April 9, 2025 • 62 mins
On this Season Finale, Eric takes you on a musical journey that you can take with your kids. Songs with positive messages.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to listen to this. This is the podcast that
is dedicated to bringing you stories behind the artists, behind
the songs, and hopefully to introduce you to old songs
that have influenced all the music.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
That we hear today.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The goal is I want you to hear an artist
that you might not normally listen to and search out
their music on whatever streaming service you subscribe to, and
maybe just maybe search it out on vinyl or cassette
or CD. We invite you to subscribe, comment, and please
recommend this podcast to a friend. Every episode has a theme,
and for our season finale, we have a long one
(00:37):
for you. It's kind of esoteric, but I'm excited about it.
Our theme is positive message songs for your children. Never
in the history of the United States a monster of
such size and power.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to listen to this, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And artists with a theme to tie it all together.
Here's your hosts Eric. Let you For.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Our season fourteen finale, I'm gonna do an episode theme
that I've actually thought about for a long time. Conceptually,
I knew I wanted to do a positive message episode
and that kind of morphed into a concept of song
messages that we would want our kids to hear as
(01:21):
smart and wise adults passing down wisdom.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
In the modern age of social media and constantly being online,
our children are just being inundated with influencers and having
to always compare their lives and their looks with others.
Keeping up with the Joneses has now turned into keeping
up with the world. It used to be that we
would covet our neighbor's goods. Now we spend our days
(01:47):
coverting the world's goods, and it isn't healthy. We have
allowed poison to seep into our children's lives and we
are worse off because of it. Today we change all
of that. We as parents are going to build a
playlist of songs for our children, Songs filled with positive
body images, positive mental attitudes, life lessons, or just conveying
(02:12):
the love that we have for them. Basically what you
want to convey to your child via popular music. Some
real good music choices in today's episode, I'm really proud
of it, So let's get it started with maybe the
best song in this whole podcast about our children, from
(02:32):
none other than the patron Saint of listen to this,
Bob Dylan, Let's get it started.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Hey, God, bless it, keep you always.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
May you wishes all come true. Mays do for brothers,
the letter of that's do for you.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
May you build a letter to the stars.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Climb on every road you stay.
Speaker 7 (03:25):
Forever forever her stay.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Forever. There you grow up to be righteous.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
There you grow.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Up to be true.
Speaker 8 (04:09):
There you always know the truth and see the lights
abounding you.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
May you always.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Be cooageous, stand up red of this strong.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And may you stay.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
Forever.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I sure hope our loyal listeners there were paying attention
to the lyrics on that one, because that song by
Bob Dylan Forever Young, pretty much encapsulates exactly what I
wanted this episode to be about. That was written by
Bob for his son, Jacob Dylan, him of the Wallflowers fame.
Dylan had four children between nineteen sixty six nineteen sixty nine,
(05:01):
including his youngest Jacob, who went on to front the
band The Wallflowers.
Speaker 10 (05:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
In nineteen seventy four, he got back together with his
original backing group, the band. They recorded an album called
Planet Waves, which included this uplifting message from a parent
to a child well. The song has endured as one
of Dylan's classics, covered by many. Dylan performed Forever Young
with the band on Thanksgiving in nineteen seventy six at
(05:29):
the band's last Waltz concert, which was made into a
film and released in nineteen seventy eight with a very
popular soundtrack album. Dylan included two versions of the songs
on the Planet Wave album. It was a slow version
which is the version I played for You, followed by
a more up tempo take labeled Forever Young Continued. Nineteen
(05:53):
seventy four's Planet Waves kind Of came at a crucial
moment in Dylan's career. Having taken an eight year sabbatical
from his touring commitments, his star had continued to ascend
to even further heights. Having disappeared from the public eye
in an infamous, long disputed motorcycle accident, Dylan had survived
(06:15):
the end of the nineteen sixties, is one of the
world's most lauded song writers and just one of the
most important poets of our time, and he had even
taken a new step in his songwriting towards a more
ravaged intimacy and lost loves of his seventies work, and
it was coming in the build up of his becoming
(06:35):
a born again Christian in the late nineteen seventies. You
can tell that some of the seeds were already there.
Because this track does have religious undertones, it kind of
manifests itself in the very simple blessing in his song.
It was not for his son to have fame or riches,
but for contentment, happiness, and for the vigorous candle of
(06:57):
youth to never feel too far way.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
Nearn sibly Stein and seberw Stein and Sebert the sting
one made.
Speaker 12 (07:23):
I never to.
Speaker 13 (07:25):
Love may making one of able sheep. But dearn't sibly
hear the sepretty.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Still misty down for so bady we have been here,
I can believe would God's done.
Speaker 14 (08:27):
Well?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I told you there was gonna be some fantastic songs
on this episode, and that was definitely one of them.
That was Stevie Wonder with Isn't She Lovely? And Wonder
wrote this to celebrate the birth of his daughter, Aisha.
The song opens with the crying of a just born baby.
Now that's not Aisha the song's subject, but at the
(08:49):
end of the song, when Stevie says, come on, Ayisha,
get out of the water. Baby, the splashing, and baby
protesting that happens is really her recorded during pretty memorable
moment between Stevie and his daughter. Wonder had i E
show with Yolanda Simmons, whom he mentions near the end
of this song. Wonder played all of the instruments on
(09:12):
this track except some of the keyboards, which were played
by Greg Falanges. Wonder improvised the harmonica part, which came
out sounding pretty darn good. The song runs, or at
least the album version, runs six minutes and thirty four seconds,
with a pretty long fade out where Wonder interacts with
his daughter, Stevie. Wonder had pretty much full control over
(09:37):
his recording thanks to a pretty comprehensive contract that he
signed with Motown, and because of that, he said no
to them editing down the song so it could be
released as a single in America. Well. Unfortunately, the length
kept it off the Hot one hundred despite being one
of his most popular songs. The song was released as
(09:57):
a single in the UK or a was down to
three minutes and twenty six seconds. Much of the album
was recorded at the Hit Factory, a pretty legendary recording
studio in New York City where John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen,
and Paul Simon also liked to record. Wonder was the
first client at the Hit Factory, which finally closed its
doors in two thousand and five.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Close your eyes, have no fear. The monster's gun is
on the run them.
Speaker 15 (10:39):
Your daddy is here.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boar beautiful beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Beautiful bar Before you go to sleep, say a little proud.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Every day, in every way it's getting better and better.
BEAUTI fu futy for beautiful, beautiful bar, BEAUTI for beauty.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
For beautiful, beautiful boy.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Out on the your shunch, sailing away.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
I can hardly wait.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
To see you calm a wage, But I guess we'll both.
Speaker 16 (11:55):
Just have to be patient.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
Because it's a lone way to go.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
Is it's a long way to go?
Speaker 14 (12:13):
The time.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That was John Lennon with his song Beautiful Boy, and
he wrote this for his second son, Sean, who he
had with Yoko Ono. Sean was born in nineteen seventy five.
The line every day and in every way, I am
getting better and better is a self improvement mantra. It
was popularized by a French psychologist named Emil Kou who
(12:41):
made his patience repeat it over and over again. Richard
Dreyfus's character Mister Holland sings this to his deaf son
in the movie Mister Holland's Opus. In the scene, mister
Holland is upset over the death of John Lennon. When
his son asks him what's wrong, mister Holland explains that
he wouldn't understand. Notice the tribute, by the way in
(13:04):
the song to Paul McCartney in the lyrics every day,
in every way, it's getting better and better. Well, this
is from the Beatles song Getting Better. John's contribution to
that song at the time was cynical and witty. His
lyric was it can't get no worse.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But here he was sending a little message back to.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Paul that Paul was actually right. Once you have children,
life does just keep getting better and better.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Good Night, my angel.
Speaker 15 (13:47):
Time to close your eyes and save these questions foreig
enough the day.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think I know what you you've.
Speaker 12 (14:00):
Been asking me.
Speaker 15 (14:04):
I think you know what I've been trying to say.
I promised I.
Speaker 17 (14:11):
Would never.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Then you should always know wherever you may.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Go no matter where you are, I never.
Speaker 12 (14:28):
Will be far away.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Good Night, my angel.
Speaker 18 (14:35):
Now it's time to sleep, and still so many things
I want to say.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Great song there by Billy Joel for his kid, and
that was called Lullaby. And Joel wrote this as a
lullaby for his seven year old daughter named Alexa, in
response to her question where do we go when we die?
Joel has said that what he told Alexa when she
first asked about life after death quote, what I told
(15:06):
her was after you die, you go into other people's
hearts and they take you with them throughout their lives,
and then you pass that along to your children. She
seemed very content with that answer. It was a very
scary question to get as a parent, but the answer
seemed to make sense to her. Alexa's mom was Christie
Brinkley and she actually did the artwork for the album.
(15:26):
On the Rivers of Dreams album, Joel wrote each song
in reaction to the one that came before it, and
Lullaby was written to precede the title track. He wrote
it as a piano piece and had the melody before
he even came up with the lyrics. His original idea
was for it to be part of a suite with
the River of Dreams song. Joel also didn't want his
(15:49):
daughters to feel like she was being abandoned in the
midst of his split with Brinkley, and used the song
to reassure her that he'd always be around, forever and ever.
I wanted to tell her that no matter what, I
will never leave you. I will never be away from you.
My dad was never around, and I wanted her to
know that I'm always going to be there for her,
(16:10):
and I incorporated that into the lyrics.
