The other day TheGuy informed me that when he dropped off TheLittleGuy at school the whole crowd of 3-year-olds was dancing along happily to “Mambo Number 5.” And, indeed, TLG has quickly decided this is his new favorite song, occasionally even supplanting Frank Turner’s “If Ever I Stray” (to which he knows all the words).
I was pretty amused by this, but also raised an eyebrow over the dinner table when we were talking about it and TLG demanded to know if there was a music video to “Mambo Number 5.” Since we now have easy access to YouTube via the AppleTV it’s easy enough for us to find and show him random music videos now and then on the big screen downstairs.
But I have to say, as I thought about the song, I had some reservations about showing him the video. I’d sort of quickly convinced myself that, for now, the lyrics would be incomprehensible to him. But the video is a different matter. And so I had a brief conversation with myself in my head, and then with TheGuy, about my views on letting TLG watch this video. (It has scantily clad women dancing, slapping their own butts, and so on.) And I decided that while I don’t care for TLG to have a steady screen diet of suggestive music videos, that now and then a “sexy” video doesn’t really bother me. Violent content is an entirely other matter – even violent cartoon content – though.
So, there I go having this efficient, but rather overthought, decision process and we let him watch the video and he dances and dances like a crazy person. Go on, you try to listen to Lou Bega’s version of “Mambo Number 5″ and not dance like a crazy person.
The next morning, I ask one of his teachers about it. “So [TLG] really likes ‘Mambo Number 5′” and give her a squirrelly look.
And she says, “Oh yeah, we have the Disney version.”
Ohhhhh. Sure enough, there’s a remade version, also by Lou Bega, on the album “Livin’ the Vida Mickey.”
Ohhhh.
Of course.
Jump up and down and move it all around
Shake your head to the sound
Put your hands on the ground
Take one step left and one step right
One to the front and one to the side
Clap your hands once and clap your hands twice
And if it looks like this then you doin’ it right
A little bit of Minnie in my life
A little bit of Mickey by her side
A little bit of Donald’s all I need
A little bit of Daisy’s what I see
A little bit of Pluto in the sun Huey Dewey Louie can’t go wrong
A little bit of Goofy everyone!
A little bit of him makes life so fun
Much more appropriate, yah?
I swear, TLG’s going to be well out of pre-school before I even come close to having this pre-school business all figured out.
