The Jimmies

by Jennifer Cooper, posted on April 27th, 2010 in Ideas and Inspiration

My first grader came home from school singing:

She wears short skirts, I wear teeshirts.
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.
You belonnnng with meeeeee.

This troubled me. This troubled me a lot.

Now kids singing songs that are laden with more mature themes is nothing new. My husband recalls belting out such classic hits as, Cold as Ice and 867‒5309/Jenny, as a young kid. I myself, have the vivid memory of being in the produce section of a grocery store with my mom, staring up into the slanted mirror above the lettuce, and giving Ebony and Ivory my best shot.

Now I suppose I understand why, given the choice between the kiddie music of the day and letting the kids listen to a song about phone numbers found on bathroom stalls, Tommy Tutone won.

But that was then. This is now. Now we have the Jimmies.

The Jimmies make music that you’ll enjoy listening to no matter what your age. But it’s especially lovely for young impressionable minds (ahem! I’m looking at you school bus driver!). And it’s great music for a family dance party. Now, don’t pretend you don’t have family dance parties. It’s totally okay, you’re among friends here.

In addition to their CD, the Jimmies have created a DVD of videos that are refreshingly clever, exciting and wickedly imaginative. I’m not ashamed to admit they make me want to jump right into the screen.

And who’s that leading the Jimmies? Why it’s Ashley, the band’s singer/songwriter. She’s as creative, as she is smart and a heap of fun. Ashley is joined by a talented band of guys in ties. Together, they make kid-friendly music that’s enjoyable for everyone.

Now I’m not guaranteeing that by listening to the Jimmies you’ll avoid questions from your seven year old like, “Mommy, why does her boyfriend like girls in short skirts?” But it’s worth a shot right?

Now onto other big news (in addition to me introducing you to one of my new favorite bands):

It’s time for a GIVEAWAY…GIVEaway…giveaway…

The Jimmies are giving away signed copies of their CD to two lucky Classic Play readers. That’s right! All you have to do to be entered to win is tell us your favorite childhood music memory—whether it was your dad introducing you to AC/DC, your mom leaping across the room to turn off the radio as soon as the first few beats of Like A Virgin played, or if you watched Free to Be You and Me a few hundred times.

Comment below. Two winners will be chosen at random on Thursday, April 29.

PS Midwestern readers – you can see the Jimmies live on stage! They’ll be performing at Jiggle Jam in Kansas City on Sat May 29th from 2:00 – 3:00 pm.

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29 Responses to “The Jimmies”

Cheryl Says:
April 27th, 2010 at 8:05 pm

I remember being young and putting my parents’ Harry Belafonte record (YES! I said RECORD) on and listening to it over and over again..then, in eighth grade it was all Beatles, all the time – until I found the Doors. We were totally old school at my house.

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Portland Dad Says:
April 27th, 2010 at 8:27 pm

I remember getting my first record that I picked out. It was Rick Springfield’s Jesse’s Girl. I recently got a record player again and am now in search of that record again.

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Cindy H Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 12:00 am

Nice – love the video. We too have had the coming-home-from-school-singing-that-song experience. That EXACT song, in fact! What is up with that?

I hate to tell you that my first song of memory was “Downtown” by Petula Clark… I marched around the kitchen singing it, and I was still shorter than our kitchen counter (which was white formica because it was the 60s)!

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Jennifer Cooper Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 12:05 am
I LOVE that song!

And as far as the Taylor Swift thing goes, sigh. I don’t know. I guess it’s just everywhere?

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Aliza Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 1:51 am

Going to an Andy Gibb concert with my dad and sister when I was in elementary school. There. I said it.

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Kirsten Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 2:49 am

Free to be You & Me? Memorized. Readers Digest 50s BeBop compilations? Memorized. Things were not so cool at my house. But I have to say I remember playing my cassette of Prince’s Purple Rain and *SO* not getting it. :) I was a nerd.

Anyway. I want to know where Random is, so I can be at it on April 29. (ba dum dum.)

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Kirsten Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 2:50 am

oh, and Taylor Swift. Hate that song. Hate explaining it, hate hearing it, hate that it feels cool to sing it even IF you don’t get the words. Maybe hate is too strong. Can I just go for COMPLETELY SICK TO DEATH OF IT?

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Stephanie Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:00 am

There’s an Al Green song on my ipod that my daughter started telling me is ‘the wrong potty song’ whenever it comes on. The same song… I don’t see the connection, so weird but it did start me thinking about paying more attention to what’s on the playlist.

I don’t remember my parents doing much censoring but my husband is ALWAYS telling me about how his mother wouldn’t let them listen to Let’s Get Physical. One of his best stories.

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Jennifer Cooper Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:33 am

K – I thought of you when I wrote the Free to Be You and Me bit. ;)

Stephanie – I’d love to hear that story one day!

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Jennifer Cooper Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:36 am

Oh and Kirsten, for the looooongest time I thought the lyrics were “Leave the rent Colette.” So um, yeah, clearly I didn’t get Purple Rain either.

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sara Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 12:04 pm

I remember listening to barbara streisand with my Mom, oh to be young again!

