Rock Island Line

I have always sung songs to Parker, and I think he's always enjoyed it. As he's gotten older, he's gotten familiar with my repetoire, and will often request this song or that. And because he can be an extremely single-minded young man, he will often request the same song over and over again, which can be trying for the one doing the singing. Recently during a particularly bad obsession with Little White Duck, I remembered iTunes, bought five copies of the song, burned a CD, and put it on repeat. Best five bucks I ever spent.

So after I added Rock Island Line to the repetoire several days ago, and Parker started requesting it with alarming frequency, I knew exactly what to do. A judicious search yielded ten versions worth the price of admission, performed by the following artists:

• Golden Gate Quartet
  
• Dan Zanes & Rocket Ship Revue
  
• Leadbelly
  
• The Muses
  
• Carl Perkins
  
• Odetta
  
• The Sundowners
  
• The Knitters
  
• Johnny Cash
  
• Dave Tyack With Richard Tomlinson and Naomi Hart

I created this CD while he was out with his mother, and when he got home I pressed play just as the words wock eye lie were leaving his lips. He was mesmerized for the entire first track, staring at the stereo like it was magic. He listened to the rest over lunch, and if I do say so myself, it's a very good mix.