March 2003 Archives

"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and "Rock the Casbah" are now on the most listened list. Plus, the soundtrack from Oswald.

During our aimless wanderings in the car today, Henry requested "that other Clash song, that oi song" and so we listened to "Career Opportunities" a bunch of times in a row. (At some point during the song, there are shouts of "oi," which may or may not be Portuguese slang for "hey." Also, there's the Oi! subgenre of punk rock.)

Okay, so maybe the lyrics are a bit cynical for a two year old, but there is a version of the song sung by children on Sandinista so it can't be that bad, right? We'll save the discussions of the skinhead movement and the politics of the Sandinistas for another day...

I'm broadening his horizons. Just keep repeating it... broadening his horizons... broadening his horizons...

Until recently, Henry's favorite music has been anything by The Wiggles; in particular, "Crocodile Hunter." Sure, he's enjoyed a few tunes by Moby, Alison Krauss, and the Sugar Hill Gang but he always comes back to The Wiggles. One afternoon, in a desperate attempt to escape The Wiggles (er, broaden his musical horizons), I started flipping through our musical selections and played, with no real thought or plan (it's just the first thing I stumbled on), "Clash City Rockers" by The Clash. He loved it. He wanted to hear it again. Cool. And again. Okay. And, one more time. Uh... sure. Yet again. O...K... Again. Let's try a different Clash song... No! Go back to rockers one!

The Wiggles to The Clash is quite a musical journey, but we've gone from listening to 50 or so songs by The Wiggles to listening to one song by The Clash. It was a strange moment when, in the car recently, with Henry in the backseat pleading to hear "our favorite Clash song," both Brad and I said together, "No, we're going to stick with The Wiggles for a while..."