Organ Grinder Pizza - Jonas Nordwall and Patti Simon

Wow! Who knew that I would find another Organ Grinder Pizza album? I'm assuming this one is the first volume, and it only features two different organists: Jonas Nordwall and Patti Simon. It's another great combination of old songs and (at the time) new songs like Billy Joel's "My Life", all played on a ginormous pipe organ. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. My Life - Jonas Nordwall
2. I Don't Know Why - Jonas Nordwall
3. Birth of the Blues - Jonas Nordwall
4. Maleguena - Jonas Nordwall
5. Medley from "Saturday Night Fever" - Patti Simon
6. Tiger Rag - Jonas Nordwall
7. Annie's Song - Jonas Nordwall
8. Meditation from "Thais" - Jonas Nordwall
9. Over the Rainbow - Patti Simon
10. Hopelessly Devoted to You - Patti Simon
11. Character Medley - Patti Simon

Click here or here to download!

This Old Man: Great Parade Songs & Marches - The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Marching Band and Chorus

Here's an album of parade songs and marches, including some you probably haven't heard of (Betty Co-Ed), songs you never really associated as marches (Jingle Bells??), and songs you may know but didn't know the name of (The Whistler's Song). A lot of John Philip Sousa, as you might expect. All of 'em will keep you marching until your legs go stiff!

Here's the track list:

1. On the Mall
2. The Marines' Hymn
3. Betty Co-Ed
4. The Whistler's Song
5. Yankee Doodle March
6. Dixie
7. Jingle Bells March
8. Hail Columbia
9. America
10. Columbia the Gem of the Ocean
11. The U.S. Air Force
12. Lassus Trombone
13. Pomp and Circumstance
14. This Old Man
15. (Turn Over the Record)
16. The Caissons Go Rolling Along
17. Dixieland Style March
18. Stars and Stripes Forever
19. When Johnny Comes Marching Home
20. I've Been Working on the Railroad
21. Pop Goes the Weasel
22. Semper Fidelis
23. The Thunderer
24. Invercargill
25. Camptown Races
26. Mulberry Bush March
27. America the Beautiful
28. Star Spangled Banner

Click here or here to download!

One of Sousa's most rousing marches included here is "The Thunderer", but this is my favorite version of the song:

The Do-Re-Mi Children's Chorus Sing the Songs from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and Other Favorites

I'm not familiar with the Do-Re-Mi Children's Chorus, but according to the back cover of this album they did quite a few records. I hope to find some more of them soon. Until then, enjoy this collection of songs from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and some other songs thrown in, including a rather swinging version of "Java Jive" that I really like, especially considering it's being sung by kids!

(Here's a little bit of trivia for you: Did you know that the book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was written by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books? I guess Truly Scrumptious is supposed to be a G-rated version of a Bond girl's name!)

Here's the track list:

1. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
2. Hushabye Mountain
3. The Roses of Success
4. Toot Sweets
5. Truly Scrumptious
6. Me Ol' Bamboo
7. Dear World
8. The Wonderful Things (That He Can Do)
9. A Bushel and a Peck
10. Mr. Clown
11. Java Jive

Click here or here to download!

Bedtime Songs - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

Wow, who would have known that I'd have another album from the Kid Stuff Repertory Company? There's no crazy discofying of songs here, just nice, quiet lullaby-type songs, performed by a woman and a somewhat gassy-sounding organ. Pretty simple stuff, unlike that odd, nightmare-inducing cover!

Here's the track list:

1. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
2. Now the Day Is Over
3. Evening Prayer
4. What Is Home Without a Mother
5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
6. Frere Jacques
7. Hush Little Baby
8. Rock-a-Bye Baby

Click here or here to download!

Betsy McCall's Surprise Birthday Party

Betsy McCall must be one of those dolls that I never heard of, but then again there were only boys in our family (other than Mom of course). I haven't listened to them side by side, but Betsy McCall sounds an awful lot like Heidi the Pocketbook Doll to me.

I've never really understood Birthday Party records like this. Are you supposed to listen to it during your own party or take it home afterwards and hear an inanimate object apparently having a better time than you did? This one even goes so far as to have Betsy cutting the cake and opening her presents. Why would you want to hear that? So you'll know what to ask for on your next birthday? Oh well, this is still an interesting album. Oh, and make sure to stay tuned until the very end for some subtle product placement!

