Daddy here. As some of you know, to feed the monster that is Nate's obsession with geography, a month or two back I created an iPod mix of songs about the states. (In order of date of admission to the Union, of course.) The first thing that Nate said when I delivered it was "what about the provinces? So I added the provinces. Since then, I've also added a few more songs about particular cities, countries, or states (the most recent: "Oregon Girl," by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin). The list now is about 85 songs and runs about 5 hours.
It probably goes without saying that a few days after I loaded the first version of the playlist onto the iPod in the kitchen, I started finding little lists around the house with all of the songs, beginning with "Delaware Rain" and ending with "Hawaii Five-O" (and later with "The Banks of Newfoundland," and still later with "When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again." I'm fairly certain I'm one of the few guys in the world who wakes up to the sound of his four-year-old singing a creditable version of a 1978 punk song about the invasion of Poland). But do you want to know how well Nate knows his states playlist? Check out his Name That Tune performance on a random 20-song selection from the playlist:
The only one that tripped him up a little was Bruce Springsteen's "Shut Out the Light" (which Nate knows as "Maryland Shut Out the Light"), and that's only because the first few seconds are completely silent.
Sigh. You clean, and clean, and clean your house, except for the home office where guests never go, and that's the room that ends up on youtube.
Posted by: Mommy | April 28, 2008 at 06:32 AM
WHAT DID DAN ZANES SING? WATER FOR THE ELEPHANTS WALBASH CAMINBALL WONDER WHEEL SIAHUMBA MALTI WANTSING MITILDA CAPE COD GIRLS JUMP UP COLAS ALABAMA BOUND SHINING STAR CATCH THAT TRAIN! EACH STAR IN THE SKY TENNESSEE WIG WALK HOUSE PARTY TIME ALL AROUND THE KITCHEN BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE MY ROSEANA
Posted by: NATE | April 28, 2008 at 06:58 AM
Wow, Nate. Good job! I didn't get any of those songs. Where is the one about Washington??? (Is it Roll On Columbia?) Thanks, Daddy, for embedding youtube, which I hope to see more of for both boys.
Posted by: Grandma Nan | April 28, 2008 at 07:21 AM
That is seriously impressive.
Posted by: Marsha | April 28, 2008 at 04:01 PM
I added the video to my myspace page so now all my friends can see I have proof!
Posted by: Krista | April 28, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Nate: Great job of recognizing the songs! I hope you can help me learn some of those songs when I come to visit you and Jonah and your mommy and daddy in October.
I love you!
Posted by: Bubbe | April 29, 2008 at 12:53 PM
This is awesome. Do you have researchers in the backyard figuring out how to deploy his powers for good?
Posted by: gretchen | May 02, 2008 at 07:12 AM