Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big)

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Your Price: $15.00

3 Year-olds

Part Number: 0093074503928

Feature: Pete Seeger

Feature: Smithsonian Folksways

Feature: Why we chose this music

Feature: About the music

Feature 5 Song list

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This collection combines two of Pete Seeger's 1955 LPs onto one CD filled with animal-focused folk songs. Seeger's familiar voice and five-string banjo set a lively pace for the majority of the CD, with just a few slow, sweet songs interspersed. These songs are fun for listening just about anywhere; at home, in the car, alone, or in groups. With 28 songs, this collection can easily be broken into multiple listening sessions, providing more variety than many CDs for your little listener.

This album has a nice balance of story songs with background music, traditional folk songs about animals, and more elementary songs with repeating lines and chorus' for the youngest listening audience. "The Hen" is a prime example of one of the more simplistic songs in the collection, with plenty of repetition as it described all the places the hen cackled. "Mister Rabbit" is also a simple song with silly lyrics, "Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your nose always twitches. Yes, don't you know, it always itches?" Tempos vary greatly from the soft adagio lull of "Turtle Dove" and "Old Blue" to the allegro of, "The Fox." The "Bear Hunt" started as a funny spoken word story with the occasionally banjo strums for emphasis and suspense, but by the end of the story Seeger is strumming the banjo so fast your feet can hardly keep up! Some songs, like "Ground Hog" are filled with silly lyrics, while others like "Little Doggie" where Seeger's voice is the only instrument and he hits some new high notes sure to catch your attention.

A favorite for first-time listeners, "The Foolish Frog" begins with whistling and the music stops for the verses, which are told as a story. When the chorus kicks in, so does the banjo and toe-tapping. Seeger uses fun noises on the banjo to imitate a frog hopping. He also uses all different types of voices for women, cows and chickens. He even personifies a barn, grass, and a bubbling brook! Your child will join in the sound-effects, dance along with the chorus, and giggle at the verses. "The Little Rooster" is another fun song filled with animal noises, making it very easy to interact with. Particularly fun to sing along with is the extended rooster call, "Cock-a-doodle-do-de-doodle-de-doodle-do." The old familiar song, "Teency Weency Spider" (also known as "The Itsy Bitsy Spider") provides an opportunity for your little one to join in with the hand motions while Seeger sings. The song, "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" builds on itself and requires focus and memory to remember the order and recite the song. The whole CD is full of fun and humor!

Pete Seeger felt like a member of our family. He was one of my dad's heroes. Pete would criss-cross the country giving concerts particularly for children, and my dad made sure we went every time Pete came to town. We had all of his records - both his solo titles and the ones he did with the Weavers. Since I spent a lot of time listening to the record player, I memorized all of the songs. It was only later when I owned a record store and tried to explain music to customers that I realized Pete Seeger was responsible for so many of the songs that had become engrained into our culture. Among them is "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" and "Irene, Goodnight" which were huge pop hits before the days of Rock and Roll.　 He sang a song called "Wimoweh", which has been done a million times as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". And he is the one who is responsible for making "We Shall Overcome" the hymn of the civil rights movement. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is responsible for a good portion of all the songs that commonly appear on children's albums today. When I hear "Little Bird, Little Bird Fly Through my Window", the first song on this album, I am a little kid again.

--Barney

Little One Books

Children's books - music - videos

Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big)