Monday, August 15, 2016

Caspar Babypants Takes Us Away Once More

The ever-prolific and versatile Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew) has returned to Stompy the Bear's home territory for his newest kid's CD, AWAY WE GO (artwork as always by illustrator spouse Kate Endle).

The world of Caspar Babypants is filled with such fantastic creatures as "Sleepy Snail And Speedy Spider" and "Jellyfish Jones." And Chris loves to take cherished nursery rhyme songs and add his own signature twist – and additional verses. This time it's "Pop Goes The Weasel." In Chris's mind, the song is now about a 1960s band from London that sings for shillings in the streets.

As a prodigious baker, I was quite taken with "Banana Bread," the saga of fruit gone nearly-bad but still salvageable. In going through the "stories behind the songs," I learned that Chris wrote this tune with his late father. He has completed an amusing tribute that has already inspired many car singalongs:

Me and the boys have been together for so long
We grew up on a banana tree and learned to sing this song
All the young bananas learned it in case they get forgotten
So people don't throw them out just because they look a little bit rotten

Chris tends to deal with simple, gentle concepts with a whimsical, friendly access point for young children. Chris's alternative past has led him through a looking glass to a similar vantage point for kids. Everything is possible, everything can be fun, away we go. Caspar Babypants CD come out at quite an incredible rate. This is apparently the age of Babypants, so enjoy "Tiny Horse," "Moody Susan," "Chicken In The Cornbread," and all the characters who join the parade in this 2016 edition.

AWAY WE GO! is available from Caspar's website, Amazon, iTunes, and CDBABY.

Here is the first video from the CD, "Mr. Cloud:"

No comments: