Channeling My Inner Child

I think there are some albums written for children that end up transcending their original purpose and appealing to a broader audience. Take the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I'm not sure if it was Charles Schultz's stroke of genius to use jazz artists to create the soundtrack for this animated special, but whoever's idea it was, it was a brilliant idea. Vince Guaraldi created the "Linus and Lucy" theme and "Christmastime is Here," now both classics.

In the same way, I think Jack Johnson's Curious George soundtrack is one of those albums whose tunes are so catchy and fun, that the parents who put the CD in for their kids get just as much fun out of it as their kids.

For me, my favorite transcendent kids album has to be Carole King's "Really Rosie." I remember first being shown the film of this in grade school - yes it was shown on a reel-to-reel projector complete with flying dust particles giving shape to the beam extending from the projector to the screen, and the strangely comforting flap of the film running through the projector. I think we watched it in first grade and soon after, my sister and I got the record at the library and listened to it over and over. This kids album has everything - Carole King's amazing, scratchy voice and New York accent (and great 70s era rock/folk piano playing), and illustrations and lyrics by artist extraordinaire, Maurice Sendak. To this day, my sister and I still listen to this unendingly listenable album and now that my sister has a little baby, she sings songs from this album to my niece.

Luckily, someone else on YouTube thought the children's special from which this album comes was important enough to share. Here's a clip from my one of my favorite songs on the album:

"Pierre"