Here's the track list:

1. Happy Birthday Song
2. Surprise Birthday Party
3. Simple Simon Says Game
4. Musical Games
5. Blowing Out the Candles and Cutting the Cake
6. Opening the Presents
7. Phone Call from Grandma
8. Game Songs
9. Story Telling Time (The Emperor's New Clothes)
10. After the Party

Click here or here to download!

Happy Stories for Gloomy Days - Frank Luther

I'm not familiar with Frank Luther, but he does quite a nice job on telling these stories and singing the songs in them. As you can tell, these stories are your usual suspects, with one big exception. "Happy the Harmonica" is one of the craziest kids' stories I've ever heard! I hate to give too much away, but it involves an old woman with a pain who plays "Home Sweet Home" on her harmonica to make "Happy the Harmonica" happy, and that's just how the story starts. You just need to hear this one for yourself. Trust me! (The rest of it is quite good too!)

Here's the track list:

1. The Shoemaker and the Elves
2. The Gingerbread Boy
3. The Three Billy Goats Gruff
4. The Little Red Hen
5. Happy the Harmonica
6. Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Click here or here to download!

Rubber Duckie and Other Pet Songs - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

Hey look! It's another extravaganza from the Kid Stuff Repertory Company! This one doesn't go the disco route. In fact, all things considered, it's pretty low key for them. It's pretty much just a guy and a synthesizer. One problem with this one is that they pick songs that are usually pretty short and drag them out forever! For example, the song "Johnny Had a Little Dog" (which I think most of us refer to as "Bingo") The chorus is sung through twice, than an instrumental verse, each verse clapping out one of the letters, instrumental verse again, the chorus is sung, the music modulates and the chorus is sung again, verses clapping out the letters again, and then the chorus is finally sung two more times.

Then there's the song "Pussy Cat" (or if you look for it on Amazon.com "P***y Cat"). Here are the entire lyrics of the song:

"Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair."

How do our friends at the Kid Stuff Repertory Company handle this? Well, they sing it through five times, have an instrumental verse, and then sing it through 4 more times!

These songs aren't really that bad, if you don't mind them being twice as long as they should be. And "Rubber Duckie" is OK, because unlike in many other versions I've heard, he doesn't end up doing a bad Ernie impression.

Anyhow, take a listen and see what you think!

Here's the track list:

1. Rubber Duckie


2. Dog & Cat


3. Johnny Had a Little Dog


4. Pussy Cat


5. Where Has My Little Dog Gone


6. Goosey Goosey Gander


7. I Love Little Pussy


8. All the Pretty Little Horses

Click here or here to download!

The Adventures of Little Orley - Uncle Lumpy with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians

Here's a fun album of adventures with a boy named Little Orley featuring some people you might be familiar with. First of all, there's noted bandleader Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, but that's not really who I mean. You'll notice that these stories are told and sung by Uncle Lumpy. He's credited on the back of the album as Lump Brannum. Still not ring a bell? Maybe you'll remember him better in the role he played later: Mr. Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo's show. There's no date on this, but I'm thinking he did this before the CK gig. Either way, these are imaginative little stories that I think you'll enjoy. I think I've got another Little Orley album too, and I'll try to dig it up to put on the blog later.

Here's the track list:

1. Little Orley's Big Concert
2. Little Orley - His Adventures with the Parade
3. Little Orley - His Adventures with the Cloud
4. Little Orley and the Happy Bird
5. Little Orley and the Little Engine
6. Little Orley and the Bubble Gum
7. Little Orley and the Haunted House
8. Little Orley - His Adventures as a Worm

NOTE: It looks like these stories (and the stories on the other record I was going to put on here) are now available on CD! It looks like Amazon was showing them as out of print, but you can actually buy them direct at littleorley.com! You should do it too. They're fun stories you can share with your kids!

Let's Go to the Zoo

This one comes from the same people that brought you "Let's All Go to the Circus". This has more fun little songs, only this ones about zoo animals. Note the catchy but somewhat odd song "The Porcupine is Pining for His Pork". Hope you enjoy this one!

Here's the track list:

1. Come to the Zoo with Me
2. Strolling Thru the Zoo
3. The King of the Jungle
4. Monkey Business
5. The Elephant Song
6. The Hippopotamus Song
7. The Crocodile Song
8. Singing Tra La La La
9. The Happy Seal
10. The Leopard Song
11. The Porcupine Is Pining for His Pork
12. Strolling Thru the Zoo (Reprise)

Click here to download!

