Pete Seeger
recorded a number of
children
's albums in his early solo career, some of which suffered from overt cuteness or too-elementary presentation. Perhaps this was consciously aimed at somewhat older kids, but those problems aren't a factor on this straightforward collection. The instrumentation (just
Seeger
and banjo) and recording (sometimes live, and often with spoken intros and outros) is basic, but the performances are respectfully enthusiastic and the selection of material diverse. Some of the songs are kiddie record staples (
"Skip to My Lou"
),
"On Top of Old Smokey"
and
"Goodnight Irene,"
of course, were big numbers in
's
Weavers
days,
"Dayenu"
is a
Jewish
religious number known to virtually everyone in that faith, and
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
"John Henry"
are
traditional
tunes hardly limited to
's music sets. The brief song satirizing a
"Pepsi-Cola"
jingle doesn't have currency now that the commercial is long in the past, though. ~ Richie Unterberger