Speaker 19 (16:30):
In your summer days come tumbling up and you find yourself,
you know, then you can come back.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
And be with me.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Just close your eyes and I'll be there. Listen to
the song.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I'm so holl.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Heading for are You?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yes, I miss but I never do. You might say
I'm here for are You?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Another artist writing it for their daughter that was Neil
Young with Here for You. Neil Young wrote this for
his daughter Amberjine, who was actually twenty one years old
and in her last year of college. He talks about
how he will always be there for her and he
really misses her.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He sings that he never wants to hold.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Her, but he will always be there when she closes
her eyes. The song kind of explores the complexities of
being a parent watching your child bloom into an adult.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yes, I'd miss you, but I'd never want to hold
you down. You might say, I'm here for you, Neil sings.
He's expressing both his absolute love for and the unconditional
faith in his daughter.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Oh sud I spoke to I was draff shop step.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
That was radio ed with Sail to the Moon, and
that was written by Tom York for his son Noah York,
And I guess you'd be forgiven for not tracking the
inspiration behind this particular song. It was released on two
thousand and three's Hail to the Thief album. It's Got
Shifting Mood, which switches from moments of minor tension to
(20:09):
a cathartic major relief, gives an emotional punch to the
belief in a Sun's power to achieve anything in the album.
Informed by political tension and fear for the future, this
moment finds Yorke utterly trustworthy in the revolutionary power of
his son, temporarily free of Dante Bush and the philosophical motifs.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It's a quiet belief that this track is full.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Of dark, offbeat authenticity. A choice lyric from the song
maybe it'll be President but no right from Wrong? Or
in the flood You'll build an arc and sail us
to the moon.
Speaker 12 (21:07):
Love is he said to do.
Speaker 17 (21:21):
They want to?
Speaker 11 (21:28):
I'm off there for years, rays less than.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
You know?
Speaker 12 (21:44):
Why ever, you know our.
Speaker 20 (21:51):
Canty slid through my head.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Fantastic song there that was Rolling Stones with wild Horses,
and the song started for Keith Richards newborn son, Marlin Richards.
It was nineteen sixty nine, and Keith really regretted that
he had to leave his son to go out on
tour yet again. Mick Jagger rewrote Keith's lyrics, keeping only
(22:34):
the line wild horses couldn't drag me away. His rewrite
was based on his relationship with Maryanne Faithful, which was disintegrating.
This was first released by Graham Parsons Flying Burrito Brothers
in nineteen seventy. The Stones version was written in sixty nine,
but had to wait for the Sticky Fingers album in
(22:56):
nineteen seventy one. The Stones recorded this during a read
a session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama in
December of nineteen sixty nine. It was the last of
three songs done after the sessions for Brown Sugar and
You Gotta Move. The Sticky Fingers album has very elaborate packaging.
(23:16):
It was designed by Andy Warhol. The cover photo was
a close up of a man's jeans with a real
zipper on it. It was also the first time the
Rolling Stones famous tongue logo was used. Ian Stewart, who
usually played piano for The Stones, refused to play on
this because he hated playing minor chords, which is how
(23:37):
this song starts. He left the session and Jim Dickinson
was brought in to play piano. After playing with The Stones,
Dickinson worked as a musician and producer with Aretha Franklin,
Big Star and The Replacements. He also did a lot
of movie soundtracks with the artist Ry Cooder.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Will you stay in a love storry If you stay,
you won't be sorry because we believe in you.
Speaker 14 (24:13):
Soon you'll grow, So'll take a chance with a couple
of cooks hung a balloon.
Speaker 12 (24:19):
Man sing, will you stay in a love storring?
Speaker 14 (24:26):
If you say you won't be sorry because we believe
in you. Soon you'll grow, So'll take a chance with
a couple of cooks un a balloonman sing. We bought
(24:49):
a lot of things to keep you warm and dry,
and a funny old crib on which the paints won't dry.
Speaker 12 (24:57):
I brought you a pa, a cop that you can blow,
and the Book of.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Roads, a lot to say to people when they pick
on you, because if you stay with us, they're gonna
be pretty cooky too.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Will you say I love the story?
Speaker 14 (25:16):
If they say you want this sorry because we love E,
then you soon bro.
Speaker 20 (25:24):
So take a chance with.
Speaker 14 (25:26):
A couple of cooks as.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I love a song that just tells your child it's
okay to be different and a little weird. That's what
makes a special And of course that was David Bowie
with his song Kooks. On May thirtieth, nineteen seventy one,
David Bowie's wife Angie, gave birth to a young baby
boy that they named Zoe. That's right, Zoe Bowie.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
David Bowie was listening to a Neil Young record at
home when he heard the news that he had become
a father. Zoe's birth gave him the inspiration to write
this song to his newborn baby son in the style
of a nineteen seventies Neil Young song quote the baby
was born and it looked like me, and it looked
like Angie. Bowie had said in his press release. The
(26:11):
song came out like if you're gonna stay with us,
then you're gonna have to grow up. Kind of wacky,
kind of bananas, kind of kooky. The English band the
Kooks took their name from this song. They said the
song is something that they can relate to as they
are young, and the song is a bit wacky. Zoey
reverted back to his birth name, which was actually Duncan
(26:33):
Jones around the age of eighteen and attended film school.
In his late twenties, he became a commercials director and
actually directed an infamous Kung Fu lesbian commercial. Hard to explain,
but that came out in two thousand and six, and
in two thousand and nine, jones first full length movie,
a sci fly thriller called Moon, was released. It was
actually pretty good. Bowie teamed up with producer Ken Scott
(26:56):
to co produce this family snapshot with a song called
called Cookes. As a master engineer, Scott lent his talents
to the likes of Elton John, Pink Floyd and The Beatles.
Cookes is the love of Duncan that he never really
showed when Duncan was growing up, Scott said in an interview,
it says it all how he felt at the moment of birth.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
He really didn't follow through on that. Scott continued, we
were too busy trying to keep our children fed and
our wives filled with jewelry that we were never actually
around as much as we should have been.
Speaker 21 (27:42):
It's not time to make a change.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Just relax, take easey.
Speaker 21 (27:50):
Y'all, still and young. That's your fault. There's so much
you have to know. You will find a girl settled
down if you want. You can now really look at me.
I am old, good, unhappy. I was once like you
(28:14):
are now, and I know that it's not easy to
be calm when you found something going on. But take
your time, think a lot. I think of everything you've
got or you will still be here tomorrow, but your
(28:37):
dreams may not.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
How can I try to explain when I do? He
turns away again.
Speaker 19 (28:52):
It's always been the same, the same old story.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
A farmer I could talk. I was on to listen.
Speaker 21 (29:05):
Now there's a way, and I know that I have
to go away. I know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I have to go.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That little gem there was by Cat Stevens, and that
was called Father and Son. The song is a conversation
between a father and his son, with the father counseling
his son to stay home, settle down, find a girl,
telling him that this is the path to happiness, after all,
it worked for him. The son, though, feels compelled to
(29:42):
leave and is frustrated because his dad makes no effort
to understand why he wants to go, or to even
hear him out. Stevens he made up the story, but
his relationship with his own father, Starvos Georges, was an
influence on the song. His dad owned a rest straw
in London, and Kat, known to his dad as Steve,
(30:04):
worked there as a waiter right up until he signed
a record deal at age seventeen. Starvos was hoping his
son would join the family business.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Stevens veered away from his upbringing again in nineteen seventy
seven when he rejected Christianity and became a Muslim, changing
his name to us Off Islam. The generational divide that
plays out in the lyric can't apply to many families,
but Stevens had a specific storyline in mind. Writing it
from the perspective of a father and a son and
(30:33):
a Russian family during the Russian Revolution. The son wants
to join the revolution, but his father wants him to
stay home and work on the farm. Now, pay attention
to the lyrics of our next song. I think it's
a perfect synopsis of what you want to tell your
kid before they go out into the world.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Look at kid, just steal hug, have played their old field.
Spit you. There are things.
Speaker 6 (31:05):
You do the norm alsana could ever do.
Speaker 12 (31:10):
But I can't teach you.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I can't teach it to you. We got kid, trust
your man, but you can't trust it.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Every time you know, we.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
Please tricks on you and you don't give them.
Speaker 20 (31:26):
You are happy all yourself, But if you've lost it,
don't feel bad.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
This is all right to be sad.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The we got kids.
Speaker 15 (31:58):
Trust your body.
Speaker 12 (31:59):
You get, but you get shape because you make my day.
Speaker 11 (32:04):
Use your friends again and again.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
Because nothing is never perfect.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
No one's perfect.
Speaker 22 (32:09):
Let me say it again, no one's.
Speaker 12 (32:11):
Purpose right.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
A lifetime.
Speaker 16 (32:20):
Skinny heartbreak. It was so easy, but love without pain
would be boring.
Speaker 22 (32:35):
And then you feel.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
It's fine. I gave you a bresting smile.
Speaker 12 (32:45):
I gave you my heart.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Mine. It's just time to do.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
That was Arcade Fire with uncon Eye. A decade after
Arcade firefront Man, when Butler married his fellow band member
Regien Chassin. They had their first child, Edwin, who was
born in April of twenty thirteen. Unconditional Eye, also known
as Lookout Kid, is a lullaby of sorts for these
(33:18):
difficult times, sung by the couple to both their son
and to the world at large. The song originated with
when Butler thinking about Edwin in the world that he's facing,
and how when was an extremely depressed child quote and
it was just like, man, he's going to need to
have thick skin and really be able to take a
hit and have some fortitude. He has said in an interview,
(33:41):
I was just sort of thinking about that and trying
to sing him words of wisdom for the future, to
maybe all the kids out there in the world. The
idea of unconditional love, which is this impossible thing to achieve,
but we all do it naturally somehow. It's loving someone
despite what they do and what job they have and
how successful they are. It's just something that supersedes it.
