As a means of maintaining my fraying sanity these days, when I'm not feverishly checking my e-mail, firing off further cover letters and basically wallowing in a maelstrom of vocational frustration in a neighborhood internet cafe (one that insists on playing a non-stop barrage of shrill R&B shlock), I've been accompanying Charlotte to her first couple of weeks at her new preschool.
The school's accent is on art, music and creative play, so I've been trying to muffle my inner wellspring of vehement cynicism. In these first two weeks, myself and the other parents are slowly acclimating our kids to the space and the schedule, gradually stepping away when it seems that the little people are getting fully comfortable. It's been going very smoothly so far (knock on wood), although Charlotte did throw a bit of a wobbly today. No big deal, though.
In any case, one of the assignments we parents were tasked with was to "strengthen the connection between home and the school by having the children make their very own compact disc, filled with all of their favorite jam sessions". Now, as you might imagine, I expose Charlotte to music quite regularly, although most of the time, the music I tend to play isn't always "child friendly." By the same token, I shudder with contempt every time we put on a "children's music" disc. With few exceptions, they're usually pretty insipid. I'd much rather play a Beatles disc than subject my offspring to the cloying likes of Laurie Berkner or any of her ilk. Hell, I'd sooner put on Missing Foundation than put on any of that stuff.
So Charlotte and I sat down by the computer, and I played a number of choice selections, weighing each on their capacity to make my little girl smile, giggle and merrily hop about. Before you ask, no, I did not slip any Killing Joke, Cop Shoot Cop or Venom onto the disc (but would that really have been so bad?).
Below is the tracklisting:
"Start Wearing Purple" by Gogol Bordello (referred to as Gogol B. on the disc sleeve)
"Kelly Watch The Stars" by Air
"Brimful of Asha" by Cornershop
"Martha My Dear" by The Beatles
"The High Road" by The Feelies
"Soup On A Stick" by BRAK
"Feelin'" by The La's
"The Dandy Warhols' TV Theme" by The Dandy Warhols
"Rocking Chair" by House of Freaks
"Ding Dong" by Klaus Nomi
"At the Zoo" by Simon & Garfunkel
"Apeman" by The Kinks
"I'm Only Sleeping" by Suggs
"Bread & Butter" by The Newbeats
"You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" by The Beatles
"Every Word Means No" by Let's Active
"Abominable Snowman In The Market" by Jonathan Richman
"Tina" by Camper Van Beethoven
"Baby Britain" by Elliott Smith
"Wade In The Water" by The Ramsy Lewis Trio
"Charlotte Anne" by Julian Cope
The one bone I threw to the `Joke was the cover art (see pic at the top of this post) which is an unplanned homage to my favorite album of theirs.
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