Sing a Song

I have not been sleeping well.

It’s not because I spent Thanksgiving in NJ, where the bed in my mother-in-law’s house is stiff as a board. It’s not because I’m in my mid-thirties and therefore unable to make it through the night without having to get up and stumble to the bathroom to piss. And it’s not due to the bizarre stress-related nightmares that oddly I am unable to remember 10 minutes after I wake up. Though all of these things are true, they are not the reason why I can’t recall the last decent night’s sleep I’ve had.

It’s music.

More specifically, it’s the simple yet insanely catchy songs that the Bean listens to and loves. Not all of it is bad. Singers like Jim Gill and Laurie Berkner are decent enough. They are good musicians who craft solid kids music that doesn’t drive me batty me upon repeat listens.

But lately, the Bean has gotten a taste for The Doodlebops. This Canadian import features three over the top performers in garishly cartoon-like chttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifostumes and make up. (Sample lyrics: “We’re the Doodlebops. We’re the Doodlebops. We’re the Doodlebops oh yeah!” and “Let’s get on the bus. It’s time to go!”) They make me want to claw my eyes out. The worst part is that these songs have gotten permanently lodged in my brain.

Add this to the growing list of songs that I can’t stop singing which already includes just about anything from the Wiggles, “Party in my Tummy” from “Yo Gabba Gabba”, and the one two punch of "Bananaphone" and "Apples and Bananas" from the grandfather of annoying kid songs, Raffi.

They won’t get out of my head. They are playing when I’m in a meeting, or the shower. I’ve got the Doodlebops theme song running on a loop in my mind right now.

Yesterday, the Bean kept telling me, “I hear music.” But when we were absolutely quiet, I couldn’t hear anything. I wonder if he can’t get these songs out of his head either.