Many of the children’s albums I’ve featured here (and on my blog) tend to be loud, raucous affairs. This album is actually the opposite. It features actor Larry Thor accompanied on acoustic guitar and singing cute original songs. His demeanor reminds me a bit of Mister Rogers, uncomplicated and very comforting. Here’s a few songs to show you what I mean.
In the first song, “Sad Day, Lonely Day,” he sings about how unhappy he is because there’s nobody around to play with him. As the song continues, however, we start to learn why he’s so alone and how his predicament may have been self-inflicted.
“The Gimme Pig” is about a kid who wants everything he sees and chants, “Gimme this! Gimme that! Gimme gimme gimme what I’m pointing at!” Yeah, it’s a “lesson” song, but it’s not as annoyingly preachy as most songs of this type.
The song “Picnic” illustrates what happens when a child plans the events of a picnic, including spots for mice, garter snakes, and spiders, as well as a bull to chase his father!
In “Since You Went Away,” the singer tells his friend of all the current news while that friend was sick. Apparently there was a big argument among the kids as to abolishing all weapons in the neighborhood, including baseball bats, slingshots, and harpoons(!), but everybody was talking at once and nothing got accomplished. By the time it was all said and done, everybody was too scared to go outside.
Finally, in the title song, Thor does an imaginative variation of the typical cowboy song. He’d prefer to ride a dinosaur, even if there weren’t any cows around!
One thing I enjoy about having a blog is the comments I get from my readers. In this case, I actually heard from Thor’s son Cameron (who’s pictured here on the back cover with his dad). He had people ask where they could find a copy of this album and was delighted to send them my way. If you’d like to hear the rest of this fun album, you can find it here.
Comments