John Dandrea

No children's album can be complete without a song about Jelly Beans!   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!   
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I wrote this song 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.   This song sets the mood for the entire album, as one of the happy, carefree times that children can easily relate to.   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. 
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vocals:  Abigail Strickland
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I wanted to include a couple songs on the album that were realistic - 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.  The song leaves  off with the phrase   "it's raining today - but that's OK."     
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vocals:   Abigail Strickland
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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.   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! vocals:   
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Abigail Strickland
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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.   Moms and Dads really need to make the home a place of peace, safety,  fun, and learning.  They are each special, in their own very unique and special ways. 
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vocals:   Abigail Strickland
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This song is a collaboration with my friend Mikael in Sweden. He had this beautiful instrumental composition and just wanted some lyrics and vocals set to it.    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?  Would it change us?   In the end, we have to still be true to who we are and always share what we have. 
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music:   Mikael Schulin
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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. 
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vocals:   Abigail Strickland
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This is one of my very favorites -  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? If I had wings, I would fly -  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!  I'm happy that my feet are still right here on the ground, after all! 
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vocals:   Abigail Strickland
lyrics page:   Lyrics   Info page:  Info