Shows
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPeter Alsop's "Ebenezer's Make Over"Have you ever laughed, cried or sung-along with one of my songs? If so, I’m guessing you’ll like this full length feature video of my new play-concert “Ebenezer’s Make Over”!It’s about a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three spirits in the night. They shake him awake with passionate and humorous songs written by Holly Near, Geof Morgan, Charlie Murphy, myself and other cultural workers from the feminist men’s and women’s movements. Scrooge learns what will happen to him and the rest of us if we don’t change our sexis...
2025-07-151h 22
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWYecch! Today's 'Song To Chew' is YECCH! from my “Wha'D'Ya Wanna Do?" album. I play this song at almost every family concert because almost veryone loves screaming "Yecch!" at the top of their lungs! It's a 'scream-along' so you can join in with us! It's full of make-believe and playfulness, and it's an example of how story and oral tradition grab our attention and engage us. There is an air of danger when we face unknown monsters. When adults laugh with kids at "yecchy" stuff, kids recognize a kindred spirit. They know I'm not going to be a 'judgmental' adult if I'm wil...
2023-09-3006 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLet’s Face It! Today's 'Song To Chew' is LET'S FACE IT! from my “In The Hospital" album. It addresses facial disfigurement, and all the unsettling emotions that we go through when we feel that we're different than others around us. It's difficult emotionally, whether we're an adult or a child, to figure out how we're going to behave when others stare at us and feel uncomfortable. We have to cope with our own feelings of being left out and rejected. Maintaining a healthy, positive self-image is a lifelong process for all of us. Children born with physical "differences", or who become physically "differe...
2023-09-2208 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWInspection Today's 'Song To Chew' is INSPECTION. I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the pediatric nurses who helped us make our “In The Hospital"album. My buddy Bill Harley and I 'rap' this one. Our personal privacy is challenged regularly in a hospital by doctors, nurses and assistants who want to make sure we're okay. They even wake us up at night to make sure we're sleeping soundly! Today's kids are taught that it's their body and they can say "No!", but this all changes in the hospital. We can feel trapped, helpless, and angry as stranger after stranger in...
2023-09-1506 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWJuice Today's 'Song To Chew' is JUICE, from my “Stayin Over" album. It's an uncomplicated song, about the complicated concepts of 'love' and 'energy'. When we feel we’re not loved, we feel empty, and we search for any kind of 'juice' to fill us up, like booze, sex, drugs, money, food or approval from others. But when we’re actually filled up with 'love', we don't have to go on that search. We can pass on that love and energy we have to others. We learn to love others from being loved. Children act morally when they understand feelings, it's not just a...
2023-09-0806 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWStayin’ Over Today we'll 'Chew' on the title song from my STAYIN' OVER album. Do you remember the first night you went to 'stay over' at a friend's house? Maybe it was a camping trip with other families. These adventures are loaded with memories and lessons we learned from our social interactions with others. It's a big step in independence for most kids. When we do it, we face separation from our own bed, blanket, our teddy bear, and from our parents. Some kids are nervous about wetting our bed, or getting teased because we're afraid of the dark. It's important to let kid...
2023-09-0108 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWiggle Today's 'Song To Chew' is WIGGLE. It's a song about freedom! We all “wiggle” when someone won’t let us do what we want to do. 'Being alive!" means that in one form or another, we just need to "wiggle"! Some of us wiggle emotionally because we don't want to be 'pinned down'. Some wiggle physically because we'll jump out of our skin if we can't get down and run around and chase the kitty cat! And some of us do "ethical wiggling". Politicians do it; business people, religious people too! Legislatures make laws to eliminate as much 'wiggle-room' as they can, beca...
2023-08-2506 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWThe PrizeToday's 'Song To Chew' is THE PRIZE from my “Did You Walk?" album. It's song lyrics without any music, so actually, it's a poem. We're constantly being taught that it's important to 'come in first', to 'win the game', to 'win the race!' Some of us do it to get approval from others. Some think we have to do it so we can become financially independent and better able to care for ourselves and our loved ones. To have a kinder, more sustainable way of surviving on earth, we need to learn how to be inter-dependent with one another...
2023-08-1805 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSandwiches Today's 'Song To Chew', SANDWICHES, was written by Bob King. One of the subjects that kids love to sing about is food!! We'll 'chew on' ideas about kids and food and the interconnectedness of all the human things we do in our lives. There's 'enjoyment' and 'sharing'. There's 'mooching', which is trying to get something that someone else has, but not wanting to 'share' what we have. 'Mooching' is like a 'one way street' where everything on the road is coming in our direction, and real 'sharing' is like a two-way street where traffic goes in both directions. We find 'ang...
2023-08-1107 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWNeedle-ee, Noodle-ee Today's 'Song To Chew' is NEEDLE-EE NOODLE-EE. I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the two pediatric nurses who initiated our "In The Hospital" album! "Pokes" or "shots" are probably the number one fear children have about being in the hospital. Few children escape this experience, whether as an injection, an IV start, or a blood test. It may be impossible for a child to understand why they're being hurt when we're supposed to be making them better, but it's important for them to know that they're not being punished, and that it will help them get better. Be hone...
