Don’t Cry for Me, Minnesota

The truth is, I have gone to the library and stocked up on plenty of good music to keep this baseball mom’s daily commute interesting.

Here are my musical picks for the month of June:

For God and Country by Dolly Parton
Fashion-sense notwithstanding, Dolly Parton is (in my opinion) one heck of a little cutie pie with a voice much larger than she is. (Well, most parts of her, anyway.) We checked out this CD to get ready for Memorial Day and have renewed it in honor of the 4th. It’s just that good. She does all the classic patriotic tunes like “The Star Spangled Banner”, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”, and “Ballad of the Green Beret”, and then she throws in some really fun ones like “Red, White and Bluegrass”, “Gee, Ma, I want to go home”, and “Go to Hell” (which is meant quite literally to be an imperative directed at the devil, so don’t go getting all scandalized.)

The Phantom of the Opera (the motion picture soundtrack with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber)
My children have fallen head-over-heels in love and in intrigue with the Phantom. It’s that organ music! And those majestic, mysterious opening chords! It sucked ‘em in good and there they sit. We’ve quite enjoyed watched the movie version as well, though there were one or two scenes that got parentally edited. (I’m thinking in particular of Christine’s slack-jawed response to the Phantom’s advances when he invites her in for…well, for that same old song and dance, of course.)

The Premiere Collection:
The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber
Yes, we are on a bit of a Sir Andrew kick around here. Don’t you just love a good musical? Our favorites from this disc include “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and “Another Suitcase in the Hall” (both from Evita); as well as “Memory”( from Cats, naturally) and “Magical Mr. Mistoffelees” (also from Cats, and a song that is meant to be sung at the top of one’s lungs. In case you didn’t know.)

And now, on a much mellower note, we have Closer by Josh Groban. I’m sure everyone has been listening to him for decades (even though the guy can’t be more than, what? 25?) Anyway, I am always several yards outside the loop and happy to be there, thank you very much. All the more fun to make these discoveries when, eventually, I do. I came to this CD via a recommendation I saw over at Melissa’s. She is right; his music is beautiful and his voice, simply amazing. I do wish that he would have thought to give God a wee bit of the credit, though, in the very lengthy thank you he wrote for the insert.

And last but not least, we are still giving this 3-disc CD a run for its money, to the groaning and chagrin of the three older kids but to the delight of my two littlest gals (ages 4 and 2), who love to sing to its cutesy tunes and who sound (again, in Mom’s opinion, and in my opinion, what else matters?) very, very cutesy along the way.

Have a wonderful summer, everyone! Don’t forget to sing your heart out from time to time.