It’s Sunday, so that must mean that it’s time for some SLS. This week, in his post Perks of Having Kids, Jim outlines the theme of playing songs about children and families. Much to my great surprise this theme was suggested by Nancy, the Sicilian Storyteller – who knew? There is a rumour that Nancy’s suggestions will be keeping this going until Christmas – or maybe not. In any event Nancy’s blog, The Elephant’s Trunk, is well worth visiting.
I’m playing you two songs today, one of which I have played several times before but can’t resist sharing again, but that comes second. I’m leading with one I haven’t played before:
Not that they are unclear, but the lyrics are lovely so here they are:
I’m five years oldIt’s getting coldI’ve got my big coat on
I hear your laughAnd look up smiling at youI run and runPast the pumpkin patchAnd the tractor ridesLook now, the sky is goldI hug your legsAnd fall asleep on the way home
I don’t know why all the trees change in the fallBut I know you’re not scared of anything at allDon’t know if Snow White’s house is near or far awayBut I know I had the best day with you today
I’m thirteen nowAnd don’t know howMy friends could be so meanI come home cryingAnd you hold me tightAnd grab the keys
And we drive and driveUntil we found a town far enough awayAnd we talk and window shop‘Till I forgotten all their names
I don’t know who I’m gonna talk to now at schoolBut I know I’m laughingOn the car ride home with youDon’t know how long it’s gonna take to feel okayBut I know I had the best day with you today
I have an excellent fatherHis strength is making me strongerGod smiles on my little brotherInside and out he’s better than I amI grew up in a pretty houseAnd I had space to run and Ihad the best days with you
There is a video I foundFrom back when I was threeYou set up a paint set in the kitchenAnd you’re talking to meIt’s the age of princesses and pirate shipsAnd the seven dwarfsAnd Daddy’s smartAnd you’re the prettiest lady in the whole wide world
And now I know why the all the trees change in the fallI know you were on my sideEven when I was wrongAnd I love you for giving me your eyesStaying back and watching me shine and
I didn’t know if you knewSo I’m taking this chance to sayThat I had the best day with you today
Source: LyricFind
Songwriter: Taylor Swift
The Best Day lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
I used to say that Taylor Swift was my guilty pleasure, given that I was probably around fifty years older than most of her fans, but I think it’s safe now to say that I have always liked her music. The Best Day was originally a track on her second album, Fearless, which was released in November 2008 in North America and March 2009 everywhere else. This was her first #1 album in the US and Canada, and gave her the breakthrough here in the UK, where it peaked at #5. The version I’m playing today is from the April 2021 album Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the first to be released as part of Taylor’s re-recording project following her dispute over the ownership of her back catalogue with her previous record label. At around 7.3m copies the original version is her biggest seller in the US, and the new version added a further 700k to that, whilst making #1 in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Australia.
Taylor reclaimed the original video for the re-recording – as you may have noticed it contains many home video clips from her childhood, including probably the only topless shots of her that you’ll ever see. At around a year old that’s fair, I think. The song is one of gratitude mostly to her mum, Andrea, though her father, Scott and her brother, Austin also get honourable mentions. The thanks are for the childhood they gave her, and I think it’s lovely: the video offers a charming accompaniment. It shouldn’t be overlooked that Taylor was only 18 when she wrote this song, and was still a month away from her 19th birthday when Fearless came out. And as you may have noticed she hasn’t done badly in her career since then, either.
My second song for today is one that I originally played in a post welcoming the birth of my first granddaughter, which I have reworked a few times since. Again, this is a lovely song with a beautiful video, so I’m making no apologies for the repeat showing:
I Hope You Dance is about Lee Ann Womack’s own children, written not long after her second child was born. I’m the world’s worst dancer, but fortunately for me the metaphor is used here to mean that Lee Ann hopes her child will find and take opportunities in life – ‘I hope you never lose your sense of wonder……and when you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.’ This was the title track on Lee Ann’s third album, which was released in May 2000, getting to #16 in the US and topping their Country Albums chart. The track had been released as a single ahead of the album, in March 2000, and peaked at #14 in the US and #40 in the UK, though that placing didn’t help the album into our charts. I bought it, though, and it is a lovely record.
The two stars in the video are Lee Ann’s daughters: she married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990, though they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers in February 1991, and Aubrey is now a country music singer-songwriter. Her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, was born in January 1999 after she had married record producer Frank Liddell, and has sung backing vocals on albums by her mum and Miranda Lambert, among others.
That’s it for today. A great theme chosen by Nancy, and it gave me a chance to play two songs which make me feel warm thoughts about my own daughters’ childhoods, and now my granddaughters’ too. Have a lovely day, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 🎶