(34:03):
And that's something that we naturally should have with our kids.
Arcade Fire debuted Unconditional Ie at Coachella in twenty twenty
two when they played a secret set at this California
festival in April of twenty twenty two. Before playing the song,
when Butler dedicated to Edwin after singing the opening line,
(34:24):
look out kid, trust your heart, Butler stopped, wiped his eyes,
told the crowd it's been a hard effing year, and
then had to start the song again.
Speaker 18 (34:39):
When I was just a little hugerl, I asked my mother,
what will ivey.
Speaker 11 (34:48):
Will I've pretty will ivey rich.
Speaker 23 (34:52):
Here's what she said to me, Kay, set up, set up, what.
Speaker 8 (34:59):
Have will be will be?
Speaker 23 (35:03):
The Future's not ours to see? Ka setta seta, What
will be will be?
Speaker 18 (35:15):
When I grew up and fell in love, I asked
my sweetheart, what, lizahead?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Will we have rainbows day after day?
Speaker 18 (35:28):
Here's what my sweetheart said.
Speaker 23 (35:32):
K set all set all, whatever will be will be?
The future is not ours to see. Ka setta seta.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
That was Doris Day with k Sarrah Srah running it
just two minutes in one second. This song points out
quite effectively how we can't predict the future. The first
of three verses finds Doris Day asking her if she'll
grow up to be pretty and rich. Instead of the
stock parental reply of you can be anything you want
(36:07):
to be, her mother comes back with something much more profound.
Whatever will be will be, kind of a way of saying,
don't sweat the small stuff. In the next verse, she
asked the man she loves if they will have a
happy life together, and he gives her the same answer.
In the last verse, she has kids of her own
(36:27):
and imparts the same wisdom. This was written by Ray
Evans and Jay Livingston, who wrote many songs for movies
when they were under contract for Paramount Pictures. Doris Day
sang it in the Alfred Hitchcock nineteen fifty six remake
of his own nineteen thirty four film The Man Who
Knew Too Much. In the film, she was putting her
(36:48):
young son to bed well. Livingston told Paul Zolo in
nineteen eighty seven in an interview quote, we got a
call from Alfred Hitchcock and he told us that he
had Doris Day in his picture, whom he didn't really want.
But MCA, the agency was so powerful that they said
if he wanted Jimmy Stewart. He would also have to
take Doris Day and Livingston and Evans as songwriters. It
(37:10):
was the only time an agent got us a job
that I can remember. Hitchcock said that since Doris was
a singer, they needed a song for her. He said, quote,
I can tell you what it should be about. She
sings it to a boy. It should have a foreign
title because Jimmy Stewart is a roving ambassador and he
goes all over the world. The song wound up winning
the nineteen fifty six Oscar for Best Song. In addition
(37:33):
to this movie, Doris Day's character sang it to herself
in a scene in the nineteen sixty film Please Don't
Eat the Daisies, and the song later became the theme
song for her sitcom The Doris Day Show, which ran
from nineteen sixty eight to nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 10 (37:58):
Maybe a liar as you can close to my Heart,
never too call Baby.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
You Ma, when you play.
Speaker 10 (38:24):
No Ses Fall and Shine, Never to.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Baby you Ma.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
That song baby Mine was from the movie Dumbo, and
I guess maybe it's an unusual choice for me, but
I actually think it was an inspired choice because It's
about unconditional love for your child, and if you know
the scene, the music and the scene will bring you
to tears. This lolla by from nineteen forty one's animated
feature from Disney, had actress and singer Betty Noyes, who
(39:06):
recorded the vocals for this scene, in which a baby elephant, Dumbo,
visits his mother, who is locked up in a circus wagon.
The mom cradles him with her trunk as she offers
words of comfort, telling him she will always have his back.
The instrumentation is by Frank Churchill, who also wrote most
of the music for Disney's nineteen thirty seven movie Snow
(39:28):
White and the Seven Dwarfs. The lyrics were penned by
Ned Washington, who won the Best Original Music Award in
nineteen forty for Pinocchio's When You Wish Upon a Star.
Churchill won the Academy Award in nineteen forty two together
with Oliver Wallace for the score of the movie Dumbo. Tragically,
he killed himself with a gunshot within weeks of his
(39:49):
oscar Win Baby Mine was nominated for Academy Award for
Best Original Song at the nineteen forty two Oscars, but
it lost out to the song the Last Time I
Saw Paris. Artists that have covered the song included Bette
Midler for the nineteen eighty eight movie Beaches in the
scene where she helps Barbara Hershey's character prepare for her baby.
(40:11):
Alison Krauss recorded a very popular version for her nineteen
ninety six album The Best of Country sing and the
Best of Disney. Her version earned a Grammy nomination for
Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Arcade Fire, who we just
played before this, actually recorded a cover as well of
Baby Mine for the end credits to the two thousand
(40:32):
and nine very disappointing live action reimagining of Dumbo. Their
version is truly a family affair front Man when Butler's
mother plays the harp, and his brother the thereman, and
his wife Regine sings and plays the drum, and his
son who he sang the song unconditional. I about was
playing the triangle.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
You can't fool me.
Speaker 12 (41:08):
I saw you when you came out.
Speaker 24 (41:15):
You got your mama's taste, but you got mama.
Speaker 12 (41:23):
You will always have a part of me.
Speaker 17 (41:27):
Nobody else has ever gone to see Gracey girl.
Speaker 24 (41:38):
With your cards to your chest, walking on your toe,
what you got in the box only Grasy.
Speaker 10 (41:49):
No.
Speaker 24 (41:54):
Now, we'd never try to make ubi anything you didn't
really want to be Gracey girl.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Life flies by sagons.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
You're not a baby, Gracy.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
You're my friend.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
That was ben Folds without his five with the song Gracie.
Ben Folds wrote this song for his daughter, quote, I
write songs for a very small audience. In that particular case,
it was an audience of one. A lot of times
it's for an audience of no one.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
It's just for me.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Everyone has similar experiences, so I don't really want to
write anything to universal. Gracie is a good example of that.
This song is just for Gracie. The first line is
I saw you when you came out. That's pretty graphic
line for a kid, but I knew she'd think that
was actually funny. Before writing a song Gracey, ben Folds
had earlier penned and recorded his song We're Still Fight
(43:00):
for his son Louis. Realizing the inevitable psychological trauma Gracie
would endure if dear old dad wrote a song for
her twin brother but not for her, he got to
work writing this song when he performed it at Virginia
Tech University In two thousand and seven, he performed Gracey
and someone in the crowd woo hooed. He stopped the
(43:21):
song and asked the crowd not to do it since
the song was very personal to him. After his warnings,
someone would woohoo anyways, and when they did, Folds would
stop the song and start back at the beginning. He
restarted Gracie eleven times before he finally got through the
complete song.
Speaker 17 (43:44):
Honey image muted and you must sid could.
Speaker 10 (44:03):
Be why.
Speaker 12 (44:08):
When you first smiled at me up to the swan
of like I'd never seen it?
Speaker 11 (44:18):
You know, it's.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
When you're like.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Sleep about protect futeens.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
Of night while I'm watching you grow they saw much
chack of teacher.
Speaker 12 (44:52):
Up.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
That was the Stone Temple pilots with song for Sleeping.
It's a lullaby written by lead singer Scott Wiland for
his eighteen month old son Noah. Wiland wrote this with
bass player Robert de Leo. They composed it while sitting
on the edge of Wyland's bathtub. The lyrics so will
you tell me the little things? What does God look like?
(45:18):
And what are Angel's wings comes from the Judeo Christian
belief that all unborn souls are lined up in heaven
waiting to be born, Hence the babies are new arrivals
from heaven. Wyland's son Noah, named in this song, is
also named after the character from the scriptures of the
Judeo Christian religion, the Noah's Ark story, and it's told
(45:38):
in the Bible, the Talmud, and even the Quran, as
well as having roots further back in Mesopotamian even Greek mythology.
Speaker 18 (46:00):
Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind,
your tether to another, and you worried all the time.
You always knew the melody, but you never heard it right.
She's fair and she is quiet.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Lord.
Speaker 18 (46:20):
She doesn't look like me. She made me love the morning.
She's a holiday at sea. The New York streets are
as busy as they always used to be. But I
am the mother of Evengelne. The first things that she
(46:42):
took from me you were selfishness and sleep. She broke
a thousand hairlooms I was never meant to keep. She
filled my life with color, canceled plans, and trashed my car,
but none of that was ever who We are. Outside
of my windows are the mountains in the snow, I
(47:05):
holy while you're sleeping, and I wish that I could
go all my roadie friends around accomplishing their dreams. But
I am the mother of Evngeline.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
That was Brandy Carlyle with the song The Mother. On
June fifteenth of two thousand and four, Brandy Carlyle and
her wife Catherine Shephard welcome to this world their first child,
daughter named Evangeline. The singer plays tribute to her little
girl and her experience with motherhood and general during this
song Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind,
(47:43):
Carlyle says in the track to some that sounds like
the reaction of their most sacred dreams. True companionship for
some sacrifices too much to bear and requires its own
brand of radical forgiveness for the most part, and for
me it's equal measures of both. She says, I am
not not just a mother, but it is all that
I am.
