Recess! Media

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That’s the late Lennon with “Beautiful Boy” — his ode to his new-born son, Sean. It’s on a CD from Music for Little People called “A Celebration of Family.” How can we possibly say how vital, how essential they are, those loved ones who chase the boogeyman away and who write those everyday songs that give a tempo, a melody to our lives — especially the young lives of children, and especially in the aftermath of last September. But we do need to try to tell these people how important they are to us — like Brenda Lee does in her down-home “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” or like Sweet Honey in the Rock do with their sage advice to parents about children, or like Boyz II Men do in their soaring, moving, “A Song for Mama.” The voices on this recording are a wonderful mixture of the old and the new, and of most of the popular music styles that you’d want to listen to as a family. There’s a song about adoption from John McCutcheon, and Faith Hill offers a poignant reflection, one that every parent has made.

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And everyone who has ever been exhausted by the boundless energy of a child will identify with Greg Brown’s lullaby, “You Might As Well Go to Sleep.” But it’s Raffi who has the first, and the last, word with his back-to-basics anthem to family.

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