Price: $18.37

Raffi is a kind of godfather of children’s music - not that he invented it, but he’s very much associated with its rise as a distinct genre in the 1970s, and he’s still putting out records (most recently in 2006). He’s better-known on the far side of the Atlantic where this record, released in 1976, remains a best-seller, but even so you’ll most likely recognise some of the songs. “Mr. Sun”, for instance, was used regularly in “Bosco” (a 70s/80s Irish kids tv show) in the part where they used to go through The Magic Door. “Brush your teeth” is, according to Isabelle, now used in Barney, and then there’s a few singalongs that everyone knows, like “Baa baa black sheep” and “Going to the zoo”.

It’s not hard to see the reasons for this guy’s enduring success. There’s none of the grating in-your-face cheerfuless you get in some kids music and TV, he just sings the songs straight up like some kind of friendly uncle. His voice is warm and rich, his band (in which Daniel Lanois plays mandolin) is capable without getting in the way and he totally doesn’t talk down to his audience. Even “Brush your teeth”, in which you might reasonably expect children to be hectored about not eating sweets, turns about to be a funny little rhyme based on the sound that the toothbrush makes in your mouth. I don’t know about your kids, but this approach is far more effective at encouraging mine to brush than my best technical explanation of cavity formation by acid-forming bacteria in the presence of sugars.

As well as being a really enjoyable listen, with some emotional depth amongst the fun like the poignant little “I wonder if I’m growing”, there’s some great jumping off points here for family singalongs. I spent this evening amusing everyone with my extra nonsense couplets for “Down by the bay” (like “Did you ever see some trees/Doing a sneeze?”), and “Willoughby Wallaby Woo” makes Isabelle completely crack up with laughter when you add teachers from her school to the song like this:

Willoughby Wallaby Woo, an elephant sat on you

Willoughby Wallaby Wee, an elephant sat on me

Willoughby Wallaby Wister Hoey, an elephant sat on Mister Hoey

Willoughby Wallaby Wiss Ryan, an elephant sat on Miss Ryan

Price: $13.61

When Mamma Mia came out in the cinema my mother suggested we take Isabelle to see it - beautiful dresses, catchy tunes, should be right up her street, says she. The first 5 minutes were pretty dreadful, but then the film turned out to be actually rather decent and the music … well, I hated Abba for years on account of them being kitsch icons, but as a child I loved them. “Fernando” was my first-ever favourite song, “ABBA Greatest Hits Vol. 2″ was the first record I ever owned, I was kinda fixated on Agnetha, and I even joined the Abba fan club (sadly I’ve lost the stuff they sent me, including a list of the favourite foods of each band member). And the film reminded me why I used to like them so much - each song is just bursting with melody, and it’s not just the choruses, pretty much every line of every verse is hugely singable, and a lot of the melodies are pretty sophisticated too.

Isabelle liked the film, but wasn’t really overwhelmed by it, I suspect the plot was probably a bit involved for a 3 year old. She mentioned the music now and again though, so at Christmas Niamh bought her this CD. It went on on Christmas morning and was an instant hit - for the next few days I had to fight if I wanted to listen to anything else, and this is the CD that finally displaced my friend Kieran’s band Delorentos as her favourite music ever. We’ve spent hours in the sitting room dancing to it and hours singing the songs in the car, with Niamh astounding everyone by knowing all the lyrics. Nowadays “Here Comes the 123s” rivals it on Isabelle’s favourites list, but it’s still one of the most-played CDs in the house.

Price: $13.61

A collection from EMI’s back catalogue, there’s some genuine children’s classics on this, like “Nellie the Elephant”, “The Hippopotamus Song” (”Mud, mud, glorious mud”) and, a contender for the title of my favourite song ever, “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”. The versions are the originals that you might have heard in your own childhood - or, at least, they’re the versions I’m familiar with from when I was a kid.

It’s a little old-fashioned - I can’t imagine kids these days are as interested in trains as they were when “The Runaway Train” was recorded, for example - and some of the tunes seem like they were originally novelty songs for adults like Rolf Harris’s “Jake the Peg” (about a three-legged man, complete with laughter track). Isabelle, of course, doesn’t care about such things -”The Railroad Runs Through the Middle of the House” is one of her favourites (I suspect because it’s bouncy and danceable and has handclaps), and she thinks “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back” is just hilarious: “hey Dad, my boooomerang won’t come back HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

It’s a little bit more sedate than some of the more modern kids stuff, so I guess this might best suit a not-so-extroverted kid or, maybe, a wild child whose engines you don’t want to rev too much.

The standout songs make the CD worth buying, even if you do end up skipping tracks here and there (like the dreadful “All Things Bright and Beautiful”). Heather absolutely loves being danced around the kitchen to “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” and on Saturday we found that “The Hippopotamus Song” is very handy to know when you’re visiting the Zoo.

Here’s the complete track listing, in case you’re looking for something in particular:

1. Nellie the Elephant
2. The Runaway Train
3. In the Middle of the House (”The railroad runs through the middle of the house …”)
4. My Grandfather’s Clock
5. The Owl and the Pussycat
6. Puffin’ Billy
7. All Things Bright and Beautiful
8. Robin Hood (yep, it’s “Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Riding through the glen, …”)
9. How Much is the Doggie in the Window (from Pinky and Perky, those puppet pigs with the squeaky voices)
10. I’ve Lost my Mummy (the Rolf Harris number with the kid wailing “I’VE LOST MY MUUUMMY”)
11. The Laughing Policeman
12. My Boomerang Won’t Come Back
13. You’re a Pink Toothbrush
14. I Taut I Taw a Putty-Tat
15. Teddy Bears’ Picnic
16. Ballad of Davy Crockett (”Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the wild frontier …”)
17. The Hippopotamus Song
18. Jake the Peg
19. Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellenbogen by the Sea
20. Wooddy Woodpecker
21. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (Pinky and Perky again)
22. The Ugly Duckling
23. I Know and Old Lady (who swallowed a fly)
24. The Bee Song
25. When I see an Elephant Fly