Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Madeline and Brandy and Shaft and James (Or, “At Least One of My Kids Can Tolerate My Singing”)

My second favorite song of all time is “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass. A #1 hit from 1972, it’s the story of a tavern girl in love with a sailorman who can’t fathom a life on dry land.



When Madeline was a baby, I used to sing it to her as a lullaby. She’d ask for it by calling it “Brandy’s Eyes,” because the barflies tell Brandy that your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea.

The song did require a couple of minor tweaks, though.
  1. A change to the lyric, they say, “Brandy, fetch another round”/she serves them whiskey and wine. In my version, Brandy serves lemonade, due to a vision I had of Madeline going around singing about booze. Which would’ve been adorable, but well, you know.
  2. When Brandy’s fella tells his sailor stories, it gets intense — she could feel the ocean fall and rise/she saw its raging glory. The first time I sang this part to Madeline I got way too into it, waking her up and thus defeating the point of a lullaby. So I’ve had to dial it down some.
I haven’t really found a song for James and me that’s ours like “Brandy” was for me and the girl. Sometimes I’ll sing “Mr. James” to the tune of Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones.” Or I’ll change the words to “Theme From Shaft to be about him.

Who is the baby that is his dad’s favorite baby? James! He’s a complicated baby, and no one understands him like his bumblebee.

At bedtime for James, Kelly sings him a medley of “Goodnite, Sweetheart,” “You Are My Sunshine” and “Rockabye Baby.” But when she was gone the other night and I started into “Goodnite, Sweetheart,” James was having none of it.

“No sing. Mommy do,” he said.

That same night, Madeline asked if instead of a bedtime story, I could sing her “Brandy.”

YES. And extra hugs, too.

She is entirely too clever for her own good.

Do you remember having any special songs with your mom or dad? What are some of the songs you like to sing to or with your kids?

No comments:

Post a Comment