Music in the car

On the way up to Longmont today, the under 3 set and I listened to the following:

Cars soundtrack. Cars is such a good movie on so many levels, that I have watched it approximately forty-seven times and I am not tired of it. A large part of that is because of the music. The only good song Rascal Flatts has put out is on the album, a remake of "Life is a Highway." Brad Paisley contributes two songs, both inimitably his breezy, slightly humorous style as well as highly singable. An oldie from Hank Williams is there, along with Chuck Berry's famous Route 66 song, which we can all get our kicks to. Even the music composed especially for the film is fun to listen to, particularly the song that plays when Lightning and Sally go on their first real date, I mean, drive, and she shows him Route 66's former glory.

Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat's songbook, beginning with McGrew's Zoo. The narration is wonderful (I love "cute old man" voices), and if you've read the book you can picture the strange beasts in your mind. The rest of the album consists of songs with funny, Seuss-y lyrics sung by a mixed choir accompanied by piano. The songs are ok but the musical style starts to feel dated after a while and then midway through the cd, especially in a long flat stretch of highway, you think you might drive off the road if you don't change the cd NOW.

A major disappointment occurred next when I discovered that Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf narrated by David Bowie was not in its proper case. Andrew loves Peter and the Wolf. The first time we listened to it, we were driving home from school. It was one of Chloe's first days at the daycare and she conked out immediately because she was so tired, but Andrew sat quietly in the back listening intently--until the moment when the wolf snatches up the duck and swallows her whole. (Sorry to give a major plot point away, but there it is.) It is a rather sudden musical moment, preceded by a lot of tremolo sneaking up on the duck by the wiley wolf that lulls you into a sense of mild anticipation. When the strings screech their fortissimo protest all of a sudden, you find yourself thinking, that wasn't supposed to happen! Up until this moment in the music Andrew was perfectly silent, and afterward, the event seemed to make such an impression on him that he talked about it even while Peter was catching the wolf by the tail. The music is unparalleled in its delightfulness and perfect use of leitmotifs, so I was really looking forward to listening to it again while driving through the mountains. But to my dismay I discovered that not only was the Peter and the Wolf cd not there, but that The Greatest Hits by ELO was sitting in its place.

I switched tactics altogether and put in Talking Timbuktu by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder. The reason I originally purchased the cd is because there is a song on it that is used every day by the Public Radio International program The World to introduce its Geoquiz segment. The song is haunting and catchy, and I wanted to hear all of it. I was reminded again today of how much I like African music, even contemporary music composed by an African--Malian in this case--musician who has clearly heard many western influences. According to amazon.com, the album illustrates the connection between African music and the blues without intending to. Listening to it today I was struck by how similar some of the rhythms were to the Blues, with its heavy emphasis on beats 2 and 4. And I just love the sound of the guitars on this album, slide, electric and acoustic, accompanied by hand drums.

We were almost at the tricky part, the freeway driving, and I decided to put in Alison Krauss's latest, a collection of all her unreleased and random songs from here and there, including her duet with Brad Paisley, Whiskey Lullaby, and the foot-stompin' Sawin' on a String that she performed at the Country Music Awards long ago that we put on our tivo and never took off. I think the album is a little mixed; some of the songs are so familiar that they don't resonate like the new songs, and some are so sad as to almost be un-listenable. My favorite happens to be 100 Miles or More, the song which gives the album its name. The verses of the song seem to wander and it's almost like jazz the way she sings the words so separately from the beat, but then at the chorus the words and melody and beat slide together perfectly.

By the time Alison was almost done, we were there, and now the wee ones are upstairs listening to a cd that is a bedtime favorite of the under 3 we are visiting, acapella Pawnee songs that occasionally surprise the listener by breaking into English.

When we get home, my first goal is to find that Peter and the Wolf cd.