By a show of hands, who’s familiar with Hap Palmer’s musical works?

Anyone?  Anyone?!?

No??  This is incredibly puzzling because Hap Palmer wrote the biggest bunch of crazy-making ear-wormish toddler songs that ever existed.  How could you NOT have heard of him?!

Hap’s “Baby Songs” music video factory was slightly ahead of the Baby Einstein video curve.  Quite possibly even earlier than that, say at the dawn of VHS camcorders (early 80’s or so).  How do I know this?  Because most of the footage was home-movie quality and shot in someone’s backyard.  In addition, the videos starred a bunch of kids dressed in primary colors – a passel of Caillous from up north, if you will – with hearts embroidered into their extremely shapeless Osh K’osh overalls.

Also?  The mom in the music video who’s dropping her anxious kid off at daycare had a headful of dreadful permed hair and a massively shoulder-padded Fashion Bug blazer.  All further evidence of the 80’s timeframe.  (For those in the know, you’ll recall this as being the award-winning “My Mommy Comes Back to Get Me” video.*)

But what I really wanted to talk about here was Hap’s song titled, “It’s Gettin’ Up Time.”

[now singing from memory] Baby’s cryin’ in the bassinet.  Waking up hungry, cold and wet.  Waah, waah, waahwaahwaah.  It’s gettin up time!  (and yes, you must sing the waah, waah, waahwaahwaah chorus like an open-mouthed, cranky baby.  Who’s hungry.  Cold.  And wet.)

This?  Is how I wake my kids up in the morning before school.  I lovingly sing that song into their sleep-warmed cheeks, while they’re still abed, making sure I pull out all the stops on the waah, waah, waahwaahwaah part.  And when I say things like “open-mouthed” and “into their sleep-warmed cheeks” what I really mean is open-mouthed ON their cheeks.  So their cheeks get all…moist…from the open-mouthed waah, waah, waahing.

Once more.  Altogether!  Nice and loud!!  Waah, waah, waahwaahwaaaaaah.  It’s gettin up time!!!

See?  You’re awake now too.

*I don’t think it ever even OCCURRED to my kids that it was a remote POSSIBILITY that I might not come back to get them after I dropped them off at daycare…until they saw Hap’s big MTV music video on the topic.  Thanks, Hap.  Thanks for so, so many things.