You're the one (Rubber Duckie)
Why some songs capture our ears and our hearts
I don’t know about you, but I have random bits of music living in my head that I first heard when I was a kid.
Some of them are jingles, something of which my daughter, generation Z person that she is, barely has any knowledge at all because she’s only seen television advertisements when we’ve stayed in hotels.
For the uninitiated, a jingle is a short tune used for advertising. As a kid I heard them over and over again, along with the theme songs from all the television shows my brother and I watched as reruns in the afternoons after school.
Ask us to hum the themes from Star Trek, M.A.S.H, and the like and we will not disappoint.
The point of theme songs and jingles is that they’re meant to be remembered. They’re catchy, with melodic hooks that grab you and lyrics that are easy to remember. And they’re also short, because there is something very satisfying about being able to remember and sing the whole thing.
It’s no surprise that songs for kids are the same. While they might have an additional educational component ( just think of ‘now I know my ABC, next time won’t you sing with me’), they’re otherwise very similar, both in terms of how they’re constructed and the effect they have on us.
And so on to a song that popped into my head recently. As soon as I found myself singing the first few notes, I found the video of it and watched it with my daughter.
Sung by Ernie, half of the famed duo Ernie and Bert—or is it Bert and Ernie?—from the innovative American children’s television show Sesame Street, it’s about a beloved plastic yellow duck, but, really, there’s so much more to it.
It’s a fun bath-time song, one that has continued to be an essential part of the Sesame Street repertoire since the original version first aired on the show in 1970. It was so popular it was also released as a single, climbing up the mainstream charts and ending up nominated for a Children’s Grammy award.
And let’s not forget the charismatic performers, Ernie and, of course, his squeaky duck. Ernie sings to the duck, they chat, they soap up, and it’s utterly believable when you’re four-years old.
Even though it’s been a long time since we were that age, we want to believe it, too. Because when it comes to songs for kids, they usually work on two levels, one for kids and one for adults, and that’s what makes this song so powerful.
It’s about friendship, comfort, the routine of bath-time that is time out from the rest of the world, and the security we find in familiar and much-loved objects.
It resonates with us, evoking a nostalgia for when we were all kids, playing in the bath.
Rubber Duckie, I’m awfully fond of you 🦆
🎵Thank you for reading Discovering Music!
I’m taking a break for a couple of weeks, so see you again in late October for more about the world of music 🎵