Dedicated to the One I Love
There will be many charges laid at my feet for the mistakes I've made with The Child. But one thing I've done pretty right is in her musical education. She's been exposed to a lot of music in her young life. Among her CD collection you'll find the Beatles and Bob Dylan. She knows show tunes, punk and more than a little pop. She can sing in Latin and can recognize Mozart. "Singin' in the Rain" is among her favorite movies.
Today she and I went to Lorene's book signing and then out for coffee. She ordered, and enjoyed, her first official latte (as opposed to the coffee milk she drinks almost every morning). We talked about important stuff. We laughed together. We acted cool in hip shops and we held hands. And she decided we should play "Name that Tune" and so we hummed our way home. This is one of the songs she got right. Here's lookin' at you, kid.
Today she and I went to Lorene's book signing and then out for coffee. She ordered, and enjoyed, her first official latte (as opposed to the coffee milk she drinks almost every morning). We talked about important stuff. We laughed together. We acted cool in hip shops and we held hands. And she decided we should play "Name that Tune" and so we hummed our way home. This is one of the songs she got right. Here's lookin' at you, kid.
Labels: coffee, musical types, The Child
cobbled together by Moi at 5:56 PM
10 Comments:
The Child has taste. My favorite GG's song.
I have a somewhat massive mp3 collection and my kids enjoy making their own cds and playlists from it..
JP, aren't you supposed to be out with Miss S by now?
Grish, there's talk of us moving to that technology. Heaven help us.
Leaving shortly. But I'm kind of addicted to the superfantastic all 80's whatchamacallit.
Well.I'm going shut down the turntable for tonight so go play. More tomorrow, though.
I just dropped in to return your applesauce cake pan and...Oh,..is that Belinda Carlisle?.. :)..!
Thanks, Sling. And here's your miter saw. And yes. Yes, it is.
Someday soon, you will find the child listening to rap music.
I encourage you to make sure the song is not about sex acts.
Well, duh. Of course, that kinda begs the question, doesn't it? If she's not going to listen to rap that celebrates violence and sex then what's left?
As usual, I am left to defend my beloved music.
The media portrays rap as only celebrating sex and violence, so that's the image we're left with.
Speaking as someone who listens to rap pretty much every day, I can tell you there are countless artists in the genre who are not about that. Those who not glorify violence and sexual gratification are generally referred to as "conscious rappers." (Of course, they are not usually the ones you see on the news or, sadly, in the charts.)
Some songs by "conscious" rappers are perhaps age-inappropriate for younger listeners, but that's because they deal with violence and crime, but not from the standpoint of glorifying it.
Having said all of this, I have been listening to rap since I was about eight, and have been listening to the much-feared "gangsta" rap since I was 13.
Yeah, I knew the songs by heart. Songs about cocaine dealers, drive-by shootings, gang life, prostitutes, robbery, sex, weed smokers, contract killers, police shootouts and all that.
I think all the rap I listened to as a kid actually had a positive influence on my life because it gave me a glimpse of realities that existed. It was high art to me, and it pulled me out my safe little world. It taught me things that crappy pop love songs never could. There are gangbangers killing each other. There is another world going on, over there in those "other" neighborhoods. I am so glad my parents were not able to shield me from it, try as they might.
Maybe I was mature and intelligent for my age, but I have always been aware that listening to a gangsta rap song was like watching a movie. The rapper is often a character in his own song, and the crazy, scary things he sees or does are realities I am glad I was exposed to.
The important thing to remember is that in art, we sometimes see the dark side. If all art was happy, art would suck.
When Johnny Cash sings "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die," we understand he is singing as a character. When rappers do the same thing, we think they're telling about what they did last night. 99% of these rappers have pretty normal lives. They finish work in the studio and they go home and sleep under a blanket.
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