Blacksie, Blacksie, I Wanna Pooh...
The other day I heard my daughter Tala singing, rather distinctly, the words "Blacksie, Blacksie, I wanna pooh," and could not, for the life of me, figure out where on earth she had picked it up. I was genuinely mystified by her little ditty, even as she repeated and repeated it. Maybe it was because her brother Apel kept laughing at her seemingly naughty lyrics or maybe it was because I was just really slow that day, but it took her mother singing to her, later, "Bah, Bah black sheep, have you any wool" for me to make the connection.
I love how kids mangle song lyrics. It's as endearing to watch as watching adults maim songs can be infuriating. I remember Apel singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, all the way way way..." and others I'm sure I could think of if I sat down with my wife a little. There's a sweetness to it, a sincerity that only children can get away with (which, when manifested among adults, really just comes across as plain ignorance or stupidity). There are videos of this stuff everywhere (and I'm sure on youtube alone I could find a few thousand), but it's really special to see my own kids belt out their own brand of lyricism. My son is old enough for me to know that when he's mucking up a son, I know he's really just fooling around (though sometimes he isn't and it's still funny) but to my mind there is nothing more precious than seeing a two-to-three year old, who's still coming to grips with the whole concept of learning how to talk, actually try to sing a song with the lyrics right, because I know that, in a few short months, her cognitive abilities will catch up and she'll be singing, and instead of re-writing the whole song she'll just be missing a line or a word here and there. Hearing kids fudge lyrics is good for a smile or two, but it has absolutely nothing on their revisionist rendition of a nursery rhyme.
It's the same thing, really as growing to miss how our kids couldn't say their 'r's and 'l's, substituting them with 'w's instead. Of, course, I wouldn't want either of my kids to walk around in their 30s without their 'r's or 'l's (Elmer Fudd, anyone?)
I love how kids mangle song lyrics. It's as endearing to watch as watching adults maim songs can be infuriating. I remember Apel singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, all the way way way..." and others I'm sure I could think of if I sat down with my wife a little. There's a sweetness to it, a sincerity that only children can get away with (which, when manifested among adults, really just comes across as plain ignorance or stupidity). There are videos of this stuff everywhere (and I'm sure on youtube alone I could find a few thousand), but it's really special to see my own kids belt out their own brand of lyricism. My son is old enough for me to know that when he's mucking up a son, I know he's really just fooling around (though sometimes he isn't and it's still funny) but to my mind there is nothing more precious than seeing a two-to-three year old, who's still coming to grips with the whole concept of learning how to talk, actually try to sing a song with the lyrics right, because I know that, in a few short months, her cognitive abilities will catch up and she'll be singing, and instead of re-writing the whole song she'll just be missing a line or a word here and there. Hearing kids fudge lyrics is good for a smile or two, but it has absolutely nothing on their revisionist rendition of a nursery rhyme.
It's the same thing, really as growing to miss how our kids couldn't say their 'r's and 'l's, substituting them with 'w's instead. Of, course, I wouldn't want either of my kids to walk around in their 30s without their 'r's or 'l's (Elmer Fudd, anyone?)
posted by Jim Arroyo | 10:01 PM
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