# Songs about kids growing up {Turn Around} **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338 "2011-11-09T00:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/21 "2011-11-09T18:17:14Z")
[How You’ve Grown](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AejaNIOYcNs&feature=related) - 10,000 Maniacs. A bit melancholy, but pretty and wistful. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/22 "2011-11-09T18:23:04Z")
Sugar Mountain by Neil Young ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/23 "2011-11-09T18:25:44Z")
“Child’s Song” by Tom Rush ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/24 "2011-11-09T21:18:20Z")
“Hailie’s Song” by Eminem ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/25 "2011-11-09T21:52:08Z")
If you can find “A Long Time Ago” by Golden Smog (written and sung by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco) it might fit the bill. It’s a love letter from an older brother to a sister. Here’s a snip of [the lyrics](http://www.metrolyrics.com/long-time-ago-lyrics-golden-smog.html): \*I remember when mom and dad named you Claire Before you were born, before you had hair You don’t remember but I was there I remember when you broke your arm I know how you tell it You get it all wrong I loved you then and from now on That was a long time ago That was a long time ago\* ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/26 "2011-11-09T21:53:31Z")
also “I Knew This Place” by David Mallett ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/27 "2011-11-11T02:35:12Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > No link? Ah, yes, that might have helped.:smack: Allow me to repost the relevant bit with link: “…song from [this Whoopi Goldbert/Carol Burnett](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3BQbk3tYG0) sketch would work.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/28 "2011-11-11T02:42:37Z")
“A Boy Named Sue” by Shel Silverstein/Johnny Cash. Kind of a sentimental coming of age story. (“My name is Sue! How do you do! Now you gonna die!”) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/29 "2011-11-11T02:50:58Z")
Weird. All parent/child songs I know are are sad, maudlin creations. I can’t think of any cheerful “I love you kid/parent” songs at all! ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/30 "2011-11-11T03:17:57Z")
It’s not quite about kids growing up, but Daddy’s Little Girl is a parent/child song. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/31 "2011-11-11T03:18:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Weird. All parent/child songs I know are are sad, maudlin creations. Well, as my mother used to say (especially when trying to make me feel guilty for her loneliness), “The mother and child bond is at once the strongest on Earth and yet it’s the only one whose entire goal is separation. It’s engineered by the creator to be painful.” When used as a recitative reading, incidentally, the response to this is “I’ll move some things around and come home this weekend.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/32 "2011-11-11T03:26:32Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Well, as my mother used to say (especially when trying to make me feel guilty for her loneliness), “The mother and child bond is at once the strongest on Earth and yet it’s the only one whose entire goal is separation. It’s engineered by the creator to be painful.” > > When used as a recitative reading, incidentally, the response to this is “I’ll move some things around and come home this weekend.” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/33 "2011-11-12T05:04:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Weird. All parent/child songs I know are are sad, maudlin creations. > > I can’t think of any cheerful “I love you kid/parent” songs at all! [http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/The+Marvellous+Toy/2WxbAK?src=5](http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/s/The+Marvellous+Toy/2WxbAK?src=5) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/34 "2011-11-12T05:31:07Z")
Here’s an oddball choice: [Everybody’s Free To Wear Sunscreen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI). Less of a song than advice set to music. Damned good advice! And get off my lawn! ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/35 "2011-11-12T06:03:58Z")
Another oddball choice:[“End of the Rainbow”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTZWXrVWtvg) by Richard Thompson. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/36 "2011-11-12T07:12:21Z")
[Hoodoo Voodoo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn1IjjvA9fI)? Words by Woody Guthrie, music written and performed by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Lyrics [here](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Hoodoo_Voodoo.htm). It’s essentially a song that Guthrie wrote for his kids, using some nonsense words, and just they way that they all interacted with each other. It’s actually a very good song. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338/37 "2011-11-12T08:21:30Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Well, as my mother used to say (especially when trying to make me feel guilty for her loneliness), “The mother and child bond is at once the strongest on Earth and yet it’s the only one whose entire goal is separation. It’s engineered by the creator to be painful.” > > When used as a recitative reading, incidentally, the response to this is “I’ll move some things around and come home this weekend.” Makes perfect sense to me. Jewish and Catholic mothers get more credit for it, but Southern mamas are pretty damned adept at guilt. (Says the child who grew up hearing “I’m sure your father would have handled this better…” during everything from first crush crises to menarche. And my mom wasn’t even all that crazy.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-kids-growing-up-turn-around/602338.md?page=1)