Oh you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

One of the favorite gifts I received when Ethan was born was a "Billboard's Greatest Hits: Lullabies" tape. I am pretty sure we played that old tape for Ethan and then Ellie until it became so stretched and funny sounding that it threatened to become completely wound up in the cassette player. Alternately, I sang most of the songs to the kids many a night. Now my friends at work are becoming new parents and I want to set out and make a "tape" (or rather CD) of many of the songs for their little ones. That led me on an interesting path. I found that certain songs can only be purchased from ITunes if you buy the entire album. "HushaBye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is one such song we love. Since I did not want to buy the entire album from ITunes I found it through my library instead. I thought I would just grab that one song and go, but I find myself almost entranced. I can sing along with nearly every sound.


Between many of the songs are little memorable soundbites. Listening to the song hearkens me back to when I was very young. I loved to swing and sing. You can picture it. I would have my long dark blond hair in two tight pigtails that most likely had matching ribbons in them. I would pump on the swing to get myself going as high as our little backyard set would go. (I always had visions of pumping my feet hard enough that I would eventually fly over the top and make a complete circle - I think nearly every kid dreams of doing that.)Chances are that I would have no shoes on. My cute shoes ( I am sure they would be cute because my mom LOVES cute shoes)would have been cast off to the side. I would swing and sing as loud as I could. I imagine that I must have both embarrassed and amused my mother as I sang, "Oh You, Shitty Shitty Bang Bang, I love you..." You see, at the time I could not really hear the difference between "Chitty" and "Shitty." I would finish up with that song and launch into "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree." From there the mix was varied. I loved "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Alone Again" by Gilbert Sullivan. Then I might go back to more Chitty related songs. The one thing missing from the otherwise wonderful and complete album is a small sound bit from the Candy Man & Child Catcher, " Candy" he would call, "Candy for girls and boys. All free today."


All of this makes me think of my days of my childhood. How I loved "Green Acres" and "The Flying Nun." I could sing along to the songs in "The Sound of Music." I would dance to the Charlie Brown specials and look forward to watching "Witch Mountain," "Escape from Witch Mountain" and "The Trouble with Angels." I find it funny and fun how creating a present for one person actually created one for myself...