Winter Songs About Valentines and Mermaids

The legendary singer Nat King Cole released "L-O-V-E" two months before his death in February 1965. The song has been covered before, however children's musicians Uncle Dox and Vivi Melody have chosen to take the key elements of the chorus and mash it into "Four Letter Word," a hummable ditty, just in time for Valentines' Day:

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

The original ballad by Cole is a smoky, wistful affair. Dox and Vivi break down the four-letter nature of how love can make you feel silly, empowered, and generally at peace. "Love is part of the master plan," Dox informs listeners. "The sweetest [four letter word] you've ever heard," Vivi chimes in. "This word letter word describes you and me." Who couldn't use a dose of affections this mid-pandemic February?

You can listen to and purchase "Four Letter Word" from Uncle Dox and Vivi Melody on Soundcloud, Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music. 

If you're sick of winter and looking forward to post-pandemic life this summer, New Zealand's Itty Bitty Beats, have a hallucination for you. Lucy Hiku and Jenny Payne have released "Mermaids," a fanciful song about the mythical creatures who swim and frolic in the green, blue ocean waves. Since forming in 2014, the award-winning Christchurch children’s music duo celebrated four years in a row of being nominated for New Zealand children’s music awards, winning once for Best Children's Song and Best Children's Album. Jenny’s husband Rob Payne produces all of their music. "Mermaids" features the Beats' harmonies over slide guitar, ukulele, and drums, sending out Hawaiian beach vibes. Keep that in mind while you're busy shoveling out your car.

You can listen to and purchase "Mermaids" on February 11 from the Itty Bitty Beats' website, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music.

Wishful Thinking from Uncle Dox, Gigi Rowe

Don't you find yourself wishing the pandemic was over? Two children's music performers share the same thought. Kids fave Uncle Dox is back on the scene with his new CD, banana². A few years back, Mista Cookie Jar released one song every month (just about) and then compiled everything onto a CD. Dox is making banana² available in one dinner-sized package of 10 brand spanking new fun songs. But if you fancy having them doled out like medicine, you can hear them all on YouTube, one video dropping every week this spring. 

Dox isn't afraid to use his tech skills to recreate the soft 70s dance rock sound on "Last Thing I Do," or use steel drums on "Clouds," one of the tracks featuring female vocalist Fancy Pants. If you've ever thought about building a cardboard boxcar, "racecar" describes zooming around the house while your mind is somewhere on the Nascar circuit. Spin Doctors' Mark White coproduced and played guitar on the track. Vivi Melody guests on the 60s girl group-esque "Shopping." Harps and flutes abound on the "conquer your fears" song, "Brave," which declares:

You gotta face your fears in all you do
And that will make a stronger you

Dox isn't easily pigeonholed, as he crosses genres with satire (previous family favorite Beastie Boys homage "Squirrels") and dance ("Danger Zone"). With banana², he's pushing kids into a post-pandemic life of normal activities, friends, and fun. It's music to knock your Dox off.

banana² is available from Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Here is the video for "Racecar":

Speaking of wishing, recording artist Gigi Rowe is multi-tasking her brand of high gloss power pop for kids. Her new song, “Wishes” is also the title her upcoming children’s book. Gigi's likeness was immortalized in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions of Just Dance, the best-selling dance video game franchise of all time. Her featured tracks ("New Reality," "Run The Night," and "Got That") are all available on YouTube.

Now Gigi is expanding the "Gigi-verse" using her music to propel dance aficionados into a fantastical adventure to explore her world, enabling kids live their dreams. Gigi's musical (and aesthetic) inspirations include 1980s icons Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, as well as Annie Lennox. Gigi's tunes (and book) are filled with dayglo colors so close to cotton candy that your dentist might object. But you can judge that for yourself, watching the brand new video for "Wishes": 

Quick Hits: LARD Loves the Beatles, Uncle Dox Does Elephants

As you get older, staying regular is sometimes challenging. It's also challenging when you declare that you will release one song every month, much as LARD Dog and the Band of Shy are starting to realize. Their June song of the Month, "Who's Your Favorite Beatle?" arrives just in time for....July.

