Children Singing

Hello guys and girls! Today I've had a hectic day and I just can't spend a few hours researching for what was scheduled to be today's entry. So it was either a case of not writing anything, or writing something for which the research was already in my head. I decided to do the latter. So here's today show, whose theme is children singing, either as main artists or just a few lines here and there, in musicals, Pop, Rock, Soul, etc. You'll hear some very well known songs and some that are slightly obscure. There's no gay theme today, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Also, it'll be more about songs rather than about prose, so you'll be spared of my lenghty introductions.

The musical Oliver! (above photo), 1968's big Oscar winner, is a good place to start. The charismatic Mark Lester and Jack Wild did great jobs portraying Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger respectively. Their joined tour de force was Consider Yourself:

Now to something different: British Pop/Folk duo Brian and Michael were one hit wonders, but their one hit, Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats And Dogs was a big UK #1 hit in 1978. They were joined by the St Winifred's School Choir:

Two years later, the St Winifred's School Choir had their own big #1 hit, with There’s No One Quite Like Grandma, written for the 80th birthday of the Queen Mother:

Now, a lot less sugar: the cleverly disruptive Alice Cooper uses a choir of not so angelic children in 1975's Department of Youth. The video is an hommage to Clockwork Orange.

Here's one of the most famous examples. Without further introduction, here's Pink Floyd's 1979 international #1, Another Brick In The Wall. Here's the version from the movie by Alan Parker:

Sandinista! (1980) was a triple album, so there was room for the Clash to tweak a couple of their older hits, using the children of The Blockheads' keyboardist Mickey Gallagher on vocals. Here's sons Luke & Ben Gallagher on Career Opportunities:

To appreciate the different tone, here's the original:

And here's 3-year-old Maria Gallagher on The Guns of Brixton:

And here's the original, which is still relevant, especially with everything that's happening in the US lately:

Let's go to something tonally and thematically different. Here are two US smash hits. First, here's Everything is Beautiful (US #1, 1970) by Ray Stevens:

Here's Playground In My Mind (US #2, 1972/73) by Clint Holmes:

On a more serious note here's Dear God (1986) by XTC. I love this song.

Also from the UK and the 80s, here's Hey, Matthew (1987) by Karel Fialka. Nice video:

From 1973, here's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (#4 in the UK and a Xmas chart hit ever since), by Wizzard:

Frankie Lymon was not yet 14 when he recorded the Doo Wop classic Why Do Fools Fall In Love with the Teenagers in 1956:

Brenda Lee was 11 when she recorded Jambalaya in 1956:

Michael Jackson was not yet 11 when he recorded I Want You Back in 1969 (US #1) with his brothers:

Donny Osmond was 13 when he recorded One Bad Apple in 1970 (US #1) with his brothers:

The younger Osmond to have a big hit was Little Jimmy, who was just 9 when Long Haired Lover From Liverpool hit #1 in the UK:

Stevie Wonder was just 13 when he recorded this masterpiece (Fingertips, in 1963, a US #1):

Another US #1 hit from 1963 was I Will Follow Him by Little Peggy March, who was just about to turn 15:

English boy Laurie London was 14 when he sang a cover of the spiritual He's Got the Whole World in His Hands and made it an international hit:

Another English boy, Neil Reed, was 12 when Mother Of Mine was released, on its way to over 2.5 million global sales:

Scottish Lena Zavaroni was 10 when she recorded Ma! (He's Making Eyes At Me), a Top 10 in the UK:

Since we began with a musical, here's another, now that we're near the end. This is It's the Hard Knock Life from the 1982 film version of Annie:

To end this show, I decided to cheat. My favorite song of the Rolling Stones and one of my favorite songs of all-time, You Can't Always Get What You Want, surprisingly begins with a choir. When I first heard it as a boy, I was pretty sure it was a boys' choir. In fact, I imagined a Catholic boys' choir, all dressed up in their fancy church clothes. The thought of a Catholic boys' choir singing next to the "devils" called the Rolling Stones amused me to no end. When I was older, I learned that this was indeed the London Bach Choir, which is comprised, as far as I know, of grownups. Still, I never miss an oportunity to play a song that I love, so there. Al Kooper plays piano and organ, as well as the French horn intro, while producer Jimmy Miller plays drums on this song instead of Charlie Watts.