Sarah Lee Guthrie and Family – Go Waggaloo

Rating:

I don’t mind children. I think on the scale of most single men my age, I fall around the middle of the road: I enjoy my nieces and nephews, my friend’s children, and even the occasional baby sitting. But I always find it nice to give them back to their respective parents at the end of the day and have my adult QT. That being said, most of the time I can’t stand what is considered children’s music. It is usually overly sugared(like the cereal commercial it sounds like), unnaturally jubilant sounding, and at the end of any given song I’m wondering what I am supposed to be running out and buying before the Christmas rush.

Thankfully Sarah Lee Guthrie (yes, that Guthrie family) has breathed some fresh air into a slightly stale genre with some much needed playful sweetness. “Go Waggaloo” is able to walk the line of being a children’s album that talks about things kids can relate to yet not dumbing down the music to the level of a Kamp Krusty commercial. While one or two of the songs can sound a bit contrived and too “GENERIC KIDS SONGS ALBUM VOLUME 59!!!”, the rest of the album far makes up for it and then some. “Big Square Walkin’” has the sound of a campfire sing-a-long so nailed down I can almost smell my smores getting a little burned on the edges just how I like it. “Brush Your Teeth Blues # 57″  is dreamy bed-time inspired melody coupled with adorable lyrics (“…but I must confess that you look so cute, and if you wanna sleep in a pirate suit, who am I to argue?”) that could almost make kids want to go to bed if they got to hear this song. However, my personal favorite is “`Cuz We’re Cousins”. This song so so cute I want to pinch the cheeks off of my speakers every time I hear it. The children repeating the refrain doesn’t get old and in fact adds to the endearing aspect of the song and continually puts a smile on my face. I can imagine them sitting on the floor recording this and truly having a wonderful time. And that is the real testament to the album quality.

While I don’t see this album getting into my regular playlists, I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for quality children’s music along the lines of Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb.

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Family – Go Waggaloo

Track listing:

1. Don’t I Fit In My Daddy’s Shoes? (with Pete Seeger)
2. Go Waggaloo
3. Take Me To Show-And-Tell
4. Bright Clear Day
5. ‘Cuz We’re Cousins
6. Oh How He Lied (with Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez Seeger)
7. Big Moon
8. Fox And The Goose
9. If Mama Had Four Hands
10. Big Square Walkin’ (with Arlo Guthrie)
11. She’ll Be Comin’ `Round The Mountain (with Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez Seeger)
12. Brush Your Teeth Blues # 57 (with Arlo Guthrie)
13. Oni’s Ponies

October 27, 2009 – Smithsonian Folkways

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