Folk Music: Innappropriate?

[pumpkinhead]

Jacob loves 'our' music. We listen to a lot of folky, traditional type music and recently I have become more aware of appropriateness inappropriateness of the lyrics of said music.

Specifically, he really enjoys a tune called "Scolding Wife" and the lyrics are as follows:

"Well I came into a scolding wife a few short years ago
And ever since I lead a life of misery and woe
My wife she is a tyrant around the room and in
Oh she'd sell me to the devil for a glass or two of gin
Chorus: And if the devil would take her
I'd thank him for his pain
I swear to God I'll hang meself
If I get married again"

And so on and so forth ops:

A very close second is Rolling Down to Old Maui

"It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife
We whaler men undergo
And we don't give a damn when the gale is done
How hard the wind did blow
Cuz we're homeward bound from the Artic sound
With a good ship taunt and free
And we don't give a damn
When we drink our rum
With the girls of old Maui"

Not to mention Captian Kidd, Barrett's Privateers and Harbour LaCou.

So, what are your thoughts? Is this completely inappropriate music for an almost 5 year old to be listening to?

[fek&fuzz]

Well, I grew up listening to the Clancy Brothers - Whiskey You're The Devil, Whiskey in the Jar, etc. etc. I didn't grow up thinking it was ok to have sheleighleigh law be all the rage, or go around producing my pistol and then me rapier and taking someones money (though it was a pretty penny).

Your child will be most influenced by you and how you act, not by the music you happen to listen to.

[pumpkinhead]

Now I'm humming "Oh Whiskey you're the devil, you're leading me astray, over hill and mountian..."


This is a very good point and I honestly wasn't thinking that way.

Your child will be most influenced by you and how you act, not by the music you happen to listen to.

Thank you for the reminder

[HarperRose]

My dd sings Evanescence and Blue October with me. She's 5. She also joins me in singing Johnny Cash, Hank Sr., etc. :

Some of the lyrics are heavy, others talk of drinking and drugs. I grew up on the same kind of music. I lived.

[fek&fuzz]

And when I was 9 or 10, my friend and I used to dance around her basement to "Daddy Please Don't" all about premarital sex, unwed pregnancy and then the gir's father shooting at the boy but missing him and shooting his daughter instead. We must have listened to that song 200 times, spinning around the poles in her basement, and then collapsing on the floor at the end when poor Julie dies.

Run Joey Run
David Geddes

Daddy please don't, it wasn't his fault, he means so much to me
Daddy please don't, we're gonna get married...just you wait and see.

She called me up, late last night, she said Joe, don't come over
My dad and I just had a fight, and he stormed out the door
I've never seen him act his this way, my God, hes going crazy
He says he's gonna make you pay, for what we've done, he's got a gun, so

Run Joey Run Joey Run
Daddy please don't, it wasn't his fault, he means so much to me
Daddy please don't, we're gonna get married...just you wait and see.

I got in my car and I drove like mad, till I reached Julie's place
She ran to me, with tears in her eyes, and bruises on her face
All at once, I saw him there, sneaking up behind me, WATCH OUT!
Then Julie yelled, he's got a gun, and she stepped in front of me
Suddenly, a shot rang out, and I saw Julie falling
I ran to her, I held her close, when I looked down, my hands were red,
and heres the last words Julie said...

Daddy please don't, it wasn't his fault, he means so much to me
Daddy please don't, we're gonna get married.....aaahhh..ahhhh
ahhhh....ahhhhh

Run Joey run Joey run Joey run Joey run Joey run

[kamilla626]

Hey, if he can handle Jack and Jill falling off a cliff and cracking their heads open, he should be fine.

I grew up listening to my dad's music - which was mostly "wholesome" but also included plenty of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show and Loudon Wainwright III.

I specifically remember asking him "why was the man laughed at by the whore, daddy"?

He answered questions about the lyrics when I asked them, but also helped me understand that they are just lyrics - they tell a story, and sometimes stories are written to be a little scary, silly, rude or gross. He appreciated the music for the art that it was and the feelings that it evoked, and helped me do the same.

[lemurmommies]

My son is growing up listening to ani difranco and The Indigo Girls, along with a random assortment of Irish trad.

I definitely agree with fek&fuzz - he'll be influenced way more by how we act than what we listen to.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by pumpkinhead

A very close second is Rolling Down to Old Maui

Well that's a darn sight more appropriate after 9/11 than the filk version "Falling Down on New Jersey".


How about Northwest Passage?
Blacksmith of Brandywine?

[pumpkinhead]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Well that's a darn sight more appropriate after 9/11 than the filk version "Falling Down on New Jersey".


