There’s a terrific album for kids called Beethoven’s Wig: Sing Along Symphonies by Richard Perlmutter that adds funny lyrics to Beethoven’s Fifth, Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, and Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Please Don’t Play Your Violin at Night), among others. My kids love it. The first half of the CD has the lyrics, the second half is played straight.
A sampling (not the full lyrics, for copyright purposes):
Beethoven’s Wig
Beethoven’s Wig is very big
Beethoven’s wig is long and curly and it’s white
Beethoven takes his wig off when he sleeps at night
Because it’s big
It’s very big
Beethoven’s wig is big
It’s really big
Beethoven’s wig is heavy when he takes a walk
His wig is even bigger than the wig of Bach
It is tremendous it is stupendous
It is gigantic and titanic
Monumental and colossal
And enormous and humongous
Cause it’s big it’s really big
It’s very big it’s mighty big Beethoven’s Wig
It’s oh so wide you’ll need a guide
To see each side it’s really big
It’s grandiose don’t get too close you’ll overdose
Because it’s big. Big!
Beethoven’s Wig is big!
Please Don’t Play Your Violin at Night is my favorite though. It’s a dialogue between Mozart and his wife:
Constanze: Please don’t play your violin at night
Wolfgang go to bed, turn out the light
Wolfgang: But I must play my violin
At night my violin
Must be beneath my chin
I love the music of the night
I won’t turn out the light
Oh I love music in the night
Constanze: But the music so late at night
Makes it quite hard to go to asleep, asleep
Wolfgang: But the music that I play at night is light
Maybe you should try counting sheep
Try counting sheep it will help you sleep
Constanze: Sheep will never help me sleep
Wolfgang: You should try counting sheep
Constanze: No sheep won’t help me sleep
Constanze: Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep,
Wolfgang: Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep
Constanze: Sheep won’t help me sleep
Won’t help me sleep
Wolfgang: Try counting sheep!
It’s insidious and hilarious.
