Category Archives: music

Song Lyric of the Day:

You know your love (your love keeps lifting me) / Keep on lifting (love keeps lifting me) / Higher (lifting me) / Higher and higher (higher)

Jackie Wilson / “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher“

A while back I wrote about how I started a playlist for Coraline to save my sanity. When we first started it, I told her that it could grow to have as many songs as she wanted on it. She took that to heart and her playlist is now up to 75 songs. I’ve really enjoyed watching her discover new non-Disney music that she likes, and singing along with her is one of my favorite things to do (she has my talent for memorizing song lyrics). We even play some of “her” songs during baths now, turning them into musical events. Plus, singing along to songs keeps her from screaming while I rinse her hair on hair-washing nights. See? Sanity-saver.

This is the second batch of songs she added to her playlist.

“Bulletproof” by La Roux

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This is one of her favorite songs to sing at full volume, and one of the first ones she started requesting by name once we set up her playlist.

“Best Day of My Life” by American Authors

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This was one of the first of “her” songs that she recognized as being used in TV commercials. She enjoyed pointing that out to my parents.

“I Love It” by Icona Pop featuring Charlie XCX

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: Coraline heard this song while at my parents’ house, and recited some of the lyrics to me that night so I could figure out what song it was that she wanted added to her playlist. I downloaded the clean version for her, which substitutes “stuff” and “chick” in place of a couple of words I don’t need her repeating.

“Troublemaker” by Weezer

Coraline knows it as: that song about the Troublemakers from Team Umizoomi (which it is not)

Fun fact: see the above

“Pork and Beans” by Weezer

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This is her go-to song when she picks up one of our XBox Rock Band guitars

“Ho Hey” by The Lumineers

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This is another one of her favorite songs to sing along to, with her shouting, “Hey!” every time “ho” or “hey” is sung.

“Raise Your Weapon” by Deadmau5

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: Based on the title alone, I had to send Rich the song lyrics so he could read for himself that the song is a metaphor for pulling the trigger on/ending a relationship before he agreed I could add it to Coraline’s playlist. I downloaded the radio edit for her since the album version is about 8 minutes long.

“A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend

Coraline knows it as: that song Mommy danced to when she was in my baby tummy (we saw Vampire Weekend in concert in early 2010)

Fun fact: She always demonstrates how she bounced around in the womb while I danced to this song.

“Sometime Around Midnight” by The Airborne Toxic Event

Coraline knows it as: that song she likes that Mommy likes

Fun fact: I’m pretty sure she only likes this song because it’s one I always sing along to (TATE is my favorite band these days)

“All I Ever Wanted” by The Airborne Toxic Event

Coraline knows it as: another song that she likes because Mommy likes it

Fun fact: She always asks why Mikel sings “forever, forever, forever.” Every. Time.

“Evacuate the Dancefloor” by Cascada

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This is a song Coraline discovered while I was exercising and blasting music videos on YouTube.

“Girls Chase Boys” by Ingrid Michaelson

Coraline knows it as: “Boys Chase Girls Chase Boys Chase Girls”

Fun fact: Ever since I told her the video was a “people” video, she asks every several days if she is big enough to watch it yet. Rich and I think letting her watch it will raise more questions than we feel like dealing with right now.

Song Lyric of the Day:

But I still stay cause you’re the only thing I know / So won’t you take, oh, won’t you take me home / Take me home, home, home

Cash Cash featuring Bebe Rexha / “Take Me Home“

A few weeks ago I made a huge mistake: I put the Tangled and Frozen soundtracks on my iPod, which lives in my car. To say Coraline was thrilled to be able to sing along with her favorite songs as we drove to school, to her abuela’s house, or during errands is an understatement. It is not an understatement, however, to say that after the 1,000th time I was ordered to sing the Mother Gothel or Hans or Flynn or Elsa parts, I was going insane. I laid down the law that we had to alternate between listening to her music and listening to Mommy and Daddy’s music. Since she got to hear her music some of the time, she was pretty happy. And so was I, particularly when she started to sing along with songs I liked.

Soon enough she started requesting certain songs, which is when I introduced her to the concept of a playlist. She loved the idea of saving all her favorite of Mommy and Daddy’s songs to her very own special playlist. I told her that whenever she heard a song she liked, to let me know, and I’d add it to her playlist. I also told her how we can add as many songs as she wants, so it can keep growing.

Here’s the playlist Coraline built for herself. With my help. And my iTunes account.

“Take Me Home” by Cash Cash featuring Bebe Rexha

Coraline knows it as: “Take Me Hooooooooooooome”

Fun fact: She refuses to let me sing along with this, even if she’s “too tired to sing,” insisting that it’s her song.

“Cups” by Anna Kendrick

Coraline knows it as: “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”

Fun fact: When I showed her this scene from Pitch Perfect the other day, she asked for a cup and I recorded her singing along and trying to mimic how the cup is used to make music.

“Breathing Underwater” by Metric

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This was the first song of my music she ever sang along to, parroting me from the backseat on the way to her cousin’s birthday party last year, April 6, 2013. She calls it “our song.”

“I Will Wait” by Mumford & Sons

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: She serenades me with this while waiting at the bathroom door for me to help her go potty.

“Pompeii” by Bastille

Coraline knows it as: “If You Close Your Eyes”

Fun fact: She actually does close her eyes during that line in the song.

“Right Round” by the Treblemakers

Coraline knows it as: “Hey, I know this song! Can you put it on my playlist?”

Fun fact: I thank God she can’t yet understand the meaning of some of the lyrics. Thankfully, they’re not ones she sings along to. Look for this song to “disappear” from her playlist in a few months.

“Bright Lights Bigger City/Magic” by the Treblemakers

Coraline knows it as: “Dut Dut Dut Dut Dut Dut Dut Dut”

Fun fact: Clearly me listening to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack over and over made an impression on her.

“Counting Stars” by One Republic

Coraline knows it as: the correct title

Fun fact: This is probably Coraline’s most requested song, and one I bought per her request. (Luckily, I’m a One Republic fan.)

“Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia

Coraline knows it as: “That song about being strong”

Fun fact: She can’t quite pronounce “titanium,” but lord, does she try.

“Beam Me Up” by Cazzette

Coraline knows it as: “Hey, I like this song! Can you put it on my playlist?”

Fun fact: I love that she likes this song enough to have asked to add it to her playlist. Also, I find her singing along with the “beam me up up up up up” part really amusing.

“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra

Coraline knows it as: “That song where the guy sings and then the girl sings”

Fun fact: This is another one of “her” songs, with which I am not allowed to sing. Even though she barely knows the words yet.

“99 Red Balloons” by Nena

Coraline knows it as: “The Balloon Song”

Fun fact: It blows her mind that her mommy knows this song from when she was young. It’s old! And so is Mommy!

(Update: I now have the German version, “99 Luftballoons,” embedded because the English version disappeared from YouTube.)