Kid's Music, Train Music, Finger Dancing Music

About a year ago I visited a friend whose toddler was addicted to kid's music. Not good kid's music. Not a variety of kid's music. One CD of kid's music. The kind of kid's music that gives kid's music a bad name. There were no clever lyrics a la They Might Be Giants no catchy tunes from The Sippy Cups, no duets between Perry Farrell and Deborah Harry. There was one chirpy woman over enunciating "This Old Man" accompanied by a piano and, I'm not kidding, a recorder. You just knew this woman had buggy eyes, an extra wide grin and probably a "fun" hat. But for whatever reason the child loved this music. The CD had to be playing the moment the car started and it was the only music he allowed in the house. During the pauses between songs the boy would panic, apparently convinced he would never hear that cloyingly sweet voice again. I left the long weekend with "Trot Old Joe" on an endless loop in my head and a renewed commitment to avoid exposing Baby M to kids music.

To be honest, I never really understood the need for kids music. I grew up listening to my parents old Beatles albums and the Grease soundtrack. Why couldn't Baby M just listen to the music we enjoyed? He seemed to like it well enough. Then one day we were in the car and Nine Inch Nails came on the radio. "What's this song all about?" Baby M asked. "Animals", I said and left it at that. But Baby M did get several age appropriate CDs for Christmas (Jazz for Kids, Sesame Street Playground, and A World of Happiness).

Lately, however, Baby M has become more discerning in his musical tastes. He likes "Train Music" and "Boat Music" but not "People Music" or "Dancing Music" (although "Finger Dancing Music" is approved.) Unfortunately I have not been able to crack his classification system. For "Train Music" I tried songs about trains. I tried songs with train whistles in them. I tried songs with drum beats that sounded like the clickety-clack of train cars. I even tried a song by the band Train. None of those worked. Then yesterday we were driving in the car and Baby M cried out "This is Train Music!" Turns out "Love Cats" by the Cure is Train Music. Who knew?