Speaker 9 (48:04):
I remember the day you appeared on this earth with
eyes like the ocean, got blood.
Speaker 12 (48:11):
On my shirt.
Speaker 8 (48:13):
From my camera angle, it looked like in her, but
your mama had a big old smile. We drove your home,
saw your yellow and skin, packed a few things and
drove you back again, stayed up all.
Speaker 6 (48:31):
Night worrying, wondering what was gonna make it bad?
Speaker 9 (48:38):
Broken bones heel when you set them right, gets your
fancies comb from the barber's. I our loves a protective
pores And well, you are your mother's child, and she'll
keep before awhile, but some day you'll be grown. Then
(49:02):
you'll le on your own Halloween costume looking real cute.
Do your pillow case full in your astro natsuit. But
your cousin the cowboy is eye and you lout better
(49:26):
at your Snickers bomb.
Speaker 12 (49:30):
Out on.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
That was the artist Connor Oberst and the song as
You Are Your Mother's Child. Connor he's the lead singer
and the brains behind the indie group Bright Eyes, who
actually made a bunch of really great songs in the
early two thousands. Well he's making solo music now and
this is his song You Are Your Mother's Child, which
he released in twenty fourteen. Connor sings from the perspective
(49:53):
of a contrite father, proud of his child's accomplishments despite
his own shortcomings as a dad.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I definitely struggled with whether to put that one on
the record. He said in an interview. It has more
sentimentality to it than any of the other songs. But
I've seen a lot of friends go through that stuff
having kids, and it would be cool to do that someday.
I don't particularly feel ready for it right now, but
I guess no one ever does.
Speaker 12 (50:34):
Although you see the world.
Speaker 25 (50:39):
Different than me, sometimes I can touch upon who wonders
that you see?
Speaker 12 (50:51):
Not the new colors and pictures you've designed. Oh yes,
sweet dog, so glad you are a child of bride,
child of.
Speaker 11 (51:13):
Child of man.
Speaker 6 (51:19):
Oh yes, sweet dog.
Speaker 17 (51:22):
So glad you are a child.
Speaker 12 (51:26):
Oh my, you don't need direction, you know which way
to go. I don't wanna hold you back. I just
want to watch you grow. You're the one who talk me.
(51:50):
You don't have to look the hell. Oh yes, sweet dog,
so grad you.
Speaker 17 (52:04):
Will?
Speaker 1 (52:04):
That be the only Carol King song on this episode.
Maybe and again maybe not. The album Writer is the
debut studio album by the American singer songwriter Carol King,
released in May of nineteen seventy. She obviously already had
a successful career as a songwriter. I mean, I did
an entire episode on her songwriting, and she's been a
(52:25):
part of the City, which was a short lived group
that she formed after moving to Los Angeles in nineteen
sixty eight.
Speaker 2 (52:32):
Tracks on the album.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Include Up on the Roof, which was a number four
hit for the Drifters in nineteen sixty two that she wrote,
and Child of Mine, which has been recorded by many
other artists. The album didn't really receive much attention upon
its release, though it entered the chart. Following the success
of her next album, a Must Have album called Tapestry
in nineteen seventy one, people went back and listened to
(52:54):
her old back catalog. Some lyrics from the song that
I particularly liked. Although you see the world different than me,
sometimes I could touch upon the wonders that you see
and all the new colors and pictures you've designed. Oh yes,
sweet darling, I'm so glad you are a child of mine.
Speaker 15 (53:17):
Mommy has a little baby is fast asleep. He's just
a little playing Why not Bacon un cute cute.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
Little baby, Little.
Speaker 6 (53:41):
Little tools, Nah.
Speaker 15 (53:45):
Coming to me, Craw craw piche and fly.
Speaker 4 (53:52):
Baby macan fa.
Speaker 8 (54:01):
Sister, just play.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
We want to make him stay up.
Speaker 12 (54:07):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 4 (54:17):
See him for see him.
Speaker 15 (54:24):
From late Cute cute, don't you wanna make him man
stay late?
Speaker 14 (54:34):
Am I.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Nor my honest love?
Speaker 12 (54:48):
Don't you want to.
Speaker 4 (54:49):
Make stay up?
Speaker 1 (54:52):
That was The Talking Heads with Stay Up Late. It's
about a child who wants to keep a baby up
all night. The song Lud's a clever lyric from The
Temptations Ain't Too Proud to beg. The song's music video
features the band members suspended in the air and acting
like babies and suspended jumpers. In nineteen eighty nine, David
Byrne licensed the song's lyrics for a children's book by
(55:15):
illustrator Maria Cayman. The book is about a boy and
a girl who keep their baby brother from sleeping. Cayman's
art as a mean spirited edge that kind of matches
the song's lyrics.
Speaker 11 (56:00):
Become a seance A thousands.
Speaker 4 (56:07):
Like seven million, I.
Speaker 22 (56:12):
Like who on your bias?
Speaker 12 (56:28):
And that's.
Speaker 16 (56:33):
Answer them Chung translevels.
Speaker 11 (56:40):
So they can find.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
That was Lions and Tigers from the Portland duo Sleeper
Kinney from their album One Beat. One Beat is the
sixth studio album by this band, released in two thousand
and two. I really love the lyrics of this song.
Is a dedication to your child and wanted to make
sure I featured it in today's episode.
Speaker 2 (57:06):
I'd like to show you a million things.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
I'd like to make the world for you a better place.
But when it pours, it really rains, to put on
your boots and let's just play. How come all the
rulers of this earth get off teaching something strong. Please
learn to rule with your head, not your fist, and
those lessons will learn you'll carry on. So we have
come to the end of this episode, and by the way,
(57:28):
the end of our season, and of course that means
our final song, and I'm going to revisit an artist
I have already played for you, because the song is
a perfect song to close with. I will also point
out that this song was the suggestion of my wife,
and I think she was dead on. Released on the
must have album that I mentioned just a few songs ago,
(57:51):
Tapestry in nineteen seventy one. This is one of my
favorite songs by Carol King and a song that both
my wife and I agree that we really want want
to dedicate to both of r two girls. This song
is so important to Carol King that it's the name
of the Broadway musical about her life. According to King,
she did not consciously attempt to write this song Beautiful,
(58:14):
but it came to her spontaneously. It stemmed from her
realization while writing the New York City Subway that the
way she perceived others reflected about how she felt about herself.
She also stated that because it came to her spontaneously,
she initially didn't realize some of the professional details in
the song, such as the lack of rhyme and the
(58:34):
refrain which she was writing a song. Consciously, she would
have included Beautiful as an up tempo song. The lyrics
reflect themes present throughout the Tapestry albums, such as the
importance of self esteem and a positive outlook. Within the song,
beauty is defined as not an attractive outward appearance, but
as in Her Beauty. In the verses of the song,
(58:57):
the singer sings about unhappy people she sees around her.
The message is emphasized by setting the verse in a
minor key and to a straightforward rhythm and singing at
a relatively low pitch. The refrain describes the need for
optimism and self esteem to be truly successful, and is
reinforced by being set in a major key in those
(59:19):
parts and a syncopated rhythm and sung in a higher pitch.
This song is to tell your children that they should
love themselves and to have confidence, which is what I
want all of you to know. I truly love you
all out there.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
Thank you for recommending this podcast to your friends, and.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
Please remember to leave reviews for this episode and for
this whole series as well.
Speaker 2 (59:42):
So we're gonna leave you.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
Final song of our season is going to be Carol
King's Beautiful and as always, turn this up.
Speaker 2 (59:50):
We'll see you next season.
Speaker 26 (59:52):
You got to get up every moment and with a
smile on your face and shut the work all the
love in your heart.
Speaker 12 (01:00:04):
Then people gonna treat the better.
Speaker 26 (01:00:07):
You're gonna find, yes you will, that you're beautiful.
Speaker 12 (01:00:12):
As you be.
Speaker 26 (01:00:20):
Waiting at the station with the work day window blowing,
I've got.
Speaker 12 (01:00:27):
Nothing to do but watch the passer's boy.
Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
Mirored in their faces.
Speaker 12 (01:00:35):
I seek frustration growing and they.
Speaker 26 (01:00:39):
Don't see and showing why do I. You got to
get up their remore it with a smile on your
face and shove of work all the love.
Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
In your heart.
Speaker 12 (01:00:57):
Then people gonna treat you better.
Speaker 27 (01:01:00):
You're gonna find, yes you will.
Speaker 12 (01:01:03):
That's your beautiful.
Speaker 14 (01:01:06):
And we.
Speaker 26 (01:01:26):
I have often asked myself for the reason.
Speaker 12 (01:01:30):
For the sadness in a world with tears?
Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
Are just a love?
Speaker 26 (01:01:38):
If there's any answer, maybe love.
Speaker 12 (01:01:42):
And the madness. Maybe not how but we can only try.
Speaker 26 (01:01:51):
You got to get every morning with a smile on
your face and shut the work.
Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
I love your home.
Speaker 12 (01:02:04):
Up.
Speaker 27 (01:02:07):
Yes you will, let your beautiful your beautiful. You're beautiful
as you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
To listen to this, please recommend to a friend and
don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
For more podcasts and online content, please visit this isfunner
dot com.
