Father Reggaexx's Big Mix Of Jamaican Nursery Rhymes

I was on the way to work with my usual 45 minute commute with no one but the Ipod to keep me company. I think about 80% of my posts were devised behind the wheel usually with a potentially dangerous flourish of scribbling notes or brainstorming of titles that pop in my head, on any available scrap of paper floating around the front seat and all the while steering with my knees and keeping my eyes on the road of course. So yesterday in mid-commute with the Ipod doing its work on the shuffle mode up popped the Melodians’ “Little Nut Tree” followed immediately by Eek A Mouse’s “Georgie Porgy.” And I got to thinking… hey; there are a lot of Jamaican songs based on Nursery Rhymes. You hear people complaining about other drivers devoting too much of their attention to their cell phones? Anyone behind me would be complaining, “would you look at this asshole playing with his Ipod!” Well I found another one while doing the double knee Andretti and was content with what I thought was a basis for a great post.

This morning I did some more digging and sure enough… there was plenty for the mix that I’m presenting. I could have added a few more but I didn’t want to just grab 10 songs off Trojan’s Reggae For Kids and call it a day – I only used 3! You’ll see from the tracklisting that I put some serious effort into this! The criteria was simple, the song had to include at least one line from the actual nursery rhyme it was covering or have a title that was dead-on with its childhood predecessor. Oddly enough I think all but two are devoid of true nursery rhyme stanza goodness. So here for you and your children’s (if you have any that is) listening pleasure is “Father Reggaexx’s Big Mix Of Jamaican Nursery Rhymes.” And you can be assured it is kid friend because I made the wise decision to avoid any risqué versions of “I Love Little Pussy,” or “Ride A Cock Horse” that may exist… and I’m pretty sure they probably do.

You get a nice sampling of a few varied eras of Jamaican music in the mix and I think you’ll enjoy it!

1. Hey Diddle Diddle – Kent Brown & Sir Dee’s Group
2. Old King Cole – Dennis Alcapone
3. Mi Have Fi Get You – Josey Wales
4. Come Into My Parlor – The Bleechers
5. Put Your Right Foot In – Admiral Bailey
6. Solomon Gundie – Eric Morris
7. Georgie Porgy – Eek A Mouse
8. Riddle I This – Scotty
9. Three Blind Mice – Leo Graham
10. Humpty Dumpty – Eric Morris
11. Little Boy Blue – Pat Kelly
12. Michael Row The Boat Ashore – Max Romeo
13. Eni Meeni Mini Mo – Tenor Saw
14. London Bridge Has Fallen – Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus
15. Little Nut Tree – The Melodians
16. Simple Simon – Eric Morris
17. Jack Sprat – Yellowman & Fathead
18. Old McDonald Ska – The Granville Williams Orchestra
19. Curly Locks – Junior Byles
20. Farmers In The Den – The Bleechers

Of note – Man! With three of his tracks inside the mix, Eric Morris must have been a reggae Father Goose! I’d have my kids listening to him any day over most of that irritating, mind-numbing, parentally torturous crap they pass off as kid’s music today!

Speaking of that it’s also interesting to note, and if you’ll excuse me for going a bit off topic here, but when researching this post I came across an interesting news article that basically said that nursery rhymes are in danger of dying out because parents are singing pop songs to their children instead. A study suggested that 40% of parents with small children cannot recite a single rhyme all the way through. And even more disturbing was that 44% were singing pop songs and, get this, TV theme tunes instead. TV Theme tunes?! Now maybe I’m just old-school but you’re telling me that parents would rather have their children singing the theme to the Love Boat than a nursery rhyme?! Why don’t they force TV’s mindless sludge further down the throat of today’s youth?! And they wonder why kids in the United States are obese and want nothing more than to sit around the “idiot box” watching cartoons or playing video games while stuffing their faces with Twinkies or whatever junk is being spoon-fed to them and their impressionable minds in between episodes of Sponge Bob. For the love of God people teach your kids a friggin’ nursery rhyme, get them off the sofa, out of the air-conditioned house and let them discover what real fun they can find outdoors! I’ll step off my soapbox now, I’ve got to hone up on my nursery rhymin’ skills.

Father Reggaexx's Big Mix Of Jamaican Nursery Rhymes