#6: Parry Gripp Songs

44 Things That Spark Joy a.k.a. Sh*t That Makes Me Happy:

#6: Parry Gripp Songs

I decided in my 44th year and in light of the fact that we are all (still) looking for things to spark joy in our lives to gather 44 things I’ve found along the way this past year and share them.

Anyone who is a parents knows that there are so many PAINFUL “kid songs” to listen to out there. The same is true for you aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, generous friends that watch their friends kids or really anyone that is within ear shot of music. This goes hand in hand with kid movies and cartoons, YouTube videos, bad children's books that you have been asked to read over and over and the list goes on. My husband and I both suffered through some bad music classes with the kids when they were toddlers. There was even a road trip to Oregon when Larry was a toddler whereupon he demanded that we play the same 2 songs from a kids music class on repeat to the point where I think we both had PTSD by the end of the trip and can no longer listen to that CD ever again.

A few years ago when we visited my sister Nancy, they introduced us to a little song called “It’s Raining Tacos.” It was catchy and entertaining. The kids loved it and I didn’t hate it. Fast forward a few years later, adding two Alexa devices and Amazon music to our household - and we discovered that there were more songs by this artist. Each one more catchy than the next. Who was this artist?

Come to find out it was Parry Gripp and he had many more great songs under his belt. If you don’t know him, he is an American singer-songwriter and an Emmy Award winner. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist for a pop punk band called Nerf Herder and has written many songs for Disney and other children’s shows. Well that explained it. If he was good enough for Disney, then he was definitely good enough for us!

While he has many great songs I could list, our current favorites are “Space Unicorn,” “Oh Potato Dog” (which is clearly about a Pug so that makes us instant fans), “Pancake Robot” and “Tortoise Playing Minecraft.” I find them all entertaining. The great thing is that they are clean when it comes to the lyrics – so we don’t have to worry about the kids picking something bad up and boy do they make for an awesome dance party!

So the next time you want to listen to something that will put a smile on your face and not cause you to worry about having to back pedal later because your kid say something inappropriate that they picked up… find a Parry Gripp song. I guarantee it’ll spark joy! (And thanks Nancy! We hope "It's Raining Tacos" at your house tonight!)