Speaker 22 (01:02:33):
This is Funner
Welcome to listen to this. This is the podcast that
is dedicated to bringing you stories behind the artists, behind
the songs, and hopefully to introduce you to old songs
that have influenced all the music.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
That we hear today.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The goal is I want you to hear an artist
that you might not normally listen to and search out
their music on whatever streaming service you subscribe to, and
maybe just maybe search it out on vinyl or cassette
or CD. We invite you to subscribe, comment, and please
recommend this podcast to a friend. Every episode has a theme,
and for our season finale, we have a long one
(00:37):
for you. It's kind of esoteric, but I'm excited about it.
Our theme is positive message songs for your children. Never
in the history of the United States a monster of
such size and power.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to listen to this, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And artists with a theme to tie it all together.
Here's your hosts Eric. Let you For.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Our season fourteen finale, I'm gonna do an episode theme
that I've actually thought about for a long time. Conceptually,
I knew I wanted to do a positive message episode
and that kind of morphed into a concept of song
messages that we would want our kids to hear as
(01:21):
smart and wise adults passing down wisdom.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
In the modern age of social media and constantly being online,
our children are just being inundated with influencers and having
to always compare their lives and their looks with others.
Keeping up with the Joneses has now turned into keeping
up with the world. It used to be that we
would covet our neighbor's goods. Now we spend our days
(01:47):
coverting the world's goods, and it isn't healthy. We have
allowed poison to seep into our children's lives and we
are worse off because of it. Today we change all
of that. We as parents are going to build a
playlist of songs for our children, Songs filled with positive
body images, positive mental attitudes, life lessons, or just conveying
(02:12):
the love that we have for them. Basically what you
want to convey to your child via popular music. Some
real good music choices in today's episode, I'm really proud
of it, So let's get it started with maybe the
best song in this whole podcast about our children, from
(02:32):
none other than the patron Saint of listen to this,
Bob Dylan, Let's get it started.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Hey, God, bless it, keep you always.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
May you wishes all come true. Mays do for brothers,
the letter of that's do for you.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
May you build a letter to the stars.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Climb on every road you stay.
Speaker 7 (03:25):
Forever forever her stay.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Forever. There you grow up to be righteous.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
There you grow.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Up to be true.
Speaker 8 (04:09):
There you always know the truth and see the lights
abounding you.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
May you always.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Be cooageous, stand up red of this strong.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And may you stay.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
Forever.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I sure hope our loyal listeners there were paying attention
to the lyrics on that one, because that song by
Bob Dylan Forever Young, pretty much encapsulates exactly what I
wanted this episode to be about. That was written by
Bob for his son, Jacob Dylan, him of the Wallflowers fame.
Dylan had four children between nineteen sixty six nineteen sixty nine,
(05:01):
including his youngest Jacob, who went on to front the
band The Wallflowers.
Speaker 10 (05:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
In nineteen seventy four, he got back together with his
original backing group, the band. They recorded an album called
Planet Waves, which included this uplifting message from a parent
to a child well. The song has endured as one
of Dylan's classics, covered by many. Dylan performed Forever Young
with the band on Thanksgiving in nineteen seventy six at
(05:29):
the band's last Waltz concert, which was made into a
film and released in nineteen seventy eight with a very
popular soundtrack album. Dylan included two versions of the songs
on the Planet Wave album. It was a slow version
which is the version I played for You, followed by
a more up tempo take labeled Forever Young Continued. Nineteen
(05:53):
seventy four's Planet Waves kind Of came at a crucial
moment in Dylan's career. Having taken an eight year sabbatical
from his touring commitments, his star had continued to ascend
to even further heights. Having disappeared from the public eye
in an infamous, long disputed motorcycle accident, Dylan had survived
(06:15):
the end of the nineteen sixties, is one of the
world's most lauded song writers and just one of the
most important poets of our time, and he had even
taken a new step in his songwriting towards a more
ravaged intimacy and lost loves of his seventies work, and
it was coming in the build up of his becoming
(06:35):
a born again Christian in the late nineteen seventies. You
can tell that some of the seeds were already there.
Because this track does have religious undertones, it kind of
manifests itself in the very simple blessing in his song.
It was not for his son to have fame or riches,
but for contentment, happiness, and for the vigorous candle of
(06:57):
youth to never feel too far way.
Speaker 11 (07:07):
Nearn sibly Stein and seberw Stein and Sebert the sting
one made.
Speaker 12 (07:23):
I never to.
Speaker 13 (07:25):
Love may making one of able sheep. But dearn't sibly
hear the sepretty.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Still misty down for so bady we have been here,
I can believe would God's done.
Speaker 14 (08:27):
Well?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I told you there was gonna be some fantastic songs
on this episode, and that was definitely one of them.
That was Stevie Wonder with Isn't She Lovely? And Wonder
wrote this to celebrate the birth of his daughter, Aisha.
The song opens with the crying of a just born baby.
Now that's not Aisha the song's subject, but at the
(08:49):
end of the song, when Stevie says, come on, Ayisha,
get out of the water. Baby, the splashing, and baby
protesting that happens is really her recorded during pretty memorable
moment between Stevie and his daughter. Wonder had i E
show with Yolanda Simmons, whom he mentions near the end
of this song. Wonder played all of the instruments on
(09:12):
this track except some of the keyboards, which were played
by Greg Falanges. Wonder improvised the harmonica part, which came
out sounding pretty darn good. The song runs, or at
least the album version, runs six minutes and thirty four seconds,
with a pretty long fade out where Wonder interacts with
his daughter, Stevie. Wonder had pretty much full control over
(09:37):
his recording thanks to a pretty comprehensive contract that he
signed with Motown, and because of that, he said no
to them editing down the song so it could be
released as a single in America. Well. Unfortunately, the length
kept it off the Hot one hundred despite being one
of his most popular songs. The song was released as
(09:57):
a single in the UK or a was down to
three minutes and twenty six seconds. Much of the album
was recorded at the Hit Factory, a pretty legendary recording
studio in New York City where John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen,
and Paul Simon also liked to record. Wonder was the
first client at the Hit Factory, which finally closed its
doors in two thousand and five.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Close your eyes, have no fear. The monster's gun is
on the run them.
Speaker 15 (10:39):
Your daddy is here.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boar beautiful beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Beautiful bar Before you go to sleep, say a little proud.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Every day, in every way it's getting better and better.
BEAUTI fu futy for beautiful, beautiful bar, BEAUTI for beauty.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
For beautiful, beautiful boy.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Out on the your shunch, sailing away.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
I can hardly wait.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
To see you calm a wage, But I guess we'll both.
Speaker 16 (11:55):
Just have to be patient.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
Because it's a lone way to go.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
Is it's a long way to go?
Speaker 14 (12:13):
The time.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That was John Lennon with his song Beautiful Boy, and
he wrote this for his second son, Sean, who he
had with Yoko Ono. Sean was born in nineteen seventy five.
The line every day and in every way, I am
getting better and better is a self improvement mantra. It
was popularized by a French psychologist named Emil Kou who
(12:41):
made his patience repeat it over and over again. Richard
Dreyfus's character Mister Holland sings this to his deaf son
in the movie Mister Holland's Opus. In the scene, mister
Holland is upset over the death of John Lennon. When
his son asks him what's wrong, mister Holland explains that
he wouldn't understand. Notice the tribute, by the way in
(13:04):
the song to Paul McCartney in the lyrics every day,
in every way, it's getting better and better. Well, this
is from the Beatles song Getting Better. John's contribution to
that song at the time was cynical and witty. His
lyric was it can't get no worse.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But here he was sending a little message back to.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Paul that Paul was actually right. Once you have children,
life does just keep getting better and better.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Good Night, my angel.
Speaker 15 (13:47):
Time to close your eyes and save these questions foreig
enough the day.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think I know what you you've.
Speaker 12 (14:00):
Been asking me.
Speaker 15 (14:04):
I think you know what I've been trying to say.
I promised I.
Speaker 17 (14:11):
Would never.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Then you should always know wherever you may.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Go no matter where you are, I never.
Speaker 12 (14:28):
Will be far away.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Good Night, my angel.
Speaker 18 (14:35):
Now it's time to sleep, and still so many things
I want to say.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Great song there by Billy Joel for his kid, and
that was called Lullaby. And Joel wrote this as a
lullaby for his seven year old daughter named Alexa, in
response to her question where do we go when we die?
Joel has said that what he told Alexa when she
first asked about life after death quote, what I told
(15:06):
her was after you die, you go into other people's
hearts and they take you with them throughout their lives,
and then you pass that along to your children. She
seemed very content with that answer. It was a very
scary question to get as a parent, but the answer
seemed to make sense to her. Alexa's mom was Christie
Brinkley and she actually did the artwork for the album.
(15:26):
On the Rivers of Dreams album, Joel wrote each song
in reaction to the one that came before it, and
Lullaby was written to precede the title track. He wrote
it as a piano piece and had the melody before
he even came up with the lyrics. His original idea
was for it to be part of a suite with
the River of Dreams song. Joel also didn't want his
(15:49):
daughters to feel like she was being abandoned in the
midst of his split with Brinkley, and used the song
to reassure her that he'd always be around, forever and ever.
I wanted to tell her that no matter what, I
will never leave you. I will never be away from you.
My dad was never around, and I wanted her to
know that I'm always going to be there for her,
(16:10):
and I incorporated that into the lyrics.
