My Music, Her Music

Poison is on The Tonight Show tonight singing "Nothin' but a Good Time." It reminds me of when I was a pre-teen/teen and thought Poison was pretty awesome. It got me thinking about the other music of my youth.

I'm not really one for favorites. If you ask me what my favorite color, food, etc. is I would be unable to provide a definite answer. The same goes with music. I guess if I had to pick just one favorite artist it would have to be Jimmy Buffett. I was originally introduced to Buffett around the same time by the juke box at the local Pizza Hut and the movie The Doctor. Some of you may remember that the surgeon in the movie liked to listen to music while he worked. The song that stuck in my noggin was Mr. Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk." Shortly thereafter I bought one of Jimmy's greatest hits albums, Songs You Know By Heart. My brother and I went on a trip to Dallas with our grandparents and uncle to see the Dallas Cowboys play football; I listened to that CD the whole trip to and from Dallas and quite a bit of time in between. Since then I have acquired many more Buffett albums and had the good fortune of seeing Mr. Buffett perform in Las Vegas (back before I became a father and had to be all responsible and skip the recent Dallas show because we need to save for other things).

I grew up with a very diverse collection of music. A survey of my CD case at any given time would reveal representatives from the world of country, rock, rap, and several other genres in between. Looking back, my parents were really quite permissive. I had CDs by NWA, Ice Cube, Easy-E, Dr. Dre, Snoop, House of Pain, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, etc. I doubt mom ever listened to my NWA CD and may not even know that there was such a song as F*ck the Police. I am getting to the point where I prefer softer music like Buffett, Michael Buble, Jamie Cullum, and Daniel Powter. Before tonight, I had not heard Poison in years and it's been awhile since I listened to Snoop.

Emma is big on such artists as: The Backyardigans, The Doodlebops, and Dora the Explorer. I never really pictured myself singing along to this sort of music, but I love it. The songs are fun and Emma smiles when we sing. I'm sure it will not be too long down the road before she starts to like more diverse music as well, and I'm also sure that her enjoyment of me singing to her will fade a bit and be replaced by mild to severe embarrassment. Shana and I will expose her to a broad array of music and I'm sure MTV and her peers will expose her to whatever we don't cover. I also think we will encourage some sort of musical intrument lessons, if Emma is at least slightly interested. I took piano lessons for several years and now wish I had practiced a little more and taken lessons a little more. I guess my mom really did have my interests in mind when she sent me to those lessons.

I'm glad my parents didn't try to completely censor me from music which may have been arguably inappropriate. I was exposed to cultures and ideas that simply where not represented in my life absent the CDs. I think I turned out okay despite the music I listened to. Maybe I am a little more open-minded as a result. It will be interesting to see how Emma's musical interest progresses. It will also be interesting to see how much I am able to remember to let her explore new things that I may not understand or be completely comfortable with while ensuring that she turns out okay also.

P.S. - Some of you may have noticed that I missed my regular Thursday posting schedule. I had a very busy week, and as Shana pointed out, we were out last night at Country Fever. I will try to do better in the future and I apologize if I let anyone down.