Head And Shoulder

A couple variations to the classic:

Neck and elbows, feet and waist
Feet and waist
Feet and waist
Neck and elbows, feet and waist
Eyes, ears, make a funny face!

Touch the ceiling, touch the ground
Ceiling ground
Ceiling ground
Touch the ceiling, touch the ground
Eyes, ears, make a silly sound!

The Leprechaun Song (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To celebrate, I've taken one of my favourite "Irish" songs (Galway Girl) and re-imagined it into a song about a Leprechaun. Enjoy.

Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
of a day I-ay-I-ay
I met a leprechaun and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day I-ay-I-ay

And he asked me, "Friend, what's a leprechaun to do?"
"I've lost my pot of gold and I don't know what to do!"
And I knew right then, where I needed to go
That I'd find the pot of gold if I follow rainbow

I was halfway there when the rain came on
Of a day I-ay-I-ay
I was being followed by a leprechaun
On a fine soft day I-ay-I-ay

And he said to me, "What are you going to do?"
"If you find my pot of gold before I get to?"
So I took his hand, and I pointed the way
"Let's find it together is what I say"

When we reached the end, of the big rainbow
of a day I-ay-I-ay
We found the giant shining pot of gold
on a day I-ay-I-ay

And he told me, "Friend, this is what I'll do"
"I'll share my pot of gold down the middle with you"
And I said, "No thanks, I'll just move on"
"My treasure is a friend who's a leprechaun!"

Nursery Rhyme: My Umbrella, Keeps Me Dry

My umbrella
Keeps me dry
From those big raindrops
Falling from the sky

My rubber boots
Protect my feet
From those big mud puddles
On the street

My wool gloves
Keep me warm
From those ice cold winds
Blowing from the north

When life gives you rain
And you need a sunny day
Just take a deep breath
And blow those rain clouds away

Raffi's 'Baby Beluga' Re-imagined as 'Adult Beluga'

I've mentioned this before, but 'Baby Beluga' by Raffi is, in my opinion, the quintessential children's song. There are millions of adults who grew up with this song as the soundtrack of their bedtime routine (full disclosure: I still listen to this song before I go to bed). Raffi even refers to his adult listeners as his 'Beluga Grads' as part of his Centre for Child Honouring.

Recently in live concerts, Raffi has sometimes adapted the chorus to 'Grown Up Beluga' to encourage people to vote. I've taken this one step further and re-imagined the entire song as 'Adult Beluga'.

The parody of this song is meant to capture what Baby Beluga has grown up to be (a hard working adult taking care of his family). With the moral being: everyone grows up, but that doesn't mean you can't stay young at heart.

Adult Beluga in the big city
Works all day to support his family
Trains roll in and the trains roll out
Gets home to watch the news and have a stout

Adult Beluga, Adult Beluga
Saving up a loan, so they can buy a home
Out in the suburbs

At the office where he earns his pay
Crunching numbers on the screen all day
Calls come in and the calls go out
His phone he can't seem to live without

Adult Beluga, Adult Beluga
Email coming through, just got invited to
Another meeting

In the evening when he's home and fed
Curled up snug in his Ikea bed
Dreams and yearns when his only concern
Was riding to the playground on his bike

Adult Beluga, Adult Beluga
So easy to forget, that you were once a kid
Stay young at heart

The SeaBus Song

Perhaps the best song ever written about public transportation is The Wheels On The Bus. Here is a fun variation of the song I created that is about the SeaBus. The SeaBus is the passenger-only ferry service operated by TransLink between Downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver.

 

Lyrics:

The propellers on the SeaBus go round and round
Round and round, round and round
The propellers on the SeaBus go round and round
All day long

The waves make the SeaBus go up and down
Up and down, up and down
The waves make the SeaBus go up and down
All day long

The tourists on the SeaBus say "ooooh" and "aaaahh"
"Ooooh" and "aaaahh", "ooooh" and "aaaahh"
The tourists on the SeaBus say "ooooh" and "aaaahh"
All day long

The cameras on the SeaBus go click click flash
Click click flash, click click flash
The cameras on the SeaBus go click click flash
All day long

The captain on the SeaBus says "Land Ahoy!"
"Land Ahoy!", "Land Ahoy!"
The captain on the SeaBus says "Land Ahoy!"
All day long

The Titanic Song (For Kids)

Kids love the story of the Titanic. A big boat crashes into a giant piece of ice and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. It really is an incredible story.

