Induction

The way I play guitar, my son is either gonna love the Rolling Stones or haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate them. I can play a few other songs from other bands (White Stripes and Weezer are up there... Even some Electric 6), but without question the band catalog I play with the most frequency is the band I can't seem to stop talking about and isn't it completely obvious by now, I mean their name is in the freaking title of this blog I don't have to tell you.

Most times it's been just me, Henry, and my acoustic guitar. So far the pop-rock song that is his favorite (and I use the term loosely, considering we're talking about a young child who's other "favorite" things include being changed out of pee diapers and lights) is Nirvana's "Come As You Are," but when I'm not warbling a softer version of the Cobain voice, I fall back on the Rolling Stones. In these short 12 weeks of the boy's life, he's had a variety of reactions to my performances, so here now are those reactions:

"Dead Flowers" Very good. Maybe it's the peppy beat or the way I sing it or I don't know what, but it's been the song to yield the most consistent positive responses, which recently have manifested into actual grins, not just things we hope are grins.

"Gimme Shelter" F. Not having it. It seems too intricate for both his young brain and my crappy skills to handle and make great.

"Till The Next Time We Say Goodbye" OK as long as I sing it like a lullaby, sort of.

Brown Sugar (a capella) So-so. It's not great, but when I get the guitar down I think it'll get a little better reaction.

"Sympathy For the Devil" Less than OK. It's not out and out bad, but it's not one where I'm anticipating many requests.

"Tumbling Dice" Great. Who knew that a song about unfulfilling sexual conquests in a gambling context would draw grins from the intro alone.

Truth be told -- and this goes for all these songs -- I don't play "Dice" just like the original version. I'll change lyrics (like in "Dead Flowers" I'm not gonna sing "I won't forget to put roses on your grave." I change it to something like "I won't forget to put roses out for the brave." True, the final refrain of this exact line is kind of awkward, but my audience can't even hold his own head up, so I hear few complaints. What I've learned best, however, is how certain genres of music begin, particularly the one where popular rock songs are turned into lullabies, making for sacrilegious "baby safe" versions of songs far too mature for infant ears (these were intended for head-banging teenagers, after all).

But now I get it. It's not that somebody wanted to go out and "butcher" a bunch of Metallica songs by making them wussy. It's that they love singing to their kids and they also love Metallica. So why not?