When I was little, my parents regularly took me to the library down the
street and picked out records for me to listen to. While we had the
albums out of the library, we also took the liberty of taping them. Few
of those tapes have survived the past 20 years, but Anne Murray’s
children’s album is one of them. The label on our tape is “Anne Murray
sings for the Sesame Street Generation.” It must have been a subtitle on
the record because I remember being disappointed when I realized that
this album had nothing to do with the Muppets. (I had four or five
Sesame Street tapes, only one of which is still intact.) Nonetheless, There’s a Hippo in My Tub got plenty of play, and I still enjoy listening to it now and then.
Hey Daddy
- This is a fun song with a hint of a calypso beat that I always got a
kick out of as a youngster. Basically, I waited for the chorus and
ignored the verses, which seem to be aimed more at adults anyway. The
speaker is a parent reflecting on all of the fantastic things her child
always seems to be seeing, and the verses come across as
parent-to-parent talk, as in “I don’t know where these kids get these
ideas from, do you?” But it’s the kids’ ideas that are attractive to
other kids, and I’m sure I’m not the only toddler who loved belting out
the chorus: “Hey, Daddy, there’s a dragon in the driveway. Mama, there’s
a grizzly on the lawn. Well, you better come quick ‘cause there’s a
hippo in the bathtub, and he’s goin’ down the drain... oh, no, he’s
gone!”
Stars are the Windows of Heaven - This quiet
song’s instrumentals lend it a bit of a country-western feel. This track
finds two children musing on the presence of stars in the sky. One
explains to the other that “stars are the windows of Heaven where angels
peep through.” I remember being surprised to hear Father Santor, my
sophomore theology teacher (and the blessed man responsible for sparking
my obsession with Veggie Tales), croon this tune in class one day, as I
had never heard the song outside this tape before. But then, Father
Santor was always full of surprises - and he never met a song
(commercial jingles included) he didn’t like! At any rate, this is a
nice contemplative song encouraging children to believe that there are
angels watching over them. “They cry each time you are naughty. Their
tears are the rain. But when you’re good they are happy, and they shine
again.”
Animal Crackers - What kid doesn’t love animal
crackers? I didn’t like them in my soup (I never liked soup), but I
always had fun pulling out random animals and seeing whether I wound up
with a monkey or a lion, a rabbit or a bear. This song is almost as
classic as the snacks themselves. This track features very simple
percussive accompaniment keeping the beat and is sung in the voice of a
little kid who loves animal crackers. This song shows how imaginative
children can be with just a bit of assistance. This youngster dreams up
all sorts of things to do with the animals she pulls from the box. Some
of those things are not very nice. Particularly indicative of a typical
five-year-old’s violent streak is “If I get ahold of the Big Bad Wolf,
I’ll push him under to drown and I’ll gobble him up in a million bits
and I’ll swallow him right down.” Nonetheless, it’s a fun song, and
always a childhood favorite.
Hi Lili Hi Lo - This one
begins with an a cappella introduction before it launches into the main
part of the song, in which Anne sings with a chorus of children. The
song has a defined waltz beat to it and also a bit of a country-western
feel to it. The introduction is rather slow and sad sounding, but the
rest is pretty upbeat in spite of the lyrics. “A song of love is a sad
song, hi lili hi lili hi lo. A song of love is a song of woe, don’t ask
me how I know.”
Why Oh Why - This song, backed by the
strumming of a guitar, is a back-and-forth between an inquisitive young
child and an exasperated mother. During the child’s portion, Anne’s
voice is high and melodic; the response, meanwhile, is spoken in a low,
bored sort of voice until the final verse, when it is sung: “‘Why won’t
you answer my questions? Why oh why oh why?’ ‘Cause I don’t know the
answers. Goodnight, goodnight.’” A fun song, and very typical of a child
who wants to know everything under the sun, including answers to
questions that no one else would ever think to ask.
Teddy Bear Picnic
- Always my favorite lullabye as a youngster. I collected teddy bears
and had picnics with them daily, and before going to sleep (with my
favorite, Big Brown Bear, in my arms) I always made Mom sing this to me.
This version begins with an odd little psychadelic-sounding run on the
organ and is backed by a calliope and a strange percussion instrument
whose sound resembles Tupperware being burped. I’ve also noticed a great
similarity between the instrumentation style in this song and the video
game Banjo-Kazooie, which is ironic since I am so annoyed by
that game’s soundtrack. This song is an enjoyable romp showing what
those lovable cuddly bedroom residents could be doing when we’re not
around. My favorite song on the album. In our childhood wisdom, my
brother Benjamin and I enjoyed subverting the line “watch them catch
them unawares,” making it say “watch them catch them’s underwears.” Ah,
the inimitable wit of youth. But the song does paint an entertaining
picture of bears playing hide and seek, eating good grub, and generally
having a grand old time until they, just like the little tykes listening
to the song, are all tuckered out. “At 6:00 their mommies and daddies
will take them home to bed because they’re tired little teddy bears.”
Inchworm
- This begins with an a cappella introduction by a chorus of children,
one that recurs later in the song. This song also has a bit of a twang
to it. Featured in the Danny Kaye film about the life of Hans Christian
Andersen, it addresses an inchworm, encouraging it to take a break from
its excessively left-brained behavior to enjoy the beauty of its
surroundings. A very simple song, and a nice reminder that it’s
important to find a balance between study and pure aesthetic
appreciation. “Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, you and your
arithmetic will probably go far. Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the
marigolds, seems to me you’d stop and see how beautiful they are.”
You Are My Sunshine / Open Up Your Heart
- A couple of campfire standards with a great guitar and bassline. The
former is a romantic tune, while the latter is a religious song, but
both employ the idea of sunshine. In the first, the speaker tells her
significant other how much she loves him, letting him know that she
would be unhappy without him. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know, dear, how much
I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” The second song is in
the voice of a child, imparting the advice given her by her mother. She
explains that the devil hates to see people happy, so we should smile as
much as possible and keep him away. “Let the sun shine in, face it with
a grin. Smilers never lose and frowners never win.” At the end, the two
songs combine, each filling in the gaps in the other, to very nice
effect.
Sleepytime - A nice little lullabye, it
encourages the listeners to get some sleep so they can head off to
dreamland, where they can do and be whatever they want. The guitar and
strings on this track also give it a country feel. Quiet and
imaginative, it gives children a reason to look forward to falling
asleep. “Sleepytime baby, now lay down your head, ‘cause if you’re off
to dreamland you’ve got to get to bed.”
Hush Little Baby
- This classic progressive lullabye is accompanied by tinkly music box
instrumentals. An old traditional song with many variations, this
soothing tune lists all of the things a particular baby’s father might
bring home as a gift; for each failed attempt, there is a backup, most
of which are quite elaborate and expensive. In the end, though, the
sentiment we are left with is that material possessions aren’t too
important. What matters is that this baby has a father who thinks his
little tyke is terrific. “Hush little baby, don’t you cry, Papa’s gonna
sing you a lullabye… If that horse and cart fall down, you’ll still be
the sweetest little baby in town.”
The album concludes with
two short lullabyes, one a very short but sweet tune (“dream a dream to
bring you through the night and linger through the day”) segueing into
the very familiar Brahams’ Lullaby. She sings through this
“lullabye of love” once and hums through it once again to bring the
album to a perfect close that may be accompanied by a few gentle snores.
There aren’t very many female artists of whom I consider
myself a fan, but Anne Murray gets my vote of confidence. We have
several of her albums, but this one is particularly meaningful to me,
and still apt to send me off into dreamland myself. An excellent album
for children and the children at heart who love them.
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