Noah Cooper
Almost a year ago, I wrote about Mr T’s musical tastes. As you might expect, they have since changed a little bit, with the biggest difference being that there are now a couple of Brazilian songs in his favourites list. However, I am glad, and proud, to report that so far he still broadly likes music with guitars.
Whenever he hears a new song on the radio in the car he asks me ‘Is this rock ‘n’ roll, daddy?’ If I tell him it isn’t then he is generally not happy about it at all.
If I tell him it is then he smiles and makes the universal symbol of rock music.
So here is the current Top 10 direct from Mr T’s Musical Taste.
Polícia by Titãs
This song is probably Mr T’s favourite song at the moment, and this is undoubtedly because of his growing obsession with the police. He always wants to play cops and robbers with me, and you can probably guess who has the handcuffs and is constantly being thrown in prison.
This means there is a good chance that Mr T has missed the not so subtle message of the song which is a protest against the way police behave in Brazil. The song was written shortly after two of the band members were falsely arrested for heroin trafficking.
Fortunately, Mr T hasn’t found this cover version of the song produced by one of Brazil’s most successful musical exports.
I Fought the Law by The Clash
Again, this song is one of Mr T’s favourites because of its associations with the police. He loves shouting out at random times how he fought the law, but the law won, and he places a lot of emphasis on the words ‘the law won’. Obviously I am happy that our son is starting to like the Clash, but I am doubly pleased because was the song that my wife and I walked into our reception to nearly 10 years ago.
Geração Coca Cola by Legião Urbana
The second Brazilian song ( The Coca Cola Generation), and this one is by one of my favourite Brazilian bands. Whenever I hear Legiao Urbana (Urban Legion) I can hear The Clash, The Joy Division and The Violent Femmes, all of whom I love. But they use these influences, and more, in a very urban Brazilian way so that they produce something that is unique.
Mr T likes to play with this song and change some of the lyrics. My particular favourite is when he decided to sing Griassol Coca Cola (Sunflower Coca Cola)
I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll by Joan Jett
If a song isn’t about the police then it normally has to be about rock for Mr T to like it, and this is the first of three songs that prove my point. These three tracks usually come as a package, so when he sings one he soon moves onto one of the other two.
I must admit that I reckon this is a bit of a corny song, but when it is mangled by a three-year-old it takes on a charm of its own.
We Will Rock You by Queen
Mr T only knows the 4 words of the title from this song, but he takes great pleasure in beating out the rhythm on anything that comes to hand; the sofa, a table or my head all make very good drums. As his pronunciation isn’t quite perfect yet, he sometimes substitutes the /r/ sound from ‘rock’ for a /f/ sound. Every time I hear it I have to do a double take to see if he really knows what he is singing or not.
Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night by Kiss
Kiss are another band that I never really understood, too many painted faces, wild costumes a crap music for my liking. However, they have a song about rocking and rolling all night, and even partying every day, so that is enough for a 3-year-old to think they are brilliant.
Bongo Bong by Manu Chao
This song came up on my i-Pod in the car and was an immediate success. It is quite different to the songs he usually likes, but it got his attention and he asked for it to be played again. I’m not allowed to sing along to this song, but his mamãe is, but only the line ‘I’m the king of bongo drums’, the rest of the time we have to be quiet and listen. Being quiet is a rare thing in itself, and because it’s such a good song I am very happy to play it in the car for a few minutes of peace from the back seat.
Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? by The Clash
This is the latest song to make it into Mr T’s favourites. So far he has managed to learn two words: ‘go now’. This means we have to sing the rest of the song and stop for those last two words of the title for them to be belted out toddler style. But it’s another Clash song, so it will be played a lot over the next few months and so I have no doubt Mr T will pick up more of the words very soon.
One More Time by Daft Punk
It isn’t about the police, it doesn’t use guitars and there is no sign of the word ‘rock’ in the whole song. By rights, this shouldn’t be on the list, however it is and, what’s more, it was also on the last list a year ago so it has stood the test of time.
Vapor Barato by O Rappa
This is a very late entry into the charts. Last week Mr T was listening to music in the car with his mamãe when this song (I’d translate it as ‘Cheap Steam’) came on. I like some songs by this group, but this isn’t one of them. But when has that ever stopped a kid from liking a song? Mr T particularly likes singing the chorus of ‘Baby, baby, baby’ over and over again, and in so doing only putting me off the song even more.
Images used in this post: Guitar by Alejandro C CC BY-NC 2.0, Rock Hands by Ryan CC BY 2.0 and Turn it up to 11 by Kainet CC BY-SA 2.0
