The first is The Grateful Dead's Monkey and the Engineer, which was easily my favorite song when I was 6 or so. It's about a monkey who gets control of a train! And everyone's freaking out about this out of control train! But the twist is that the monkey actually knows how to drive the train, so everything is fine. Great song.
There's even a picture book of this song, so clearly it's great for kids.
The second song is Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London. I used to love howling along to this song. Also, best alliteration ever: Little old lady got mutilated late last night
I'm still mad at Kid Rock for sampling this song for his song All Summer Long. Every time it comes on the radio I get excited for a minute before I realize that it's not Werewolves of London.
Finally, I spent a lot of time listening to The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken albums in my parents car. My favorite song of all was Tennessee Stud, about a man's favorite horse.
This one's easy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3qq7zc4EY
ReplyDeleteThere's probably a few dozen more in the same genre that remind me of my childhood, but that is by far the most recognizable/nostalgia inducing.
In a strange twist of the fates, the song that reminds me of my childhood is also monkey related: Monkey Gone to Heaven by The Pixies. I used to listen to this song on repeat, making my father smile and driving my mother crazy. As I got older I realized that this song isn't about a monkey that goes to heaven at all, but an introspective on the relationship man has to god and the devil. Which is also pretty cool.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsHITZRCgqs
This weird video from youtube puts the song over some animation by Damon Albarn (of Gorillaz/Blur fame). I guess that works.