My Brother’s Nieces

ETA: I put the right video on this time; I don’t know how that other RATM vid got on there. FAIL!

My brother will be proud.

My children think they can tell me what songs to listen to when we’re in the car. This might be because I usually let them listen to what they want to listen to. These days, I generally only provide songs that I enjoy, but back when Lena and Liberty were babies and young toddlers, I let them listen to Barney and Raffi and Sesame Street. It couldn’t be helped. They were car cry-ers and I wanted them to shut it. Barney works so well because he makes little kids stop and go, “What the f*ck is this sh*t?” I wanted them to shut their traps, so I listened to what they wanted to hear over and over and over. Then they grew a bit and decided that car rides were just a touch more tolerable than a trip to the dentist, so the need to make them shut it was less. And they learned to fear me, so they shut it no matter what was on the radio. I’m kidding, gosh! These days, we generally listen to a rotation of CDs that are agreeable to everyone in the car.

Now to the part where my brother will be proud: The other day when we were driving home from the pool in Bryan’s car without our previously-agreed upon CDs, I was repeatedly hitting the seek button in order to find something, anything to listen to. Every time the radio stopped on a song, it was a light and poppy little diddy and I heard 2 light and poppy little voices yell, “NO!” from the backseat. This went on for song after song until the radio finally stopped and I heard no objections. Then one of the little voices said, “Leave it here!” What was the song? I’m glad you asked. It was “Renegades of Funk” by Rage Against the Machine. What happened to my timid little girls who were soothed by Barney’s voice? When I was a little girl, I thought the mixture of screaming and loud guitar and drums coming from my brother’s hi-fi was dangerous and scary. I preferred gentler music like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna and Debbie Gibson. Some people might argue that that was because those artists are who was marketed to me, but I think it’s because they weren’t screaming at me. My taste for grunge and heavier stuff only came later when I was a hard-livin’ young lady. My brother always tried to introduce me to new, better music, but it never stuck. Now his nieces are following in his footsteps musically. Of course, his joy may be short-lived because I will surely ruin Lena and Liberty’s love of this song by turning it into the Best History Lesson Ever! Lookie: