This recording has a song for any occasion, whether you're on a long car ride, having afternoon play time, dancing around the living room, or winding down before a nap. The song genres range from country, polka, folk, rock, tribal, rap, reggae, jazz, bluegrass, and boogie-woogie. An impressive array of singers are included, from Raffi, to Faith Hill and Willie Nelson, and even Brian Johnson of the adult rock band AC/CD! Instruments range greatly from song-to-song, but include steel guitar, accordion, guitar, bass, drums, piano, strings, flute, tambourine, and other various small percussion instruments. Listeners will hear male, female, accented, and children's voices.

The songs on this album are collected for their catchy tunes and fun lyrics, and range greatly in style and tempo. "Grandma's Feather Bed" and "I Really Love to Dance" are both upbeat country and bluegrass songs, while "Apple Blossom Fairies" and "Before You Grow" are slower ballads with gentle lyrics that a parent might sing to their little one. "Choo Choo Boogallo", a polka-boogie mix, speeds up tempo with each verse. "Juba Dis and Juba Dat" exudes directly rhymes against a clear, strong beat that children will easily identify. Other songs, like "Baby Beluga" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" tell a story throughout the rhyming verses, and break it up with a repeating chorus. The story in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is spoken prior to the song, with a tribal chant keeping beat. The entire song has only voices and harmonies, instead of instruments, for the background 'music'. "La Bamba" is all in Spanish but has a slower tempo than the traditional version, which will help your child learn the Spanish lyrics.

All of the songs are easy to sing along with; "On the Good Ship Lollipop" even features beautiful children's voices (and no instruments) singing the upbeat staccato notes that your little one will love to imitate. Quite the opposite, the baritone voice singing sans instruments on the first verse of "Teddy Bear's Picnic" is also fun for children to mimic; it's easy to image that a teddy bear is actually doing the singing! A child joins in on the CD for the second verse. "The Monster Mash" and "Banana Boat Song" (a.k.a. "Day-O") are always favorite sing-alongs for children's parties and playtime. A more serious and educational song is "If I Had a Hammer", which begins by quoting the Declaration of Independence and continues quoting famous individuals, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. There are many opportunities in this song for your child to ask questions about "Who is that?", or for you to interject with, "Do you know who that is?" and take the opportunity to teach a lesson.

My five-year-old friend, Chris, actually popped this CD in while I was babysitting once. He went straight for "The Monster Mash" and started theatrically acting out the words while he recited them with the CD. I was very impressed by the end and was wildly clapping when he realized he'd forgotten to wear his Dracula cape from Halloween. He insisted on grabbing it, and then doing the whole performance again.

--Audra

This recording is celebrating 25 years on the Music For Little People label.

1 - Baby Beluga (Raffi)

2 - On the Good Ship Lollipop (Maria Muldaur)

3 - Choo Choo Boogaloo (Buckwheat Zydeco)

4 - La Bamba (Los Lobos)

5 - Grandma's Feather Bed (Brenda Lee)

6 - I Love My Shirt (Donovan)

7 - If I Had a Hammer (Brian Johnson of AC/CD)

8 - Teddy Bears' Picnic (The Persuasions)

9 - I Really Love To Dance (Laurie Berkner)

10 - The Monster Mash (Andrew Gold and  Linda Ronstadt)

11 - Banana Boat Song (Taj Mahal)

12 - Juba Dis and Juba Dat (Sheila E.)

13 - This Land is Your Land (Willie Nelson, John McCutcheon and Friends)

14 - Before You Grow (Faith Hill)

15 - Apple Blossom Fairies (MFLP Players)

16 - The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)