My favourite piece of creative work done about the Titanic is an upbeat campfire song that sarcastically retells the tale. It is a interactive, toe-tapping tune that kids will quickly learn and sing-along too. It's also really easy to play on the guitar.

It is a perfect song for bathtime. Just grab a plastic boat and an ice cube and you're the parent of the year!

Below are the lyrics of the condensed version I sing with my family, with my revisions (in strikethrough) to make it more kid friendly. Here is the tune of the song for reference. Enjoy!

Verse 1:

Oh they built the ship Titanic
To sail the ocean blue
And they thought they'd built a ship
That the water couldn't get through

But the good lord raised his hand
Said this ship will never land
It was sad when the great ship went down

Oh it was sad, so sad
Oh it was sad, so sad
It was sad when the great ship went down
To the bottom of the...

Husbands and wives Iceberg in site
Little children lost their lives Going to hit the starboard side

It was sad when the great ship went down

Verse 2:

Many years had passed
Since the last time it was seen
So explorers started looking
And they built a submarine

And they sent it down below
To the bottom ocean floor
They were glad when the great ship was found

Oh they were glad, so glad
Oh they were glad, so glad
They were glad when the great ship was found
At the bottom of the...

Books and movies
And a song by Miss Celine

They were glad when the great ship was found

Traffic Jam

Honk! Honk! says the traffic

Stuck on the highway again

With Mom, Dad and baby brother

In our big red minivan

I close my eyes and daydream

Of flying over the cars below

But when my eyes open

I see bumper to bumper, row by row

Maybe we should have gotten tickets

For the fast commuter train

Or hopped on the RapidBus

And zoomed down the bus-only lane

Maybe we could have bicycled 

And pretended we were in a race

Or maybe put on our running shoes

And walked at a ginger pace

I wish we could escape this traffic

Where time is wasted so slow

Maybe we could even get a home that's closer

To where we always need to go?

The traffic finally breaks

The slowness comes to an end

But tomorrow we'll wake up

And do it all over again

The Boy Who Lost His Imagination

Once upon a time
There was a boy named Dean
Who spent all his free time
Staring at his screens

While his friends played and laughed
In the sunshine outside
Dean stayed indoors
With technology in front of his eyes

He watched videos and played games
He swiped and he tweeted
His tablets and smartphones
Were all that he needed

Always on-line
And rarely at-play
One day his imagination
Got up and walked away

Dean barely even noticed
That something was even wrong
Because he never used it
He didn't notice his imagination was gone

Later that day
Dean came across some other boys
Who were playing with a box
With an incredible amount of joy

"What are you doing"
Said Dean looking stunned
"Why is this empty box
Giving you so much fun?"

"It's not a box, it's a spaceship"
Replied one of the boys
"Can't you see the rockets? Or the blasters?
Or hear the noise?"

But an empty box was all
That Dean could see today
Because Dean's imagination
Had got up and walked away

Next he saw some girls
Who were playing in a tree
Smiling and laughing
Swinging acrobatically

He asked, "What are you doing
Up there in that tree?"
"What is so fun
About some branches and some leaves?"

"It's not a tree it's a castle"
Replied the little girls
"Where we fight dragons and monsters
And try to save the world"

But he didn't see any castle
Only a tree on this day
Because Dean's imagination
Had got up and walked away

When he got home he said to Grandma,
"The other kids all play and laugh
I want to be like them too
So how do I get my imagination back?"

His Grandma said
"Dean, if you want your imagination to return
There are a few things
That you're going to have to learn"

"Put down the smartphone
The tablet and the games
Read some books, sing some songs
Draw some pictures, play in the rain"

Dean listened to his Grandma
And he did just that
And just like she promised
His imagination came back

From then on he spent
Much less time staring at screens
And instead used his imagination
For spaceships, castles and dreams