Yesterday, I sat down to practice Christmas songs. I watched Rudolph earlier with Kenzie. So I thought I'd work on that one. That's when I noticed a big artistic challenge I face at recording christmas songs… or any cover songs for that matter. I never want to sing them the traditional way.
I think back to my cat CDs. They would make great kids albums if some songs didn't have catnip as a drug reference, or if they weren't about alcohol.
I do that all the time. I record an album according to my artistic vision. Then I realize if I'd done….[fill in the blank], it could appeal to an audience I need it to appeal to.
That's the case with “Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer”. I want to record a moody, bluesy version, not an upbeat kids' song. It just sounded awesome tho!
So what do I do? I don't know. I prefer sticking with my musical vision. Maybe I can do both. But who knows….
I firmly believe you can do both! And I really want to hear the bluesy Rudolph!
I don’t think the references disqualify your songs from being kids’ songs, Ichabod… I think things like that are what perfect them as kids’ songs. The kids aren’t going to catch the references anyway, and by throwing bits like that in for the parents’ amusement encourages the parents to listen along with their kids. This is what made the old WB cartoons with Bugs Bunny classics, and was a deliberate strategy by Sesame Street to encourage the parents to listen and watch with their kids.
first of all ~ Sweet Lovely Ladies….now Marc, do what you do Best and make Beautiful Music and Song by Trusting YourSelf and then all will Be as Wonderful as usual….