How about Northwest Passage?
Blacksmith of Brandywine?

You speak Stan Rogers . Northwest Passage makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It's such a beautiful tune.

[pumpkinhead]

And there's seriously a version called "Falling down on New Jersey"? That's a little evil.

I perfer "The Last of Garnet's Homemade Beer"

[taradt]

Originally Posted by pumpkinhead

Specifically, he really enjoys a tune called "Scolding Wife" and the lyrics are as follows:

"Well I came into a scolding wife a few short years ago
And ever since I lead a life of misery and woe
My wife she is a tyrant around the room and in
Oh she'd sell me to the devil for a glass or two of gin
Chorus: And if the devil would take her
I'd thank him for his pain
I swear to God I'll hang meself
If I get married again"

And so on and so forth ops:

Not only does my DD listen to this music (We are Great Big Sea fans) but she will sing along as loud as she can There are worse things she can be listenning to

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by pumpkinhead

And there's seriously a version called "Falling down on New Jersey"? That's a little evil.

Well, it was written at a time when they were doing some significant funding cuts for the space programs.

It's a damned tough life
far from home and wife
that we astronauts undergo
and we don't much care when the mission's done
how far the ship did go
but you'll be sad to learn
that the orbit burn can't be made for the tanks are empty
and the fuel line's torn
so you'd better warn
all the folks in New Jersey

[Crisstiana]

One of my favorite albums is "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash" by the Pogues, which mixes traditional Irish folk music and punk. I play it all the time for my 7-month old twins and sing the songs to them when they are fussy. They really love it. But if they can ever decipher the words, I'm going to stop.

This might never happen. I was once blasting "The Old Main Drag" in my garage as I worked on some chores, and my older, extremely proper (and awfully nosey) neighbor had come up near me without my noticing. She had been standing there, entranced by the music, which she proclaimed to be "so pretty and uplifting". Here's a sample of the lyrics:

There the he-males and the she-males paraded in style
And the old man with the money would flash you a smile
In the dark of an alley youd work for a fiver
For a swift one off the wrist down on the old main drag

One evening as I was lying down by leicester square
I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the
Between the metal doors at vine street I was beaten and mauled
And they ruined my good looks for the old main drag

In the tube station the old ones who were on the way out
Would dribble and vomit and grovel and shout
And the coppers would come along and push them about
And I wished I could escape from the old main drag

But it's not very easy to make out the words, thankfully.

[sapphire_chan]

Oh and then there's several variants on "Old Time Religion" that involve gods like Yad-Thaddag and Horus.

[zinemama]

Oh yeah, Barrett's Privateers. I knew I was in trouble one day when I was caught belting out, "God damn them all, I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold, we'd fire no guns, shed no tears..." and there was ds giving me a *most* interested look.

"Fire gun, mama?"

Gosh dang it.

[mamaverdi]

to Crisstiana's neighbor and to "fire gun, mama?" :

Still remember my ds about 3 at the time asking for the D*ck You song.

And then singing with it at the top of his lungs, "When you love somebody and they d*ck you around, doesn't that really suck?"

FWIW, it's called The Mango Song. :

[memiles]

My husband's musical tastes drift toward what I like to call "washed up hair bands".

One day he came to pick me up with dd1 in the car. We pulled away, he turned up the stereo, and she started singing along with "Just a Gigalo". She knew EVERY WORD.

I was briefly traumatized, but it was too funny to resist laughing, which only taught her to start singing it whenever she wanted attention.

[Viola]

Well, if it seems misogynistic or racist, I'd think twice about letting my children listen to it. If it's just sex, drugs and violence...eh, I dunno.

[ledzepplon]

When I was in elementary school we learned to sing "Drunken Sailor" (lyrics here). I would not object to my kids learning that.

[trinity6232000]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

Your child will be most influenced by you and how you act, not by the music you happen to listen to.

:

My dd will be 7 in June, and I'm constantly surprised by her choice in music. If she hears
a song she likes I put it on the iPod for her to listen to. She LOVES 70's disco, she had me
download Celebration and Funky Town. Her favorite bands are No Doubt and The Donna's.
This past week she has been dancing around the house singing "Sun is in the sky oh why
oh why would I want to be anywhere else. :

I haven't worried about her being exposed to words or themes in music, but I am guilty of
wondering what other's might think. Thankfully I usually don't care what other's think.:nana:

Thank goodness I haven't had to explain myself yet on why dd knows all the words to
My Humps, by Black Eyed Peas. She loves the song, : I don't, but I have to give the
girl props, it has a good beat and you can dance to it.: