
Next time around I think I'll just stick to Marc Gunn.
