Most weeks, I have a shortlist of at least a half-dozen songs that I know I want to write about, and all I have to do is pick one and figure out what to say about it.
This week was no different. But as of 24 hours ago, I couldn’t figure out which one to pick, or what to write. Not writer’s block exactly. More like that weird feeling of standing hungry in front of a fully-stocked fridge, and having no idea what to eat. Maybe that’s what writer’s block is.
Then, just as I was worried that I might have to skip a week or (perhaps worse) write an emotionally empty post, my 5-year-old son piped up at the breakfast table, and asked a strange question:
“Do all the grown-up reasons seem crazy now?”
My wife and I exchanged looks, and searched for a delicate way to ask what in the world he was talking about.
After a bit of prodding, he explained it was a song he’d heard at his grandmother’s house a couple of weeks ago. The song had obviously left an impression; he was able to recite enough of the lyrics for us to find it on the internet, and it became our breakfast soundtrack. He was very pleased with himself.
For my part, I was stunned not so much that he remembered the lyrics, but that the song was really good. It was clearly a song written for kids, but there was an emotional complexity that is sometimes missing in kids’ music. Plus, I had the vague thought that I recognized the singer’s voice.
It turns out that the CD his wonderful grandmother had been playing for him is a 2002 compilation album of music for kids, with the rather unimaginative title For the Kids. It features a selection of 90s superstars – Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish – who were by that point old enough to have children, but still just young enough to be relevant.
The album is a mixed bag. It’s fun to hear Cake cover the Muppets, but decidedly less fun to hear Raine Maida sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And let’s not even discuss Tom Waits.
But even on first listen, I could tell that “Willie the King” was different.
The reason I recognized the singer’s voice is that it’s the voice of Dan Wilson, who wrote and performed “Closing Time,” one of the most iconic songs of the 90s. But that was far from his only hit: he also co-wrote “Someone Like You” with Adele, “Not Ready To Make Nice” with The Dixie Chicks, among many many others.
Dan Wilson’s skill as a songwriter is a big part of what makes this song stand out on For the Kids, and I’m very happy to count it as my son’s first contribution to Beautiful Song of the Week.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. This version is not from For the Kids, but from Dan Wilson’s 2010 Live at the Pantages album. I chose the live version because a) the live version features an upright bass gives the song a wonderful anchor, and b) the For the Kids album art is almost as terrifying as Tom Waits’ voice.
2. Wilson is a pretty spectacular singer. His voice isn’t showy, but it doesn’t shy away either. It’s clean and strong, utterly different from the growl-mumbling favoured by many of his 90s contemporaries.
3. The lyrics are a re-working of the traditional Scottish nursery rhyme “Wee Willie Winkie.” The titular character is a personification of sleep, and the rhyme itself is an attempt to get a wriggling child to nod off; basically, it’s a 19th-century version of this.
But Wilson’s lyrics hint at so much more than that. Like all great lyrics, they are just specific enough to suggest a variety of things. Listen and you’ll hear a parent singing a lullaby. You’ll hear a child struggling to fall asleep after overhearing a fight between their parents. You’ll hear someone wishing for a return to the simplicity of childhood.
Recommended listening activity:
Online shopping for adult-sized onesie PJs.