Disco Duck - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

I'm not quite sure how I ended up with all these albums from The Kid Stuff Repertory Company. I probably got them in a box of albums I bought on eBay. I certainly didn't seek them out specifically!

As you might figure, since this is a disco album, they should do OK on this one. They get low marks on "Disco Duck", however, because the guy doing the duck voice is horrible. Couldn't they have borrowed Irwin the Disco Duck? At least he's SOMEWHAT intelligible! "Enjoy Yourself" isn't too bad, but then they do a disco version of "John Henry". Yes, really! The rest of the album they stick with kids' songs, and they're all right. You pretty much know what you're getting into here, so enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Disco Duck
2. Enjoy Yourself
3. John Henry
4. Kemo Kimo
5. Disco Medley (Greetings, Polly Wolly Doodle, Bill Groggin's Goat, Shortnin' Bread, Nine Pound Hammer, Who Did, Down by the Station)

Click here to download!

Animal Song Parade

Until I started actively collecting children's records to use for this blog, I never really realized how many kids' albums were basically clearinghouses for different songs from different sources. That doesn't necessarily mean that the songs are bad; just that it's a lot more variety than you'd tend to get from a group like the Little Golden Singers. I'm betting this is another hodgepodge, but at least this one gives a lot more information than many of the others. It's nice to know that there were orchestras used in all of these songs! Hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. The Little White Duck - Bob Hannon with Orchestra
2. Fuzzy Wuzzy (Wus a Bear) - Burt Taylor with Orchestra
3. Frog Went a-Courtin' - Peter Piper, Forty-Niners Quartet with Orchestra
4. (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window - Patty McGovern with Orchestra
5. Ducks on Parade - The Forty-Niners Quartet with Ray Carter Orchestra
6. The Teddy Bears' Picnic - Peter Piper, Forty-Niners Quartet with Orchestra
7. Peewee the Kiwi Bird - Bob Hannon with Orchestra
8. Snoopy the Pussycat - Patty McGovern with Orchestra
9. The Bulldog on the Bank - The Forty-Niners Quartet with Ray Carter Orchestra
10. What Kind of an Animal Are You? - Burt Taylor with Orchestra

Click here to download!

The Alley Cat: Nursery Rhymes with the Teen Dance Beat of Today - The Mod Moppets

For kids in the sixties that wanted to be cool and parents who wanted to keep them tied to the children's classics, here's an album that probably didn't make either group happy! And how about that cover? Seriously, this is some jazzed-up versions of the songs that kids have been listening to for years. I don't know the dances that well, but for anybody who does, does this do a pretty good job in fitting the songs with them?


Here's the track list:

1. Alley Cat Dance
2. The Frug - Old MacDonald
3. The Swim - Row Row Row Your Boat
4. The Jerk - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
5. Hokey Pokey
6. The Shake - Farmer in the Dell
7. The Monkey - On Top of Old Smokey
8. Mexican Hat Dance
9. Watusi - A Tisket, A Tasket
10. Cha-Cha - Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be?

Click here to download!

King Friday XIII Celebrates in Misterogers' Neighborhood of Makebelieve

This album comes to us courtesy of Tim at The Neighborhood Archive. I know lots of people will be putting up stuff about Jason Voorhees or other scary stuff to coincide with it being Friday the 13th. Not me! Today we feature Mister Rogers (back at a time when he spelled his name as one word) and the adventures of Daniel Striped Tiger, X the Owl and the rest of the neighborhood out to celebrate King Friday XIII's birthday (which is on Friday the 13th naturally). Tim does a much better job of describing what's on this album than I could, so let me refer you to the details here. There are a few unavoidable skips in this album, but this is such a rare find I feel that it's worth putting up as is. Thanks again to Tim for donating the file for this album. Take a look at his great Mister Rogers site when you get a chance!

Here's the track list:

1. Misterogers' Invitation
2. I Like You As You Are
3. Then Your Heart Is Full of Love
4. Looking for a Friend
5. Meow Meow Beautiful
6. Today Is New
7. Creation Duet
8. Find a Star
9. You've Got to Learn Your Trade
10. Prosperous Interval of Time
11. Kingly Gifts
12. Three Rodents with Defective Eyesight
13. Propel Propel Propel Your Craft
14. Tomorrow
15. Goodnight God

Click here to download!