Speaker 19 (16:30):
In your summer days come tumbling up and you find yourself,
you know, then you can come back.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
And be with me.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Just close your eyes and I'll be there. Listen to
the song.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I'm so holl.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Heading for are You?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yes, I miss but I never do. You might say
I'm here for are You?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Another artist writing it for their daughter that was Neil
Young with Here for You. Neil Young wrote this for
his daughter Amberjine, who was actually twenty one years old
and in her last year of college. He talks about
how he will always be there for her and he
really misses her.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He sings that he never wants to hold.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Her, but he will always be there when she closes
her eyes. The song kind of explores the complexities of
being a parent watching your child bloom into an adult.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yes, I'd miss you, but I'd never want to hold
you down. You might say, I'm here for you, Neil sings.
He's expressing both his absolute love for and the unconditional
faith in his daughter.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Oh sud I spoke to I was draff shop step.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
That was radio ed with Sail to the Moon, and
that was written by Tom York for his son Noah York,
And I guess you'd be forgiven for not tracking the
inspiration behind this particular song. It was released on two
thousand and three's Hail to the Thief album. It's Got
Shifting Mood, which switches from moments of minor tension to
(20:09):
a cathartic major relief, gives an emotional punch to the
belief in a Sun's power to achieve anything in the album.
Informed by political tension and fear for the future, this
moment finds Yorke utterly trustworthy in the revolutionary power of
his son, temporarily free of Dante Bush and the philosophical motifs.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It's a quiet belief that this track is full.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Of dark, offbeat authenticity. A choice lyric from the song
maybe it'll be President but no right from Wrong? Or
in the flood You'll build an arc and sail us
to the moon.
Speaker 12 (21:07):
Love is he said to do.
Speaker 17 (21:21):
They want to?
Speaker 11 (21:28):
I'm off there for years, rays less than.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
You know?
Speaker 12 (21:44):
Why ever, you know our.
Speaker 20 (21:51):
Canty slid through my head.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Fantastic song there that was Rolling Stones with wild Horses,
and the song started for Keith Richards newborn son, Marlin Richards.
It was nineteen sixty nine, and Keith really regretted that
he had to leave his son to go out on
tour yet again. Mick Jagger rewrote Keith's lyrics, keeping only
(22:34):
the line wild horses couldn't drag me away. His rewrite
was based on his relationship with Maryanne Faithful, which was disintegrating.
This was first released by Graham Parsons Flying Burrito Brothers
in nineteen seventy. The Stones version was written in sixty nine,
but had to wait for the Sticky Fingers album in
(22:56):
nineteen seventy one. The Stones recorded this during a read
a session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama in
December of nineteen sixty nine. It was the last of
three songs done after the sessions for Brown Sugar and
You Gotta Move. The Sticky Fingers album has very elaborate packaging.
(23:16):
It was designed by Andy Warhol. The cover photo was
a close up of a man's jeans with a real
zipper on it. It was also the first time the
Rolling Stones famous tongue logo was used. Ian Stewart, who
usually played piano for The Stones, refused to play on
this because he hated playing minor chords, which is how
(23:37):
this song starts. He left the session and Jim Dickinson
was brought in to play piano. After playing with The Stones,
Dickinson worked as a musician and producer with Aretha Franklin,
Big Star and The Replacements. He also did a lot
of movie soundtracks with the artist Ry Cooder.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Will you stay in a love storry If you stay,
you won't be sorry because we believe in you.
Speaker 14 (24:13):
Soon you'll grow, So'll take a chance with a couple
of cooks hung a balloon.
Speaker 12 (24:19):
Man sing, will you stay in a love storring?
Speaker 14 (24:26):
If you say you won't be sorry because we believe
in you. Soon you'll grow, So'll take a chance with
a couple of cooks un a balloonman sing. We bought
(24:49):
a lot of things to keep you warm and dry,
and a funny old crib on which the paints won't dry.
Speaker 12 (24:57):
I brought you a pa, a cop that you can blow,
and the Book of.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Roads, a lot to say to people when they pick
on you, because if you stay with us, they're gonna
be pretty cooky too.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Will you say I love the story?
Speaker 14 (25:16):
If they say you want this sorry because we love E,
then you soon bro.
Speaker 20 (25:24):
So take a chance with.
Speaker 14 (25:26):
A couple of cooks as.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I love a song that just tells your child it's
okay to be different and a little weird. That's what
makes a special And of course that was David Bowie
with his song Kooks. On May thirtieth, nineteen seventy one,
David Bowie's wife Angie, gave birth to a young baby
boy that they named Zoe. That's right, Zoe Bowie.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
David Bowie was listening to a Neil Young record at
home when he heard the news that he had become
a father. Zoe's birth gave him the inspiration to write
this song to his newborn baby son in the style
of a nineteen seventies Neil Young song quote the baby
was born and it looked like me, and it looked
like Angie. Bowie had said in his press release. The
(26:11):
song came out like if you're gonna stay with us,
then you're gonna have to grow up. Kind of wacky,
kind of bananas, kind of kooky. The English band the
Kooks took their name from this song. They said the
song is something that they can relate to as they
are young, and the song is a bit wacky. Zoey
reverted back to his birth name, which was actually Duncan
(26:33):
Jones around the age of eighteen and attended film school.
In his late twenties, he became a commercials director and
actually directed an infamous Kung Fu lesbian commercial. Hard to explain,
but that came out in two thousand and six, and
in two thousand and nine, jones first full length movie,
a sci fly thriller called Moon, was released. It was
actually pretty good. Bowie teamed up with producer Ken Scott
(26:56):
to co produce this family snapshot with a song called
called Cookes. As a master engineer, Scott lent his talents
to the likes of Elton John, Pink Floyd and The Beatles.
Cookes is the love of Duncan that he never really
showed when Duncan was growing up, Scott said in an interview,
it says it all how he felt at the moment of birth.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
He really didn't follow through on that. Scott continued, we
were too busy trying to keep our children fed and
our wives filled with jewelry that we were never actually
around as much as we should have been.
Speaker 21 (27:42):
It's not time to make a change.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Just relax, take easey.
Speaker 21 (27:50):
Y'all, still and young. That's your fault. There's so much
you have to know. You will find a girl settled
down if you want. You can now really look at me.
I am old, good, unhappy. I was once like you
(28:14):
are now, and I know that it's not easy to
be calm when you found something going on. But take
your time, think a lot. I think of everything you've
got or you will still be here tomorrow, but your
(28:37):
dreams may not.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
How can I try to explain when I do? He
turns away again.
Speaker 19 (28:52):
It's always been the same, the same old story.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
A farmer I could talk. I was on to listen.
Speaker 21 (29:05):
Now there's a way, and I know that I have
to go away. I know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I have to go.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That little gem there was by Cat Stevens, and that
was called Father and Son. The song is a conversation
between a father and his son, with the father counseling
his son to stay home, settle down, find a girl,
telling him that this is the path to happiness, after all,
it worked for him. The son, though, feels compelled to
(29:42):
leave and is frustrated because his dad makes no effort
to understand why he wants to go, or to even
hear him out. Stevens he made up the story, but
his relationship with his own father, Starvos Georges, was an
influence on the song. His dad owned a rest straw
in London, and Kat, known to his dad as Steve,
(30:04):
worked there as a waiter right up until he signed
a record deal at age seventeen. Starvos was hoping his
son would join the family business.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Stevens veered away from his upbringing again in nineteen seventy
seven when he rejected Christianity and became a Muslim, changing
his name to us Off Islam. The generational divide that
plays out in the lyric can't apply to many families,
but Stevens had a specific storyline in mind. Writing it
from the perspective of a father and a son and
(30:33):
a Russian family during the Russian Revolution. The son wants
to join the revolution, but his father wants him to
stay home and work on the farm. Now, pay attention
to the lyrics of our next song. I think it's
a perfect synopsis of what you want to tell your
kid before they go out into the world.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Look at kid, just steal hug, have played their old field.
Spit you. There are things.
Speaker 6 (31:05):
You do the norm alsana could ever do.
Speaker 12 (31:10):
But I can't teach you.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I can't teach it to you. We got kid, trust
your man, but you can't trust it.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Every time you know, we.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
Please tricks on you and you don't give them.
Speaker 20 (31:26):
You are happy all yourself, But if you've lost it,
don't feel bad.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
This is all right to be sad.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
The we got kids.
Speaker 15 (31:58):
Trust your body.
Speaker 12 (31:59):
You get, but you get shape because you make my day.
Speaker 11 (32:04):
Use your friends again and again.
Speaker 6 (32:06):
Because nothing is never perfect.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
No one's perfect.
Speaker 22 (32:09):
Let me say it again, no one's.
Speaker 12 (32:11):
Purpose right.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
A lifetime.
Speaker 16 (32:20):
Skinny heartbreak. It was so easy, but love without pain
would be boring.
Speaker 22 (32:35):
And then you feel.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
It's fine. I gave you a bresting smile.
Speaker 12 (32:45):
I gave you my heart.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Mine. It's just time to do.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
That was Arcade Fire with uncon Eye. A decade after
Arcade firefront Man, when Butler married his fellow band member
Regien Chassin. They had their first child, Edwin, who was
born in April of twenty thirteen. Unconditional Eye, also known
as Lookout Kid, is a lullaby of sorts for these
(33:18):
difficult times, sung by the couple to both their son
and to the world at large. The song originated with
when Butler thinking about Edwin in the world that he's facing,
and how when was an extremely depressed child quote and
it was just like, man, he's going to need to
have thick skin and really be able to take a
hit and have some fortitude. He has said in an interview,
(33:41):
I was just sort of thinking about that and trying
to sing him words of wisdom for the future, to
maybe all the kids out there in the world. The
idea of unconditional love, which is this impossible thing to achieve,
but we all do it naturally somehow. It's loving someone
despite what they do and what job they have and
how successful they are. It's just something that supersedes it.
