Rocking my two-year-old daughter to sleep and listening to Sarah McLachlan's dreamy version of "Rainbow Connection", I am struck by how old-fashioned songs have power to improve our mood. The listening experience can take us out of ourselves and land us in a completely different place. Kermit the Frog, original artist of "Rainbow Connection," and velvety-voiced, multi-platinum alternative music star Sarah are worlds apart. Yet the same stuff seems to flow through their veins--childlike hope.
We can lose ourselves in great kids' books too. My two-year-old daughter's latest favorite bedtime stories right now are Kisses by Nanda Roep and Marijke ten Cate (Boyds Mills, 2002), about an imaginative raccoon dad who comes up with sweet and silly ways to give his daughter a goodnight kiss, and Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser's Bonjour Butterfly (HarperCollins, 2008) from the Fancy Nancy series. In Bonjour Butterfly I love it when we get to see Nancy's friend Bree's froufrou bedroom, complete with gingerbread-style furniture. Every time we arrive at this one page my daughter exclaims, "That's my bedroom!" Sadly it's true. Also fun is when Fancy Nancy's grandpa is dancing the cha-cha with Nancy. Whenever we read it, no matter how many times an explanation is given, my daughter croons to me in her musical voice, "What's a cha-cha?!" I think she just likes to say it.
Reading, singing, telling and hearing stories may be one of the greatest pleasures in life. In a world gone mad, old-fashioned songs and books can be a balm that calms. I should mention that Sarah McLachlan's "Rainbow Connection" can be heard on several albums including a collection that my children, wife and I love called Gather Round (Hear Music, 2004).
The album is a collection of popular kids' and folk songs by Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul and Mary; Willie Nelson; Tom Paxton; Carole King; Ella Jenkins; David Grisman; etc., what I would call the old-fashioned music hall of fame.
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