Bananaphone by Raffi
Lower Level - Youth CD bins – Music, Preschool
When I’m listening to children’s music, there is a style that will instantly turn me off. I usually describe it as solo voice with guitar. After listening to this album, I realized that I’m trying to avoid bad Raffi knock-offs. Raffi is basically the king of children’s music. In another artist’s voice, the silliness and seriousness would be insincere and make you gag. From Raffi, you find yourself singing along before you quite realize what’s happened. The title song, Bananaphone, is the song my son wants every time we’re in the car. It includes all the banana puns you can think of, plus the groaner “It’s a Grandpa phone and a gramophone too.” There is a nice song about the First Peoples, listing names of numerous Native American Tribes, and songs about gardening, silly rhymes and more. I would be the last person on earth to say that children need to listen only to children’s music, but if you want the Platonic ideal of kiddie songs, do put Raffi on your list.