The Wizard of Oz - The Hanky Pank Players

It's always interesting to hear what happens when stories we know pretty well get shortened up to fit on a record. Plot points come at you thick and fast. For example, in the case of this version of "The Wizard of Oz" they barely meet the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy dumps a bucket of water on her! This is also unusual in that there's a combination of songs from the movie and original songs as well. The originals are OK, but it's hard to beat the classics. The performances on this aren't too bad either. Enjoy!

Includes the songs "Over the Rainbow", "We're Off to See the Wizard", "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead", as well as original songs "Cyclone", "The Emerald City", "Thank You Song", and "Humbug".

Click here to download!

Time to Tell Time - James King and the Golden Players

Here's another great album full of songs and stories to help you tell time by talking to the big hand and the little hand. It's especially good if your name happens to be "Hurford". Enjoy!

Click here to download!

Tales of Ragged Ann - Lois Sherman

This is Lois Sherman, who according to the liner notes, "appears daily on WJW-TV, Cleveland, as Ragged Ann, one of the most popular children's shows on the air". I never saw the show, but I hope she didn't do the entire show in that position! Why does she look like she's about to get her head chopped off? According to her, the adventures that Ragged Ann have are due to children putting her in their dreams. Way to blame the kids, R.A.! Anyway, this is certainly an unusual collection of stories. Anybody reading this remember seeing her on TV?

Here's the track list:

1. Ragged Ann and the Three Bears


2. Little Red Ragged Ann


3. Ragged Ann and the Seven Dwarfs


4. Irving the Mouse

Click here or here to download!

Scouting Breaks the Song Barrier - The Goodtimers

February is National Scouting Month, so in honor of that, here's an album of songs made for scouts for sing. Along with the traditional songs like "Kum Ba Yah" and "Down in the Valley" there's a couple of new ones too. My older brothers were scouts, but I never went that far. I was always too uncoordinated to do stuff like that (plus my brothers never seemed that crazy about it either). Hope you all enjoy this, and Happy National Scouting Month!

Here's the track list:

1. The Ecology Song
2. Three Jolly Fishermen
3. Down in the Valley
4. Paw Paw Patch
5. Kum Ba Yah
6. Uncle Sam He Saw the Moon
7. Michael Row the Boat Ashore
8. This Land Is Your Land
9. If You're Happy
10. When the Saints Go Marching In

Click here to download!

Land of Lemonade and Lollipops

Here's another one of those albums with songs from a number of sources and a strange random looking cover ("So, Kid, move that candy cane over a little to the right. No, MY right!"). There's some pretty good songs here though. This also scores points for being my new favorite version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain". See if you like it as much as I do.

Here's the track list:

1. Land of Lemonade and Lollipops
2. Big Rock Candy Mountain
3. Back Home (Way Back Home)
4. Marching Song (Children's Marching Song)
5. Little Dutch Boy & Little Dutch Girl
6. Dem Dry Bones
7. Little Red Schoolhouse
8. Stasha Pandowski
9. Billy Boy
10. Grandfather Clock

Click here or here to download!

The Next Hundred Years - The Ragtimers

Remember back in the late 1960s when everybody thought it was cool to do songs that sounded like they came out in the twenties? Yeah kids, people really did that. This is an album of old songs (and songs they made sound old) by the Ragtimers, a group I know absolutely nothing about. Hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. The Next Hundred Years
2. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
3. Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?
4. My Melody of Love
5. Soft Shoe Song (Give Me That Old Soft Shoe)
6. Those Were the Days
7. Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose
8. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
9. What Have They Done to My Song, Ma
10. Second Hand Rose
11. Ragtime Waltz
12. The Entertainer

Click here to download!

Trains, Planes and Space Ships

This is an odd little album. The first cut, "Skyliner Flight 35", is a simulation of how it sounded if you were in the cockpit listening to the pilots take off and land a plane. The second, "The Columbia Limited" is the same sort of thing except with a train, and the other two cuts, for no particular reason, are two Rocky Jones sci-fi adventures. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Skyliner Flight 35


2. The Columbian Limited


3. Rocky Jones and the Space Pirates


4. Shipwrecked on Planet X

Click here or here to download!