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Kids’ Band Sounds Sweet on Family Car Trips
Aug 29 2008 by Lori Hindman
8/29/08
BoyintheShade is a Pleasant Diversion From Backseat Boredom
Way back when, my brother and I sat in the backseat during family road trips without the benefit of a DVD player or an iPod. Today, kids have lots of multimedia choices for the car, and one of the largest offerings is kids’ music. As your faithful tester, I subjected myself and my children to BoyintheShade’s new album, “Be the Tree” as our new drive-time soundtrack.
BoyintheShade’s members are educators, as well as parents, who put messages of fairness, self-esteem and appreciation of nature to music. Sounds good, right? Oh, wait, does it? Does it sound any better than that Wiggles CD you’ve played 19,000 times in a row? Does it get stuck in your head like “C is for Cookie”? Well, yes and no. How’s that for helpful?
I was initially skeptical because I’m not much of a kids’ music person. I never wanted to get stuck in the car listening endlessly to the Wiggles, so my kids have grown up listening to me singing over the radio. (Yes, it’s totally different from my mother singing over Barbra Streisand. My music is cool.) Giving my car over to music designed to “foster emotional intelligence” is something I would only do for you, dear reader.
It turns out, though, that BoyintheShade isn’t all that bad. In fact, some of the songs are actually good. In particular, “Love” and “Grandma, Grandpa” are sweet songs that I don’t mind singing along with. There’s a whole character-driven performance aspect that’s lost on the CD, but taken at face value, “Be The Tree” isn’t as painful as I’d expected. Other than a few really annoying duds (“Summer Sun” and “I Heard A Word” are to be avoided at all costs; don’t say I didn’t warn you), the album is a pleasant diversion from backseat boredom, and my kids are now requesting to hear it again. Hey, anything that gets us down the road and doesn’t get stuck in my head is fine by me. So, go on, be the tree.
User Comments
Chris, my dear, I think you missed the irony of the comment. I’m sure my children will grow up to have the same embarrassing memories of me that I have of my mother, while singling along to the horror of their own children. It’s part of that fabulous thing we call the “cycle of life”. Unfortunately, we all grow up.
BTW, I meant no offense to Babs.
In my family it was Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow - fine gentlemen (and singers) that they are… I was much happier when mom would pop in the Earth Wind and Fire 8-track.
Um, is the anti-Streisand reference really necessary? It comes off as very juvenille. Everybody thinks their music is “cool” at some point in their life. There’s a reason Streisand is America’s best selling female vocalist. Grow up.