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Laura Bergstrom Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 12:13 pm

My favorite childhood music memory…I LOVED the Captain & Tenille growing up. Had the albums, yes LP’s, and listened over and over again to them. Most exciting part was when my mom took me to see them in concert, my first one. We were somewhere in the beginning 20 rows. It was awesome. At the end of the show, I didn’t stop clapping until after everyone else did.

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Gretchen Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

My best friend had the album of Annie and we would have our Honey Hill Bunch dolls act out the musical.
Later, we added Grease to their repetoire.

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Angie Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Definitely Free to Be You and Me … ahhhh, Atalanta!
Then in the later years:
#1 Michael Jackson
#2 Culture Club
#3 Madonna

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Allison Croce Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:23 pm

I remember my brother and I playing the song ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ on the record player and acting out the song. “I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar…when I met you…”

Fun memories!

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Robin Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:36 pm

My favorite childhood music memory was watching the Monkey’s TV show. When I hear that music it takes me back to that carefree, crazy, fun feeling of childhood. My 4 year old even likes to listen to them now!

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Jennifer Cooper Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Robin, The Monkees were the best! Ahhh, those were the good days of MTV fun. Those episodes and then Batman.

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Jen Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

Ok, all of your musical memories are nice, and I mean, they are reallly nice. I have two, one of which is nice, and one of which I question to this day. My best childhood memory of my mom was riding in her orange Datsun B-210, with 260 air conditioning in the heart of Florida in the summer. She’d have the AM radio on and would always crank it loud so we could sing along with Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys. To this day, that’s the only Beach Boys song I can stand.

My second? I was rewarded for my good behavior with my very own copy of Kiss’ Double Platinum, to which my two-year-old brother learned to dance. Awesome, am I right?

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Emily Flippin Maruna Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 9:09 pm

Rollerskating in my basement to Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff and ABBA’s Dancing Queen. I was probably 4 or 5. Oh yeah!

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SarahJean Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 9:10 pm

I have two favorite musical memories!

The first one is my very first concert, a fairly local Duo “Gemini,” where I got to “buy” the concert Record and get it signed! I was 5!

The other is when I was 7 and my family was at Red Lobster waiting for our food. My younger sisters (5 and 3) and I were coloring on our placemats when a the song changed to “Smooth Operator,” my 3 year old sister stood up in the booth and held her spoon like a microphone singing, “Spoooon Operator!”

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Michelle S Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 9:20 pm

Musical memories as a kid:
“It ain’t Easy Being Green”
“Rainbow Connection”
as a pre-teenand teen:
easily Duran Duran, and thanks to MTV – everything from U2 to Metallica

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Heather Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 11:43 pm

My first childhood memory of a “grown-up song” was Material Girl by Madonna. I was so clueless that I’m not sure if I even knew who Madonna was. Me and two other girls were supposed to pick a song to lip sync for school. I suggested some ABC song that we learned in music class. They suggested Material Girl by Madonna. So funny to remember that now…I had completely forgotten about it. I can just imagine what those other girls were thinking when I suggested the ABC song.

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Sarah Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 1:37 am

Ok, I must be super young, because really, what IS Free to be You and Me???? Really, I have no clue!

My fondest music memory was obtaining my own copy of the Glen Maderis cassette single “Always”, listening to it repeatedly, daily, for a good year or so, and recording myself singing it on my little tape recorder over and over and over and over… Oh, and then of course making my whole family (including my aunt and cousins – that is when we kids used to ride in the back end of station wagons, so there were like 9 of us in the car) listen to it over and over and over and over, on our way to my dad’s hunting camp one weekend, 3 hrs away. I can still hear that song in my head. Glen’s version AND my version. Good times!

I did this very same thing with La Isla Bonita a year or two later.

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Sarah Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 1:38 am

“Girl you are to me, ALLL that a woman should be, and I dedicate my love to you, for Aaallllllllllways….” Great, now it’s in my head.

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Jennifer Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 9:08 am

My favorite musical memories are from the summers I spent at my grandparent’s. At least once each summer, on a rainy day, my Grandfather would get out his old 78′s and me and my brother would dance around the room to songs like “Peter Cottontail” and “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake”. My grandfather was known to be a very stern man so it was those moments of him being silly right along with us that I cherish the most.

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Ann Williams Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 6:07 pm

My fondest memory is listening to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellowbrick Road 8-Track for the first time in my uncle’s green pontiac! I just fell in love with Elton John’s music. I even had a pinball wizard iron on t-shirt. I wish I still had that t-shirt for my son’s to wear.

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Char Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 7:58 pm

My older sister and I walked around constantly singing the Captain and Tenille song, “Love will keep us together”. Boy, am I aging myself??

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Erin Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

Laying on the living room carpet, big 70′s floral furniture all around, and listening to an 8-track (8-track!!!) tape of Judy Collins singing “Both Sides Now” while wearing headphones 3 times bigger than my own head. Those headphones would take me to a whole other world. I miss that!!

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Jennifer Cooper Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 8:22 pm

This was fun! Thanks everyone for playing along.

Sadly, the giveaway is now closed. I hope you won!

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