Sunday, January 18, 2009

5 year old song lyrics

No, not song lyrics from 5-year old songs (what songs did come out in 2004, anyway?) No, this post is about lyrics as sung by 5-year olds. A few years ago, before the greatness that was Thwackum and Square, my daughters (the oldest of whom would be about 5 at the time) were learning a little bit about Rock and Roll from their mom. Since they were learning from their mom, they were learning about Bon Jovi and Daughtry instead of Pink Floyd and New Model Army - go figure. But anyway, a particular treat during that phase was listening to the way they reconstructed the song lyrics. My particular favorite was "You give love a bad name" by Bon Jovi on Slippery When Wet. That well known song has a refrain:

Shot through the heart
and you're to blame
You give love
A bad name

Only the 5-year old version was vastly improved. It went like this:

Shot in the heart
And you're too late
You give love
A band-aid

You probably have to see the five year old singing this, with great intensity, to appreciate the full genius of the moment, but it stuck in my head for lo, these many months. It's probably worth noting that with typical child-like optimism they've changed the song from one of bitterness and anger to one of hope and healing - now the target of the song is patching up love with the most important of all child-approved remedies, a band aid. In this version, you're not to blame, no, just too late to stop it. But not to late to fix it. Ah youth.

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