John Dandrea

No children's album can be complete without a song about Jelly Beans!   This must have been one of my strongest memories from my own childhood.  Musically, I got the idea for the melody by remembering what fun I had in my High School years when I sang in a barbershop quartet.  So I created the Jelly Beans chorus part in that barbershop style.

I simply HAD to include a verse about which color was MY favorite (does ANYONE actually like those yellow ones, seriously?)  While ALL of the others were ones that I'd certainly keep - especially the red ones!  Silly to the end,  what other candies are so colorful, so tasty, and so much fun to pile up on a plate!   Have fun with this one, Mom!

I wrote this song especially as the start to the album.  I wanted it to be a very simple, happy song with an easy singable tune.   I liked the rhyme of the phrase "chalk on the sidewalk", and I just went from there.  I imagined the children hopping along on the numbers, and the lyrics follow the game.

This song sets the mood for the entire album, as one of the happy, carefree times that children can easily relate to.  As the CD's  songwriting progressed, I added songs that were meant to apply to older children as well, with themes of sharing, caring for others, and staying positive.  This album is as much for parents as it is for their children.

I wanted to include a couple songs on the album that were realistic,  to balance things out - not every day is sunny and bright and sometimes we can't go out and play.  Perhaps a child had just cleaned up his bike and was looking forward to riding today - only to have mother nature change his plans.

The gentle lesson of the song is that the rain is needed - trees and grass will grow beautifully green, and the sun will shine again.  We can always play other activities inside where it is warm and dry.  The song leaves  off with the phrase   "it's raining today - but that's OK."    This is the sort of positive theme that's  woven throughout the album -  that there's always reasons to be happy - even when it's raining today.

This is just a funny song that sort of wrote itself.  It was a parents sing-along tune that developed as we continually had a problem finding one of our child's socks.  He was constantly running around the house with one sock on and the other one was always missing.  The verses just described the way it was - always searching under the beds,  chairs,  or  in toy boxes.

I couldn't resist the temptation to add the verse about how Mom gets a workout while the toddler eats!  Hats off to all the Moms who work so hard around the house to raise a child,  with all of  the hundreds of   little chores involved!

This was a theme that I really wanted to express in this album.  A child should always feel loved completely and unconditionally, and that a parent always knows deep inside that God has blessed their lives with this very special gift.  There are so very many children who for one reason or another do not get this love shown clearly to them. 

In these days of terrible peer pressure, bullying, and shaming of  kids in schools - Moms and Dads really need to make the home a place of peace, safety,  fun, and learning.  Make them aware of their own strengths and their own gifts.  They are NOT another "number  in the system", they are each special, in their own very unique and special ways.

This song is a collaboration with my friend Mikael Schulin in Sweden. Mikael had this beautiful instrumental composition finished and had just wanted some lyrics and vocals set to it.  I wrote the lyrics for the older child as well as for the adult, because I wanted to appeal to all ages.  I developed a theme around a common fantasy that perhaps we all have at one time or another - what would we do if we won a lottery, a really enormous amount of money?

I tried to make the point that no matter what wealth or material things we might have, it can't replace the love and trust of a true friend.  In the end, we have to still be true to who we are and always share what we have.

In this song there is a bubbly, contagious excitement as only a child can inspire.  Conditions are perfect - the sun is shining, there are activities to do, and the most fun of all is playing together with friends!

Wandering through fields hand in hand, chasing butterflies, feeling the summer breeze in your hair - these are the precious times that all children can relate to and  long for. 

I imagined that this child would use all sorts of fun and exciting activities to entice his friends to come along - walking, biking, skating, fishing, getting some bubble gum...  doesn't it sound so inviting? 

This is one of my very favorites of the album.  I really did use scenes from my own childhood memory in creating a visual of a child in a park, laying on the ground and looking up through the trees, into the sky.  Wondering to himself, what's up there, higher than even the birds can fly?  It's a simple basic question that any child could ask himself.

If I had wings, I would fly. . . .it would be more fun to fly, than it is right now.  How great would I be, free to look down on everything else!  Up in the sky - that's where you'll find me.  At some point though, one has to realize - it gets kind of scary way up there in the sky!  I'm happy that my feet are still right here on the ground, after all!

In a child's world, time stands still.  Each day is a treasure to enjoy the beauty of nature, autumn colors and throwing leaves in the air, and to share those moments with a best friend.

The song celebrates that friendships can last forever.  Children share secrets about what amazes them most, and at the end of the day there is always another day, another tomorrow, to look forward to eagerly.

This is an upbeat, happy tune that is meant to bring a smile to any parent who listens, as well as the children.  Laughter is one of life's most special blessings and we can all benefit from a good healthy dose each day!