2023-08-0408 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWMy Dad’s A Jungle Gym Our Song To Chew today is MY DAD'S A JUNGLE GYM from my “Uh-Oh!" album. I used to carry my daughters around on my shoulders, or under my arms when they were little. Sometimes they'd get tired on a walk, and I'd carry them on my back. Eventually they'd wiggle free, hop down and run around again. Dads are generally less 'risk-adverse' than Moms, which means that we let our kids take more risks than Moms do. I'd let them stand on the roof of my van and hold out my arms and say, "Okay! Jump!", ... and they'd jump! I always cau...
2023-07-2806 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWMy Body Runs Today's 'Song To Chew' is MY BODY RUNS, from my “Did You Walk?" album. I wrote this song at the request of two women who were marketing their Digi-Walker Pedometer, a small device for one's belt or pocket that counts the steps we take to be sure we get enough exercise every day. Kids have lots of questions about their own bodies and how they seem to work sort of automatically. "My body runs, my body goes! I don’t know how, but my body knows!" We really don't have much control over making our heart beat or digesting our food. ...
2023-07-2108 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWha’d’ya Wanna Do? Today's 'Song To Chew', WHA'D'YA WANNA DO?, is about 'wanting to have fun with a buddy'. As I listen to the lyrics more than 40 years after I wrote them, they're about being joyous. That's mostly what kids wanna do, 'find support as we go through our lives joyously'. Support makes it less scary to take risks, so when we take a risk, even if it doesn't work out, we learn that we can overcome obstacles and eventually become stronger and more confident. This song isn't as philosophically 'deep' as some of my other songs, but with this heavy old world...
2023-07-1407 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWThat’s My Thang This week's 'Song To Chew' is THAT'S MY THANG! We get a "fire in our belly" about something that involves all our attention, often to the exclusion of everything else around us. Our 'thang' is something we want to achieve, or simply a task we want to complete. Our 'thang' isn't really 'work' because we enjoy doing it. Many of us love the work we do. Artists often work for little or no money because it's an expression of ourselves. It feels good to do our "thang" and if we can get paid for it, that's great! Living in a capita...
2023-07-0708 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWCovers On Our Hearts Today we'll "chew on" the song, COVERS ON OUR HEARTS from our musical play "Pie In The Sky". It takes place in a small town with a big nuclear reactor. The kids in town want to get rid of it because there are so many health problems, but the grown-ups are slow to respond. It's based on the Pied Piper fable, about a magical piper who's hired to rid the town of rats. He leads them all out of town by playing his magical flute, (in my case, a drum!). But when the townspeople refuse to pay him, he leads al...
2023-06-3013 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWhile I’m Sleeping Our 'Song To Chew' today is WHILE I'M SLEEPING, written with Diane Gates. She and Penny Pefley are pediatric nurses from Seattle Children's Hospital who encouraged me to write and record our 'In The Hospital' album. I got my buddy Bill Harley to join us, and we won Parent's Choice 'Best Album'! This song addresses difficulties we face with going to sleep, particularly when we're in a hospital. We have fears about not being conscious or in control when we're asleep, and our strange surroundings and fears about our health compound these problems. What if we don't wake up? If a chi...
2023-06-2307 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWUnder The Rainbow Our 'Song To Chew' today is UNDER THE RAINBOW. Some might call it a 'woke' song, because it's full of hope. There are some very mystifying things in this world. I haven't got a clue about how they happen, so I don't rule out prayer, magic, supernatural religions, being "woke" or anything else that might help us all survive together! I know that 'when someone holds a belief, we can't get them to change that belief by offering facts.' Science and logic don't have much influence in the 'Land of Beliefs'. Unfortunately, in the 'Land of Science and Logic', t...
2023-06-1607 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWNever Speak With Your Mouth FullToday's 'Song To Chew' is NEVER SPEAK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL! It seems like a 'fun little song', but it opens doors to deeper topics like, 'Where do our rules come from?' and 'How do they become laws?' Kids deal with 'grown-up rules' all the time. We teach children rules, so they'll learn to be socially responsible adults; people who care about other people. Adults who sing this song with their kids send the message, “We can play and be silly, and still be caring and polite to each other at the same time!" I think that’s a wiser...
2023-06-0908 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWI’m A Little Cookie Our 'Song To Chew' today is I'M A LITTLE COOKIE, written by Larry Penn. It reframes the concept of 'having a disability' for kids and grown-ups. When a traumatic event happens, and something in us changes or 'breaks', we can feel like we're 'un-whole'! It's true that as we change and grow and learn, difficult things do happen to us, but we're still fully human no matter what! We may be 'different', but when changes happen, we adjust, and work to rebalance ourselves. No matter what color or flavor we are, we each experience the human feelings of happy, sad, sc...
2023-06-0207 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPeaceful FeetOur SONG TO CHEW this week is PEACEFUL FEET, from my 'Grow It At Home' album. I wrote it as part of a challenge sent out from Rounder Kids Records asking some of the best artists in children's and family music to create a one-minute song for an album called "HEAR AND GONE IN 60 SECONDS" It included my friends Bill Harley, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Justin Roberts, Kim and Reggie Harris, Tom Paxton, Beethoven's Wig, Dan Crow, Dave Kinnoin, Parachute Express and Joanie Bartels, just to name a few! I wrote a song that was silly, but also had la...
2023-05-2604 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWGnarly Dude This week's 'