It’s time to dig way back in the Way Out Junk archives for this children’s album. I’m not sure how old this one is, but the cover seems to indicate early 1960s at the latest. This record’s unifying theme is the questions we as kids might ask, and it’s split between two different performers: Paul Tripp (referred to here as Mr. I. Magination) and Tom Glazer.
The first selection features Tripp singing a song about ”What’s Inside Our Earth?” He gets pretty thorough about it, too. For some reason his quote at the beginning of this song creeps me out a little: ”I know there’s lots of things inside your head.” I expect him to add, ”Let’s crack it open and see.”
The next song asks the musical question ”Do Animals Talk to Each Other?” Hoping to find an authoritative answer, Tripp merely replies, ”I’m sure I wish I knew.” Well, if you didn’t know, why did you even bother answering it?
Do Animals Talk to One Another?
Now we really get down and dirty with this one: ”How Does a Cow Make Milk?” Well, when a boy cow* and a girl cow love each other very much…. All right, pipe down, class, we don’t get into THAT part of the story. There is, however, quite a bit of discussion in the song about glands and udders though, if you’re into that kind of thing (you pervert).
Our last song is from Glazer. It’s his ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” his ”Whiter Shade of Pale” if you will; his seven-minute magnum opus ”What Makes the Weather?” The intro starts as a tango, then he explains how we live in an ”ocean of air” called the atmosphere. Someone asks about rain, and he slides into a lively song about what makes rain (with an annoying chorus of ”RAIN RAIN RAIN!” throughout). Then some lady wants to know about lightning, which sends Glazer into some hot boogie-woogie to explain. He stops to call a horse race, except instead of horses, he’s talking about positive and negative electricity. Suddenly, he hits the climax with the cry, ”That’s lightning, Brother!” Testify! And we’re only halfway through the track. He gets hit with so many weather questions that even Mr. I. Magination from Side 1 butts in with his requests.
If you’d like to know about other stuff like where the sun goes at night, why the sky is blue, and why bananas are picked when they are green, you can find out on the rest of the album here. I may have joked about it here, but there really is some great information packed into some peppy songs, so check it out if you get a chance.
See you next time!
* Yeah, I know there’s no such thing as a boy cow, but the joke works better that way.
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