Happy Joe Joes

Continuing on the music theme…

When the Bean was an infant, I made a CD for him. I tried to find fun kid-relevant songs that weren’t the standard nursery rhymes or Sesame Street music that is prevalent for that age. One of the songs, “Happy Happy Joy Joy”, quickly became one of the Bean’s favorites. In fact, he called all music “Happy Happy Joy Joy” (or as he said it, “happy joe joes”). He still does sometimes.

The song comes from the Ren and Stimpy show, which is brilliant but is definitely on the edgy side of kids’ entertainment. In fact, I really can’t believe that it ever aired on Nickelodeon, but hey, it was the 90s and a simpler time.

The Bean’s love of the song has not wavered as he’s gotten older. This fills me with delight and causes the wife to roll her eyes in a way that says, “I can’t believe that there are two of you living in this house.” However, it’s becoming clear that we may have to take the song out of rotation.

When putting the mix together, I asked Jules if she thought the song would be a problem. She said she didn’t think so (a conversation she now conveniently can’t recall ever taking place). There is a line in the song that goes, “I’ll teach you to be happy. I’ll teach your grandmother to suck eggs.” A few days ago, Jules calls me at work and I can hear the Bean screaming in the background, “Suck eggs! Suck eggs! Suck eggs!”