The drive home today was beautiful so I decided to open up the sun roof, roll the windows down a quarter of the way, turn off National Public Radio and blast some good driving music. The truth is, I've been doing a lot of driving with the music on lately. Usually I crave the voices of my NPR friends but lately with spring in the air and the death of a Beastie Boy, I really just want to hear some of my old favorite music.
All weekend we've been dancing to Girls! and Intergalactic and Fight For Your Right. I've gotten Liam, Joshua and all of the cousins to break out into dance. I've even been pulling out some of my old favorite dance moves including the Roger Rabbit and that cowboy lasso thing. Yes, once a dork, always a dork. At any rate, I figured what better way to pay tribute to a rock star than to spend the weekend listening and dancing to rock star music or some funky spin-off genre.
So on the way home today it was Alanis Morissette singing about ex-boyfriends and all things ironic. She sang me all the way to Liam's school... until I felt compelled to shut her off and roll up my windows like every other self-respecting carpool mom. I mean, after all, she swears in her songs and the CDs don't bleep that out.
Have I been closeting my musical preferences for my kids? When I listen to music now I stick with Norah Jones (who Joshua calls his "ladybug"- not sure where he got that), Dave Matthews Band (who I never ever get to see in concert anymore) and the Beatles. Love those Beatles. "Let it Be" is on Joshua's bedtime CD and could listen to just that song for hours... or maybe just on repeat for 15 minutes. And I get in the mood for Norah every time I call my doctor's office and am put on hold. Mostly if we want to dance in the house, we turn on a Sandra Boynton CD. If you haven't heard any of them, I do highly recommend her CDs Philadelphia Chickens and Dogtrain (she has others too).
All this music makes me smile and maybe even dance but rarely do I get into a frenzy like I do when I hear Girls! But then again, isn't Girls! sending the wrong message about objectifying women into stereotypical roles of domestic lifestyles? And I certainly can't allow Alanis to go swearing around my kids either. Then I'm ruling out other favs too like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cake (the double meanings abound) and Sublime (yes, a suburban girl listening to Sublime, call it lame if you want to). Yeah, I really think I need to draw the line with music somewhere maybe after Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Matthews Band... but well before Alanis and Sublime.
Bill doesn't seem to have any problem sharing his musical tastes with the boys. We once played rock song after rock song for Liam- starting with Metallica and working all the way up to Primus- and he didn't seem satisfied with the amount of *rock* and *heavy metal*... until we gave up and I popped in Alvin and the Chipmunks and it turns out that was what he wanted in the first place.
Maybe I'm not giving my kids the credit they deserve. And maybe even if the music isn't really appropriate, maybe it's okay to play sometimes anyway... especially if they're dancing too much to really notice the words or consider their symbolic meaning. But I think next time when I roll into the school parking lot I will probably roll up my windows and turn down the volume... especially if I'm listening to NPR. I wouldn't want anyone thinking I'm a dork or anything.
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