Elmotronica
By Todd Stadler · Wednesday, March 18, 2009 7:22pm
Not too long ago, I got to hang out with my Australian nephew and family in Houston. He was playing with a toy firetruck which had lots of buttons that made various firetruck and/or safety-related noises — you know, samples of sirens, horns, and various admonitions I believe would never be uttered by an actual fireman.
It was a bit annoying, if only because he kept hitting the same button over and over, but without much sense of rhythm (fair enough, he's a toddler, but it does cause one to wonder if he heard enough Mozart while in utero).
Anyhow, there are those who argue that such toys are fairly harmless, although I would think that the homicidal tendencies engendered in any adults within hearing distance of the continuous, erratic repitition of "Raise up the ladder! Raise up the, Raise, Raise, Rai, Raise up the, Raise up the ladder!" would be enough to label such a toy a safety hazard.
But as so often happens, as I was on the edge of sanity, I was struck by the creative muse — my nephew's annoying toy could be made into my (slightly-less-annoying) musical instrument! Thus was born this song, which I call "Don't Forget Ur Safe-T Gear!"
So when asking yourself, "What toy should I get for Todd's child?" consider this follow-up question: "Would I like to hear Todd playing songs like this on said toy (should that be possible) late at night outside my bedroom window?" Because I think that's an interesting question.
6 comments so far
1 Mar 19 '09 2:40am:
Rachel replied:
"Yes, I think I must have forgotten the Mozart a night or two during the pregnancy. David is drawn to the noisy toys like a moth to the light. I have made a mental note and will save the noisy toys until right before we leave town.
We all like your new layout, but find it a bit strange to have you staring at us from your blog."
2 Mar 19 '09 8:51am:
Todd replied:
"I'm staring at you to keep you in line, should you think to write a scathing comment or such. I also feel my giant head is a graphical representation of the narcissism that is a blog: it's largely all about me.
I was wondering who would be the first to notice the redesign, given the preponderance of RSS readers these days."
3 Mar 19 '09 11:02am:
kimb replied:
"oh. my. gosh. i was laughing so hard i cried. i had forgotten all about that obnoxious "raise up the, raise u, raise raise raise up the ladder." it was sometimes fun, though... i guess... sometimes... maybe. you are on an all out record! 3 blogs in 4 days!?! amazing."
4 Mar 20 '09 5:14am:
Marlene replied:
"ok, ok, ok, there will be no noisy toys from this grammy. I don't want to be sleeping outside!"
5 Mar 20 '09 4:46pm:
Beeman replied:
"We pulled the batteries out of all of our noisy toys, but we found we missed one. Driscoll LOVES it. So yeah, we hear the first bar line of each song quite a bit. Problem is, it's not even the song, it's just the subject of the ensuing song that we don't hear. "DoooOOOG" "CoooOOOW".
By the way, your youtube video didn't show up in google reader, not sure why."
6 Apr 08 '09 2:50pm:
Dan replied:
"My three-year-old niece has a little singing alphabet toy. Here's what we heard when she operated it: (sung to the usual tune)
"A, B, C, D—A, B—A, B, C—A—A—A, B, C, D…"
It's a backing track of warbly synth away from being a Boards of Canada song."