(34:03):
And that's something that we naturally should have with our kids.
Arcade Fire debuted Unconditional Ie at Coachella in twenty twenty
two when they played a secret set at this California
festival in April of twenty twenty two. Before playing the song,
when Butler dedicated to Edwin after singing the opening line,
(34:24):
look out kid, trust your heart, Butler stopped, wiped his eyes,
told the crowd it's been a hard effing year, and
then had to start the song again.
Speaker 18 (34:39):
When I was just a little hugerl, I asked my mother,
what will ivey.
Speaker 11 (34:48):
Will I've pretty will ivey rich.
Speaker 23 (34:52):
Here's what she said to me, Kay, set up, set up, what.
Speaker 8 (34:59):
Have will be will be?
Speaker 23 (35:03):
The Future's not ours to see? Ka setta seta, What
will be will be?
Speaker 18 (35:15):
When I grew up and fell in love, I asked
my sweetheart, what, lizahead?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Will we have rainbows day after day?
Speaker 18 (35:28):
Here's what my sweetheart said.
Speaker 23 (35:32):
K set all set all, whatever will be will be?
The future is not ours to see. Ka setta seta.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
That was Doris Day with k Sarrah Srah running it
just two minutes in one second. This song points out
quite effectively how we can't predict the future. The first
of three verses finds Doris Day asking her if she'll
grow up to be pretty and rich. Instead of the
stock parental reply of you can be anything you want
(36:07):
to be, her mother comes back with something much more profound.
Whatever will be will be, kind of a way of saying,
don't sweat the small stuff. In the next verse, she
asked the man she loves if they will have a
happy life together, and he gives her the same answer.
In the last verse, she has kids of her own
(36:27):
and imparts the same wisdom. This was written by Ray
Evans and Jay Livingston, who wrote many songs for movies
when they were under contract for Paramount Pictures. Doris Day
sang it in the Alfred Hitchcock nineteen fifty six remake
of his own nineteen thirty four film The Man Who
Knew Too Much. In the film, she was putting her
(36:48):
young son to bed well. Livingston told Paul Zolo in
nineteen eighty seven in an interview quote, we got a
call from Alfred Hitchcock and he told us that he
had Doris Day in his picture, whom he didn't really want.
But MCA, the agency was so powerful that they said
if he wanted Jimmy Stewart. He would also have to
take Doris Day and Livingston and Evans as songwriters. It
(37:10):
was the only time an agent got us a job
that I can remember. Hitchcock said that since Doris was
a singer, they needed a song for her. He said, quote,
I can tell you what it should be about. She
sings it to a boy. It should have a foreign
title because Jimmy Stewart is a roving ambassador and he
goes all over the world. The song wound up winning
the nineteen fifty six Oscar for Best Song. In addition
(37:33):
to this movie, Doris Day's character sang it to herself
in a scene in the nineteen sixty film Please Don't
Eat the Daisies, and the song later became the theme
song for her sitcom The Doris Day Show, which ran
from nineteen sixty eight to nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 10 (37:58):
Maybe a liar as you can close to my Heart,
never too call Baby.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
You Ma, when you play.
Speaker 10 (38:24):
No Ses Fall and Shine, Never to.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Baby you Ma.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
That song baby Mine was from the movie Dumbo, and
I guess maybe it's an unusual choice for me, but
I actually think it was an inspired choice because It's
about unconditional love for your child, and if you know
the scene, the music and the scene will bring you
to tears. This lolla by from nineteen forty one's animated
feature from Disney, had actress and singer Betty Noyes, who
(39:06):
recorded the vocals for this scene, in which a baby elephant, Dumbo,
visits his mother, who is locked up in a circus wagon.
The mom cradles him with her trunk as she offers
words of comfort, telling him she will always have his back.
The instrumentation is by Frank Churchill, who also wrote most
of the music for Disney's nineteen thirty seven movie Snow
(39:28):
White and the Seven Dwarfs. The lyrics were penned by
Ned Washington, who won the Best Original Music Award in
nineteen forty for Pinocchio's When You Wish Upon a Star.
Churchill won the Academy Award in nineteen forty two together
with Oliver Wallace for the score of the movie Dumbo. Tragically,
he killed himself with a gunshot within weeks of his
(39:49):
oscar Win Baby Mine was nominated for Academy Award for
Best Original Song at the nineteen forty two Oscars, but
it lost out to the song the Last Time I
Saw Paris. Artists that have covered the song included Bette
Midler for the nineteen eighty eight movie Beaches in the
scene where she helps Barbara Hershey's character prepare for her baby.
(40:11):
Alison Krauss recorded a very popular version for her nineteen
ninety six album The Best of Country sing and the
Best of Disney. Her version earned a Grammy nomination for
Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Arcade Fire, who we just
played before this, actually recorded a cover as well of
Baby Mine for the end credits to the two thousand
(40:32):
and nine very disappointing live action reimagining of Dumbo. Their
version is truly a family affair front Man when Butler's
mother plays the harp, and his brother the thereman, and
his wife Regine sings and plays the drum, and his
son who he sang the song unconditional. I about was
playing the triangle.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
You can't fool me.
Speaker 12 (41:08):
I saw you when you came out.
Speaker 24 (41:15):
You got your mama's taste, but you got mama.
Speaker 12 (41:23):
You will always have a part of me.
Speaker 17 (41:27):
Nobody else has ever gone to see Gracey girl.
Speaker 24 (41:38):
With your cards to your chest, walking on your toe,
what you got in the box only Grasy.
Speaker 10 (41:49):
No.
Speaker 24 (41:54):
Now, we'd never try to make ubi anything you didn't
really want to be Gracey girl.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Life flies by sagons.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
You're not a baby, Gracy.
Speaker 4 (42:18):
You're my friend.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
That was ben Folds without his five with the song Gracie.
Ben Folds wrote this song for his daughter, quote, I
write songs for a very small audience. In that particular case,
it was an audience of one. A lot of times
it's for an audience of no one.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
It's just for me.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Everyone has similar experiences, so I don't really want to
write anything to universal. Gracie is a good example of that.
This song is just for Gracie. The first line is
I saw you when you came out. That's pretty graphic
line for a kid, but I knew she'd think that
was actually funny. Before writing a song Gracey, ben Folds
had earlier penned and recorded his song We're Still Fight
(43:00):
for his son Louis. Realizing the inevitable psychological trauma Gracie
would endure if dear old dad wrote a song for
her twin brother but not for her, he got to
work writing this song when he performed it at Virginia
Tech University In two thousand and seven, he performed Gracey
and someone in the crowd woo hooed. He stopped the
(43:21):
song and asked the crowd not to do it since
the song was very personal to him. After his warnings,
someone would woohoo anyways, and when they did, Folds would
stop the song and start back at the beginning. He
restarted Gracie eleven times before he finally got through the
complete song.
Speaker 17 (43:44):
Honey image muted and you must sid could.
Speaker 10 (44:03):
Be why.
Speaker 12 (44:08):
When you first smiled at me up to the swan
of like I'd never seen it?
Speaker 11 (44:18):
You know, it's.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
When you're like.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Sleep about protect futeens.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
Of night while I'm watching you grow they saw much
chack of teacher.
Speaker 12 (44:52):
Up.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
That was the Stone Temple pilots with song for Sleeping.
It's a lullaby written by lead singer Scott Wiland for
his eighteen month old son Noah. Wiland wrote this with
bass player Robert de Leo. They composed it while sitting
on the edge of Wyland's bathtub. The lyrics so will
you tell me the little things? What does God look like?
(45:18):
And what are Angel's wings comes from the Judeo Christian
belief that all unborn souls are lined up in heaven
waiting to be born, Hence the babies are new arrivals
from heaven. Wyland's son Noah, named in this song, is
also named after the character from the scriptures of the
Judeo Christian religion, the Noah's Ark story, and it's told
(45:38):
in the Bible, the Talmud, and even the Quran, as
well as having roots further back in Mesopotamian even Greek mythology.
Speaker 18 (46:00):
Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind,
your tether to another, and you worried all the time.
You always knew the melody, but you never heard it right.
She's fair and she is quiet.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Lord.
Speaker 18 (46:20):
She doesn't look like me. She made me love the morning.
She's a holiday at sea. The New York streets are
as busy as they always used to be. But I
am the mother of Evengelne. The first things that she
(46:42):
took from me you were selfishness and sleep. She broke
a thousand hairlooms I was never meant to keep. She
filled my life with color, canceled plans, and trashed my car,
but none of that was ever who We are. Outside
of my windows are the mountains in the snow, I
(47:05):
holy while you're sleeping, and I wish that I could
go all my roadie friends around accomplishing their dreams. But
I am the mother of Evngeline.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
That was Brandy Carlyle with the song The Mother. On
June fifteenth of two thousand and four, Brandy Carlyle and
her wife Catherine Shephard welcome to this world their first child,
daughter named Evangeline. The singer plays tribute to her little
girl and her experience with motherhood and general during this
song Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind,
(47:43):
Carlyle says in the track to some that sounds like
the reaction of their most sacred dreams. True companionship for
some sacrifices too much to bear and requires its own
brand of radical forgiveness for the most part, and for
me it's equal measures of both. She says, I am
not not just a mother, but it is all that
I am.