Steven Erdman goes old-school (early 1960s era) for the legendary feel of the song. It's probably the least wacky LARD song since his inception and more of a straight rousing rock number with "yeah yeah yeahs" and a limited selection of non sequitors (replaced by historical Beatles references). The download page includes nifty artwork from legendary illustrator Danny Hellman.

You can grab the tune from the website or stream it through this direct Soundcloud link.

Speaking of Soundcloud, you can also access Uncle Dox's new song, "Elephants," at the site as well. It's a veritable team effort (you've heard of herds, haven't you)? Guest choral artists include Lucas Miller, Lucy Kalatari, Vivi Melody, Heather Hirschfeld, and Jason Didner (of Jungle Gym Jam fame).


Minnesota's Uncle Dox has an animal affinity. Between the frogs and squirrels, his music is a mutlifaceted menagerie. And instead of taking a long drive and waiting in the hot sun to stare at animals staring back at you, you can just listen to the tunes in the comfort of your own air conditioning.

More songs are here on Soundcloud. What are you waiting for?

Ben's Playlist - Friday, October 9, 2015

All the Pretty Horses – Cat Doorman
A Bushel And A Peck – Vivi Melody & Family
Get Happy – The Verve Pipe
Tomorrow's People  – Brady Rymer & The Little Band That Could
Uh Huh – Dean Jones
Voodoo Doll – 5 Seconds of Summer
Word Crimes – Weird Al Yankovic

Smiles Ahead and Much Love from Vivi Melody

Last week, Amazon Prime Music announced its new streaming service for children's music featuring the Pop-Ups and (upcoming) Lisa Loeb. This week, Mighty Mo Productions goes back to the future to release its first physical CD, a sampler of independent kindie music entitled SMILES AHEAD.

What a difference a week makes, hmmm? It's an era of Kickstarter and Indiegogo and other crowdfunding sites that children's artists (among others) use to scrounge resources to produce music. Are the two concepts diametrically opposed? I'm sure Amazon will embrace music produced independently. Many of the tracks on SMILES AHEAD have been released by the artists themselves, such as Brady Rymer's "Jump Up!" and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's "You're It!" There is no shortage of exclamation points on this compilation, by the way.

Rissi Palmer brings a touch of soulful country to "Best Day Ever" (not the Spongebob kid's favorite) and local artist Katydid makes her spotlight debut with "The Together Song." Kira Willey's "Gotta Lotta Happy" makes a welcome re-appearance after its debut on her yoga CD earlier this year. As Matthew pointed out when we tracked SMILES AHEAD during dinner, SiriusXM's Kids Place played the song over the weekend. You also get Frances England, Caspar Babypants, and the Okee-Dokee Brothers, among others.

Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove deserves credit for stepping into an arena where even Disney washed its hands and went back to its tween offerings. Mighty Mo is taking a different path – issuing compilations rather than fully-fleshed brand spanking new music. The Verve Pipe offered up their new anthem, "Get Happy."

SMILES AHEAD is available October 16 from Mighty Mo's website and Amazon.

Speaking of happy times, Vivi Melody and Family are ridiculously delirious. Or deliriously ridiculous. Their new CD, MORE LOVE, is 15 songs that practically club you into a cuddly coma. "All You Need Is Love" features her dad, Don "Poppy" Villemez, doing his best Willie Nelson-esque recital of the lyrics. An ancient favorite, "A Bushel and a Peck" emerges for the second time in a decade, after Randy Kaplan resurrected it for his shows.

As mentioned, MORE LOVE was a Kickstarter effort. Vivi, her family, and puppet (Goober) stay mostly in their Texas home base. But there's a universal appeal to her concept and whose family couldn't use more love nowadays?

Skewing towards the youngest youngsters (who would think "All You Need is Love" is an original composition), Vivi touches on "The Four Seasons" and includes the "Recycling Song" and a happy-everyone's-all-together singalong "Saturday."

There's a basic decency and clarity to MORE LOVE, without any undercurrent of sarcasm or pretense of adult asides. It's hard to promote a puppet through a CD (even Elmo is a tough sell if your kid doesn't see Sesame Street). But that's why Vivi has her YouTube channel.

MORE LOVE is available from Vivi Melody's website, CDBABY, Amazon, and iTunes.

Here is the video from Vivi Melody's song "We Can Still Be Friends," featuring singer Billy David Millican: