Cons: "Princess Di's Distress", written before her death, could now be viewed as tacky.
The Bottom Line: You will laugh out loud and sing along with Tom's great children's music. More importantly, you will grow closer to your kids as you share these songs together.
frazzledspice's Full Review: Moonboat by Tom Chapin
I have loved the music of Tom Chapin ever since he, brother Steve, and his band, the Chapins, rented out the Village Gate after hours in 1971, playing to a crowd of 15 to 20 people who paid $1 a head to hear them sing.
Never a whaling fan, I nevertheless watched documentary Blue Water, White Death, to hear him sing and pursue the Great White in the Indian Ocean.
When I was a stay-at-home mom with infant sons in the 1970’s, the only morning TV show I watched regularly was called Everyday, hosted by Tom and John Bennett Perry (father of actor Matthew.) I remember Tom singing Cat Steven’s Father and Son with his Dad, acclaimed jazz drummer Jim Chapin.
My sons were little when Peabody Award winning show Make a Wish went off the air, but I can still close my eyes and see him singing All my life’s a circle, a six-foot five gentle giant of a man, picking a soft guitar and projecting a lanky charm and warmth that erased our stress and replaced it with smiles.
After Make a Wish, Tom tried his hand at country rock, forming Mt. Airy with brother Steve and some friends, and cut some solo adult albums, but never realized his true artistic calling until he once again turned his attention to children’s music.
You see, the Chapin brothers--Harry, Tom, and Steve--had grown up with the folk music of the sixties, and, as young men in their twenties, performed together as the Chapin Brothers. Their ensemble album, featuring the three young men in their twenties wearing white shirts, black slacks, and Argyle socks, looking every bit like the Kingston Trio or Chad Mitchell Trios, was too gentle for the seventies.
The sweet-sounding guitar and banjo picking of Tom Chapin, accompanying his sweet, gentle mellow bass voice, found a new audience in the four-to-twelve year old set, for whom he has recorded eight CD’s since 1988. The songs feature witty, entertaining lyrics that can be listened to enjoyably over and over, and lively musical arrangements. Tom sings and plays guitar, autoharp, and banjo, and is joined by Jon Cobert on vocals, piano, synthesizer, and accordion, and Michael Mark on bass, concertina, marimba, and vocals.
Moonboat, Chapin’s second album, received a “Notable Children’s Recording” Award from the American Library Association.
The opening track, Library Song, takes children on a musical trip to the library, where they can pick out a book, check it in, check it out. Each verse features different literary characters, Winnie the Pooh, Madeleine, Sleeping Beauty, Cat in the Hat, and Pinocchio, speaking in their own voices, jumping on to Chapin’s lap and swinging on the shelves. A chorus of children joins him in song, and, when the librarian says, “SHH”, they sing sotto voce. The musical accompaniment features some great guitar picking and a bit of honky-tonk piano.
Mother’s Day portrays a Dad and his children making “buckwheat, chocolate chip, apple raisin pancakes” for Mom on Mother’s Day. Chapin, accompanied by children, sings his way through the Joy of Cooking, substituting baking soda for baking powder in the pancake recipe. The children march up the stairs, proudly, singing, Mother’s Day, punctuated by Mom singing, “Mmmmm”, “Mmmmm”, “It’s indescribable”, and “It’s so filling.” My twelve year-old daughter and I listened to this CD last night, and, even though her musical taste now runs more to *NSync and Backstreet Boys, Mother’s Day had both of us laughing out loud.
Whale Song is a story about a man who is turned into a whale, alternating singing with some very realistic realistic whale sounds, accompanied by lively nautical music.
The Trail Ride chronicles a very, long ride on a very slow horse, accompanied by some yodeling. As Homesick, the horse, left the barn, he took his rider on a slow, frustrating ride, but the trip home was the exact opposite. The song goes into a chorus of William Tell Overture building up momentum until the horse reaches the barn, hits the water trough, and throws her rider off. One of Chapin’s musical trademarks is the seamless way he adds a little classical music into some of the tracks of each album.
State Laughs is a song filled with onomatopoeia, as the singer tells a joke to audiences in different states. In Idaho, they go “ho, ho, ho.” In Arkansas, they go “haw, haw, haw.” In Tennessee, they go “hee, hee, hee.” In old Kentuck, they go “yuck, yuck, yuck.” Chapin’s musical journey through the states had us laughing, too.
Happy Birthday is a gentle waltz, sung by Chapin and a children’s chorus, with a beautiful, tender chorus:
When you blow out the candles, one light stays a glow,
It’s the love light in your eyes where’er you go.
Moonboat is a gentle lullaby, sung to the “sun girl”, inviting her to “sail the moonboat through the starry skies.” The song brings the sailors, captained by a boy in fire-engine red pajamas, past stars and constellations, until they are high enough to watch the world go by.
You’ll Come Shining Through is the first religious song I’ve ever heard on Chapin’s CD’s. Using Biblical examples of Noah, David, Daniel, he shows how hard work and faith in God helped them to come shinin’ through, and Chapin tells the kids, Like Noah, Dave, and Dan, just do the best you can, and you’ll come shinin’ through. This song has several strong instrumental passages in between the lyrical passages.
Catches is a three-part round about the kinds of foods kids need to keep their bodies healthy, and, at its fullest sections, is as strong and authoritative as the Hallelujah Chorus. All of Chapin’s albums usually contain a round, as well--my favorite round of his, which he sung with Judy Collins on his Family Tree album, was This Pretty Planet.
Don’t Play With Bruno is about a little boy that everyone thinks is a “dweeb.” Bruno goes playing down a hole and finds a lost city. A famous archeologist follows him down, and pretty soon, everyone joins “Bruno the dweeb” on his great adventure.
Alphabet Soup is a hand-clappin’ song, accompanied only by a blues piano, and another cookin’ song, as children put food representing different letters of the alphabet into a big pot. Once again, there’s lots of verbal humor, as Chapin sings, “Let’s put yams in,” and the children answer, “Let’s put you in.”
Princess Di’s Distress chronicles how the Princess cures her hiccups in a series of ever-escalating remedies. Its humorous message tells kids that royals get hiccups, just like they do, and need to cure themselves exactly the way the rest of the world does.
Neat Mess is my daughter’s favorite song. A child is scolded by his Mom for having a “neat mess” in his room. After the scolding, Mom goes to an antique sale and brings home all sorts of junk. Dad comes home, dismayed at the junk his wife his bought, and retreats to his workshop, which has all sorts of tools, magazines, and every recording of the Boston Pops. Its contagious message, sung in a reggae style, tells us “Happiness is living in a ‘neat mess.’”
The final cut in this CD, Grow in Your Own Sweet Way, is a a ballad, written in three-quarter time, and accompanied by piano, strings, and flute, sung in a three-part round, for male, female, and children’s voices.
May you grow in your own sweet way, and blossom more every day,
And may there be music in your soul, may there be time for you to grow.
When we listen to Moonboat, we have smiles on our faces and warmth in our hearts. Like Chapin’s other CD’s, it is marked by a variety of musical styles--folk, reggae, blues, honky-tonk, rounds, waltz, and classical. Its lyrics are upbeat and well-crafted, full of plays on words, dramatic repetition, and alliteration. The arrangements are masterful, adding punch and pizazz to the lyrics. Tom and his ensemble performs them exquisitely, with just the right touch of warmth, drama, and humor to bring them home.
Looking at Chapin’s website, http://members.aol.com/chapinfo/tc/, I learned that he will be performing live in Peekskill, NY during my visit there in a few weeks. It’s a little bit of a trek from Long Island, but I think I might go anyway.
Because as good as his songs are on CD, they are incomparable live. Chapin’s music is wholesome entertainment for the whole family, that will have them laughing, singing, and sharing together for years to come.
This review is being written as part of the Epinions Helping Hands Write Off. The following reviewers are writing product reviews today and donating the proceeds to charities: adjensen, adnetim, Ainsleyjo, Alwaysstubborn, Alwoolcott, amysmum, AshleyA, Bgoodday, bluehawq, bmcnichol, bops_mom, CANS4US, Char.mike, Cartman_2k, cntaur5, dearladyb, dee67, disartain, eplovejoy, fallyn96, Fostrmom2mny, FraggleMom, Frazzledspice, ggrimes1221, jankp, jdhauer, jennica, jo.com, kelly60, kminer, lildev, MariaEkaterina, nwinston, mimi369, mom2girlz, mridula, mrsocko316, PacBayStat, Pambo, quasar, rbradford, rosalyce, rugged14, shanny21, shantel575, Stephen_Murray, Sunkah, Suzer, Viper1963, Vormancian, Wanbli_Gleska, and willeftk.
The charity I have chosen is World Hunger Year, whose website can be seen at: http://www.worldhungeryear.org/ World Hunger Year was founded in 1975 by talk show host Bill Ayres and the late singer/songwriter, Harry Chapin, Tom’s brother. Tom sits on the Board of Directors and is an artistic ambassador, using his talents to help support World Hunger Year, Save the Children, and Friends of the Earth. In this, he follows in the footsteps of his late brother, who regularly contributed all of the proceeds of 130 out of 200 concerts a year to hunger-related causes.
World Hunger Year supports community-based organizations that empower indivduals and increase their self-reliance. They hold two major fundraisers a year, including a Hungerthon during Thanksgiving Week. Each spring they award excellence in grassroots organizations with cash grants.
A second goal of World Hunger Year is shifting the prevailing viewpoint on why hunger and poverty exist so that we can influence policymakers to put an end to this human tragedy. To this end, it has lobbied successfully for a Presidential Commission on World Hunger, a 1999 White House Hunger Conference, and other federal initiatives.
As part of its educational focus, World Hunger Year has written a classroom curriculum currently used by 1,000 schools called “Kids Can Make a Difference.“ It encourages students to learn about and be involved in hunger issues, and to inspire them to realize that elimination of world hunger is a goal that is within humankind’s reach.
World Hunger Year has created a program called “Artists Against Hunger and Poverty,” enlisting the help of performers such as Bruce Springsteen and Natalie Merchant to perform at benefits to eliminate world hunger, and to educate the public about this issue. Perhaps, in a small way, the Epinions reviewers will be contributing to this effort by using their writing talents to raise money for many worthwhile charities.
Please read the reviews of the participants of the Helping Hands Writeoff. Each time you do, you will be helping someone less fortunate than yourself.
Thank you all for reading. I hope that today you receive many blessings.
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