There's A Glass Of Punch Below Your Feet, And An Angel At Your Head
Yesterday afternoon, Regina took a break from her punishing work schedule to go shopping with my mother in the Valley. Every time I think I'm having financial troubles, I'll go back to the previous sentence. Anyway, it was up to me to pick Elijah up from school, give him a snack, and take him to swim lesson.
At around 4 PM, after polishing off a strawberry popsicle and half a dozen crackers, he looked at me and said,
"Daddy, it's time to play rock-n-roll now."
My heart lifted.
"Let me see what I can do," I said.
You must understand that I've been pretty good at keeping up with contemporary music, but it's all on my IPod and I don't have any other way to play my digital files in the house. I say this because otherwise, based on my music selection for Elijah, it'll look like I haven't purchased any new music since 1994.
First, I dug out the Pogues' "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash," because there are a couple of songs on the album that have made Elijah jump around in the past. Sure enough, "The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn" and "Sally Maclennane" did the trick. I felt vaguely subversive playing a song that includes the lyrical phrase "spewed up in the church" for my kid, particularly since my mother-in-law is coming tonight, and is staying for a week. There won't be much throwing Elijah on the couch and diving on top of him while Shane MacGowan sings, "so buy me beer and whiskey cause I'm going far away."
Far Away!
We rocked around the living room for a while in glee. And then I brought out the Sex Pistols album, the big guns. I could tell from the wild look in Elijah's eyes that he was ready for "Anarchy In The U.K." As soon as the song came on, he started flailing about the room, his head shaking like someone who's found the spirit in a snake-handling church.
"This is loud!" he said. "And I like it!"
"My boy," I said.
"Is this music from when you were a baby?" Elijah asked.
I tried to imagine my parents playing "Holiday In The Sun" for me, but I couldn't.
"Not quite," I said.
It sounds like "The Ostrich," he said.
Every so often, I play my radio hit, Do The Ostrich, for Elijah. Take a listen for yourself here. He sings along with it, and even makes up his own lyrics:
"Put your head in the sand/Emu!/Shake your tail in the air/Emu!
We're like the Bobby and Barry Bonds of comedy rock. Or maybe the Archie and Peyton Manning. Or, I dunno, the Jerry and Ben Stiller. Regardless, I love him so. Rock on, my son. Rock on.
Comments
When he was four, my son was a huge fan of Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla".
Posted by: JDRhoades | July 27, 2006 2:01 PM
My 10 month old lad and I were watching Punk: Attitude (fun documenatry on punk music) and he was bopping his head and weaving his arms for the clash, the dammed, etc. Soooo proud!
Posted by: Alan | July 27, 2006 2:13 PM
Punch? That doesn't have alcohol in it, does it?
Posted by: Kevin | July 27, 2006 3:45 PM
So my daughter Sophie is at camp and she wrote home with a playlist of songs that she wanted me to burn to CD. While I blanched at the selections (mostly Top 40 R&B/hip-hop/pop), I obliged and burned the CD.
But then I made a mix of music she should be listening to, like The White Stipes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The New Pornographers, The Shins, just to name a few.
No word yet on whether she likes it.
Posted by: Jenny, the AlternaStep-Mom | July 29, 2006 3:04 AM
Hey Neal,
Are there any websites that will allow people outside of the US to hear a sample of your songs?
Posted by: Brad | July 30, 2006 11:20 AM
Hmmm. They're available on the I Tunes music store....
Posted by: Neal Pollack | July 30, 2006 5:19 PM
While I remain hopelessly lamer than you in my musical taste, you'll be happy to know that Rita's consistent career ambition for many months has been "rock star." She sometimes considers other pursuits but always concludes, "No, I still want to be a rock star." I imagine she's most inspired by Chrissie Hynde; she doesn't know the name but can sing along to many Pretenders songs. Becky is friends with a real live rock star now--are you familiar with Mary McBride?--and we have to get her together with Rita some time.
Posted by: John E. | July 31, 2006 1:47 PM
John. You can always just send me an email if you wish to discuss Mary McBride. As for you being lamer than I in your musical tastes, well, that may be true NOW, but remember that I haven't had a real job in many years. You were ahead of me back in the day, if you can call our past life "back in the day."
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