Speaker 9 (48:04):
I remember the day you appeared on this earth with
eyes like the ocean, got blood.
Speaker 12 (48:11):
On my shirt.
Speaker 8 (48:13):
From my camera angle, it looked like in her, but
your mama had a big old smile. We drove your home,
saw your yellow and skin, packed a few things and
drove you back again, stayed up all.
Speaker 6 (48:31):
Night worrying, wondering what was gonna make it bad?
Speaker 9 (48:38):
Broken bones heel when you set them right, gets your
fancies comb from the barber's. I our loves a protective
pores And well, you are your mother's child, and she'll
keep before awhile, but some day you'll be grown. Then
(49:02):
you'll le on your own Halloween costume looking real cute.
Do your pillow case full in your astro natsuit. But
your cousin the cowboy is eye and you lout better
(49:26):
at your Snickers bomb.
Speaker 12 (49:30):
Out on.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
That was the artist Connor Oberst and the song as
You Are Your Mother's Child. Connor he's the lead singer
and the brains behind the indie group Bright Eyes, who
actually made a bunch of really great songs in the
early two thousands. Well he's making solo music now and
this is his song You Are Your Mother's Child, which
he released in twenty fourteen. Connor sings from the perspective
(49:53):
of a contrite father, proud of his child's accomplishments despite
his own shortcomings as a dad.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I definitely struggled with whether to put that one on
the record. He said in an interview. It has more
sentimentality to it than any of the other songs. But
I've seen a lot of friends go through that stuff
having kids, and it would be cool to do that someday.
I don't particularly feel ready for it right now, but
I guess no one ever does.
Speaker 12 (50:34):
Although you see the world.
Speaker 25 (50:39):
Different than me, sometimes I can touch upon who wonders
that you see?
Speaker 12 (50:51):
Not the new colors and pictures you've designed. Oh yes,
sweet dog, so glad you are a child of bride,
child of.
Speaker 11 (51:13):
Child of man.
Speaker 6 (51:19):
Oh yes, sweet dog.
Speaker 17 (51:22):
So glad you are a child.
Speaker 12 (51:26):
Oh my, you don't need direction, you know which way
to go. I don't wanna hold you back. I just
want to watch you grow. You're the one who talk me.
(51:50):
You don't have to look the hell. Oh yes, sweet dog,
so grad you.
Speaker 17 (52:04):
Will?
Speaker 1 (52:04):
That be the only Carol King song on this episode.
Maybe and again maybe not. The album Writer is the
debut studio album by the American singer songwriter Carol King,
released in May of nineteen seventy. She obviously already had
a successful career as a songwriter. I mean, I did
an entire episode on her songwriting, and she's been a
(52:25):
part of the City, which was a short lived group
that she formed after moving to Los Angeles in nineteen
sixty eight.
Speaker 2 (52:32):
Tracks on the album.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Include Up on the Roof, which was a number four
hit for the Drifters in nineteen sixty two that she wrote,
and Child of Mine, which has been recorded by many
other artists. The album didn't really receive much attention upon
its release, though it entered the chart. Following the success
of her next album, a Must Have album called Tapestry
in nineteen seventy one, people went back and listened to
(52:54):
her old back catalog. Some lyrics from the song that
I particularly liked. Although you see the world different than me,
sometimes I could touch upon the wonders that you see
and all the new colors and pictures you've designed. Oh yes,
sweet darling, I'm so glad you are a child of mine.
Speaker 15 (53:17):
Mommy has a little baby is fast asleep. He's just
a little playing Why not Bacon un cute cute.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
Little baby, Little.
Speaker 6 (53:41):
Little tools, Nah.
Speaker 15 (53:45):
Coming to me, Craw craw piche and fly.
Speaker 4 (53:52):
Baby macan fa.
Speaker 8 (54:01):
Sister, just play.
Speaker 4 (54:04):
We want to make him stay up.
Speaker 12 (54:07):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 4 (54:17):
See him for see him.
Speaker 15 (54:24):
From late Cute cute, don't you wanna make him man
stay late?
Speaker 14 (54:34):
Am I.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
Nor my honest love?
Speaker 12 (54:48):
Don't you want to.
Speaker 4 (54:49):
Make stay up?
Speaker 1 (54:52):
That was The Talking Heads with Stay Up Late. It's
about a child who wants to keep a baby up
all night. The song Lud's a clever lyric from The
Temptations Ain't Too Proud to beg. The song's music video
features the band members suspended in the air and acting
like babies and suspended jumpers. In nineteen eighty nine, David
Byrne licensed the song's lyrics for a children's book by
(55:15):
illustrator Maria Cayman. The book is about a boy and
a girl who keep their baby brother from sleeping. Cayman's
art as a mean spirited edge that kind of matches
the song's lyrics.
Speaker 11 (56:00):
Become a seance A thousands.
Speaker 4 (56:07):
Like seven million, I.
Speaker 22 (56:12):
Like who on your bias?
Speaker 12 (56:28):
And that's.
Speaker 16 (56:33):
Answer them Chung translevels.
Speaker 11 (56:40):
So they can find.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
That was Lions and Tigers from the Portland duo Sleeper
Kinney from their album One Beat. One Beat is the
sixth studio album by this band, released in two thousand
and two. I really love the lyrics of this song.
Is a dedication to your child and wanted to make
sure I featured it in today's episode.
Speaker 2 (57:06):
I'd like to show you a million things.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
I'd like to make the world for you a better place.
But when it pours, it really rains, to put on
your boots and let's just play. How come all the
rulers of this earth get off teaching something strong. Please
learn to rule with your head, not your fist, and
those lessons will learn you'll carry on. So we have
come to the end of this episode, and by the way,
(57:28):
the end of our season, and of course that means
our final song, and I'm going to revisit an artist
I have already played for you, because the song is
a perfect song to close with. I will also point
out that this song was the suggestion of my wife,
and I think she was dead on. Released on the
must have album that I mentioned just a few songs ago,
(57:51):
Tapestry in nineteen seventy one. This is one of my
favorite songs by Carol King and a song that both
my wife and I agree that we really want want
to dedicate to both of r two girls. This song
is so important to Carol King that it's the name
of the Broadway musical about her life. According to King,
she did not consciously attempt to write this song Beautiful,
(58:14):
but it came to her spontaneously. It stemmed from her
realization while writing the New York City Subway that the
way she perceived others reflected about how she felt about herself.
She also stated that because it came to her spontaneously,
she initially didn't realize some of the professional details in
the song, such as the lack of rhyme and the
(58:34):
refrain which she was writing a song. Consciously, she would
have included Beautiful as an up tempo song. The lyrics
reflect themes present throughout the Tapestry albums, such as the
importance of self esteem and a positive outlook. Within the song,
beauty is defined as not an attractive outward appearance, but
as in Her Beauty. In the verses of the song,
(58:57):
the singer sings about unhappy people she sees around her.
The message is emphasized by setting the verse in a
minor key and to a straightforward rhythm and singing at
a relatively low pitch. The refrain describes the need for
optimism and self esteem to be truly successful, and is
reinforced by being set in a major key in those
(59:19):
parts and a syncopated rhythm and sung in a higher pitch.
This song is to tell your children that they should
love themselves and to have confidence, which is what I
want all of you to know. I truly love you
all out there.
Speaker 2 (59:33):
Thank you for recommending this podcast to your friends, and.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
Please remember to leave reviews for this episode and for
this whole series as well.
Speaker 2 (59:42):
So we're gonna leave you.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
Final song of our season is going to be Carol
King's Beautiful and as always, turn this up.
Speaker 2 (59:50):
We'll see you next season.
Speaker 26 (59:52):
You got to get up every moment and with a
smile on your face and shut the work all the
love in your heart.
Speaker 12 (01:00:04):
Then people gonna treat the better.
Speaker 26 (01:00:07):
You're gonna find, yes you will, that you're beautiful.
Speaker 12 (01:00:12):
As you be.
Speaker 26 (01:00:20):
Waiting at the station with the work day window blowing,
I've got.
Speaker 12 (01:00:27):
Nothing to do but watch the passer's boy.
Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
Mirored in their faces.
Speaker 12 (01:00:35):
I seek frustration growing and they.
Speaker 26 (01:00:39):
Don't see and showing why do I. You got to
get up their remore it with a smile on your
face and shove of work all the love.
Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
In your heart.
Speaker 12 (01:00:57):
Then people gonna treat you better.
Speaker 27 (01:01:00):
You're gonna find, yes you will.
Speaker 12 (01:01:03):
That's your beautiful.
Speaker 14 (01:01:06):
And we.
Speaker 26 (01:01:26):
I have often asked myself for the reason.
Speaker 12 (01:01:30):
For the sadness in a world with tears?
Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
Are just a love?
Speaker 26 (01:01:38):
If there's any answer, maybe love.
Speaker 12 (01:01:42):
And the madness. Maybe not how but we can only try.
Speaker 26 (01:01:51):
You got to get every morning with a smile on
your face and shut the work.
Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
I love your home.
Speaker 12 (01:02:04):
Up.
Speaker 27 (01:02:07):
Yes you will, let your beautiful your beautiful. You're beautiful
as you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
To listen to this, please recommend to a friend and
don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
For more podcasts and online content, please visit this isfunner
dot com.
Speaker 22 (01:02:33):
This is Funner
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