Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Even the Cool Kids Sing Along

For today's music selections, I'm sharing songs from some of my favorite movie soundtracks.

The first is a song from the Juno soundtrack. I wouldn't recommend listening to the entire soundtrack with your kids, but it's definitely a soundtrack worth owning. The song I adding to my kid-safe list is a song that always makes me think of the book Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni every time I hear it. It's called Tree Hugger and it is sung by Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants. As an added bonus, it contains a little French for your really advanced kids. (iTunes link)



The next is from a soundtrack that is 100% approved for kids and parents alike. It's the soundtrack from Curious George called Sing-Alongs and Lullabies that was entirely composed by Jack Johnson. I used this one constantly in my first grade classroom and lots of the parents purchased it for home as well. My favorite song from the album is the one from the opening credits- by far the best part of the movie. The song is called Upside Down and is such a fun listen. (iTunes link)



And I just have to add that a Jack Johnson concert is actually a really cool place to take your elementary age kids. We had some in a row in front of us, and they were in heaven singing along to every song.

Another fantastic soundtrack comes from a movie that relied entirely on Beatles covers and stars this year's Best Actor, Sean Penn. It's the soundtrack for the movie I Am Sam. An absolutely fantastic selection of Beatles covers (and I'm pretty picky about these). One of the best is Rufus Wainwright's version of Across the Universe. Beautiful. (iTunes link)

If you're a purist, the original is, of course, phenomenal.



Of course, I'd be remiss to not mention the soundtrack that contains Linus's absolute favorite song. The song that has been his lullaby since day one. The soundtrack is from Garden State and the song is Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine. (iTunes link)


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Now it's your turn. What's your favorite soundtrack? Any songs on it that are great for the kids as well?



7 comments:

Midwest Mom said...

My kids *love* funk. I think they know all the words to "Jungle Boogie" and "She's a brick house". There is something about those songs that just makes them dance. We have the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and set the CD player to skip the tracks that are dialogue from the movie (*hello! inappropriate language, anyone?*). And they dance like crazy.

So do we. ;D

Anonymous said...

Ah, I'm still a foolish fan of the Great Expectations soundtrack. Grunge called to me.

Kelly Jernigan said...

I'm with you - love the Curious George soundtrack. Been a while since I listened to it, but also used to LOVE the GO soundtrack - 'Steal My Sunshine' has always been a personal fave :)

Midwest Mom said...

Abby,

I'm sorry you're not feeling bloggy this week. If it makes a difference, I miss hearing from you!

I tagged you in today's post for a little soul-searching fun. I hope you have a good time with it.

Have a wonderful weekend!
- Julia

Susie said...

Personal favorite soundtracks are Local Hero and The Piano. Local Hero has a Celtic flare and The Piano is all moving instrumentals. Nice stuff to listen to when words are just TOO much.

Miche said...

I really love Disney soundtracks, and Little Dude LOVES the Aristocrats soundtracks-the lively jazz is fun to jump around to.

And I had a question about your babyhawk-is it hard to get your little guy on your back when you are alone? And is it hard to do if he wants to get up, then get down, then get up in say an hour period, like walking around the park? It looks like we wont be back in Raleigh until this fall :( boo! But I did find an ergo carrier on sale and was debating about it. Sorry this is long, but thanks for sharing the info!! :)

Marty, a.k.a. canape said...

My favorite soundtrack is Singles. But don't tell anyone. I'm supposed to be over grunge. I might never be.

I do love the Curious George too, though. Owned it before I had CC, and now love playing it for him.