Lost in Seattle

Apart from some lullaby CD’s, we never invested in any baby or kid’s music for Ray. The poor guy doesn’t even know such staples as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” A few weeks ago, we were the only parent/child duo present at the bookstore during an impromptu sing-along of “Baby Beluga” who didn’t know the song. From an early age, he seemed to respond positively to the music that Amy and I listen to, so we just kept going.

I remember once rocking him to sleep as Bauhaus’ “Swing the Heartache” played, soothingly, in the background. Once he gained a modicum of control over his body, he would bop up and down to the beats of various songs on the radio — not all of them; just the good ones. On his early childhood playlist were such numbers as “Float On” by Modest Mouse, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day, “Be My Girl” by Jet, and “London Calling” by the Clash. He could recognize David Bowie’s “Young Americans”, and he sang along to the choruses of The Police’s “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” and Marc Broussard’s “Take Me Home” from an early age. Even now, his nap-time music is Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me,” and he’s lately begun to fancy (and often request) the whimsical avant-garde stylings of The Fiery Furnaces — especially the fantastic “Blueberry Boat” — and the fierce acoustic chords of Ani DiFranco.

The other day, however, he threw me for a bit of a loop. We were driving back from the grocery store and listening to KEXP. The reggae show “Positive Vibrations” was on. I don’t know anything about reggae, and once I realized it was on, I changed the station to look for some alt rock. Ray immediately protested from the backseat: “Noooo, I like that song!” I restored the station, and for the next 15 minutes or so, we both bopped to the Dub beats of The Rocker’s All Stars, Asher & Tremble, and Rhythm & Sound.

I only learned the names of the bands we were listening to after looking them up on KEXP’s website, which lists the time and date of every song they play. I then fired up iTunes on the Tablet PC, called Ray up onto my lap, and began to play samples of the music for him. His face lighted up with a big grin as the heavy bass, funky reverb, and deep echoes of the Jamaican sounds poured out from my speakers. I had to admit, that I thought it was pretty good, too, and I immediately scratched some names down on my music shopping list.

I wonder if I’m the first adult in history to be turned onto reggae by a two-year-old….