Best Children's Songs List
The best children's music has to withstand extreme repetition, since kids insist on hearing songs again and again. That immediately rules out the likes of the Chipmunks, Ronald and Donald and Pinky and Perky, since sped-up voices are scientifically proven to drive parents into an apoplectic rage.
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Much music made for children music is utilitarian. There are songs that teach them essential information, that help them learn to read or improve their physical coordination skills.
Or in the case of lullabies, help them sleep. Lullabies fulfil that basic human need. Parents have always sung simple, repetitive and soothing songs to their children to get them to drop off and Brahms's lullaby, written 150 years ago, is one of the most enduring. In fact, judging by its use everywhere from cartoons to music boxes, it's the default lullaby.
The Teddy Bears' Picnic spent the first 25 years of its existence as an instrumental, before lyrics were added in the Henry Hall recording of 1932. This version became a staple of the BBC's long-running Children's Favourites and Junior Choice radio request shows, and it's not hard to see why. Hall's witty arrangement superbly evokes the awkward, lumbering subject matter.
TV programmes loom large in many a child's life. A rich source of great music for children is Sesame Street, a show that was an important part of a whole generation's childhood. It was simultaneously educational and cool – no mean feat. The Pointer Sisters' funky counting song still has the power to delight the young'uns, while sending nostalgists scurrying for the DVD boxed set.
Banana Splits was a late-60s Hanna-Barbera children's TV series featuring songs by the likes of Al Kooper, Barry White and Gene Pitney. Ten years later the Dickies were described as 'cartoon punks', blazing a trail with their 100mph version of the Banana Splits theme tune. Its wilful silliness seemed subversive at the time.
Disney films aren't all doe-eyed animals and they've featured some enduring soundtrack songs too. One such is I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song), Louis Prima's jump-jive contribution to The Jungle Book. It sounds exciting, funny and warm, and you don't need to see animated monkeys to enjoy it.
Well-known stories form the basis for many children's songs, and 20s hillbilly fave The Old Ark's a Moving is an original take on the Old Testament tale. And as Bastinado points out AA Gray and Seven-Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles is arguably the best band name ever.
Animal songs abound. The Gnu Song is more complicated than it sounds, as Flanders and Swann effortlessly steer their way through lavish wordplay and changes in tempo. Thanks to them, humankind has no the need to write further songs about this particular beast, or indeed Ashton-under-Lyne.
More absurdity with Jake the Peg, just one of many fine children's songs recorded by Rolf Harris. When you see him perform Jake the Peg on YouTube you realise what a great performer he is. One thing though: what's with the comedy Jewish accent?
Jonathan Richman gets away with faux-naif anthems such as I'm a Little Airplane because they're audaciously simple, they're performed with love, and rooted in rock'n'roll. And since it's about a vehicle, it's a guaranteed winner with little boys.
It's a measure of the Beatles' boldness that they were never too grand to broaden their appeal to include younger listeners. Yellow Submarine was their best such effort because – as with all good records – those involved sound like they're having a good time, aided to a large extent by George Martin's pedigree producing comedy records. It featured the doleful vocals of Ringo, who went on to sing later Fabs' kids' songs (including Octopus's Garden, a rewrite of Yellow Submarine) and who owes his post-Beatles gig narrating Thomas the Tank Engine to this association.
Here's the A-list:
1) Op49 No4 Wiegenlied/Lullaby – Johannes Brahms
2) Teddy Bears' Picnic – Henry Hall and his Orchestra
3) Pinball Number Count – The Pointer Sisters
4) Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song) – The Dickies
5) I Wan'na Be Like You – Louis Prima
6) The Old Ark's a Moving – AA Gray and Seven-Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles
7) The Gnu Song – Flanders and Swann
8) Jake the Peg – Rolf Harris
9) I'm a Little Airplane – Jonathan Richman
10) Yellow Submarine – The Beatles
And the B-list:
Sing - The Carpenters
The epitome of innocence. Makes you want to hold hands and dance in a field of daisies while someone films it in soft focus.
Peter and the Wolf - Sergei Prokofiev
A musical symphony for children. The perfect introduction to the instruments of the orchestra, and to the language of music.
Mah Nà Mah Nà - Piero Umiliani
This Muppets favourite deserves a mention, but listen to it in its orginal form: it began life in a film about the sex lives of Swedes.
The Runaway Train - Vernon Dalhart
This 1931 hillbilly classic helped Dalhart become one of the most popular recording artists of his day. Nice use of the jew's harp too.
Best Children' S Songs List 2017
Hushabye Mountain - Bobbie Gentry
Exquisitely arranged debut single from Gentry, who – against all odds – managed to improve on Dick Van Dyke's original in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Pink Panther Theme - Henry Mancini
Sleazy, sexy and sophisticated – but for children! It soundtracked one of the coolest opening title sequences in the movies. So cool, in fact, it inspired an also-extremely-cool cartoon series.
I Got Six - Bob Dorough
Linkin park new song release. Grown-ups need all the help they can get when trying to persuade kids that maths can be fun. This should be an essential piece of their armoury.
Boss of Me - They Might Be Giants
Respect to They Might Be Giants, who've evolved from irritatingly quirky alt-rockers to creditable children's party house band. This theme song to Malcolm in the Middle nails pre-teen rebellion in a sugar-crazed adrenelin rush of buzzsaw guitars.
On Top of Spaghetti - Tom Glazer
A reminder of one of life's simple and most subversive pleasures: changing the lyrics of hoary old campfire songs to something absurd.
That Noise - Anthony Newley
Representative of a certain kind of novelty record that enlivened the UK charts for many decades, and in the early 60s were often produced by George Martin. Kids love sound-effects, particularly when accompanied by jokes from proto-Bowie Newley.
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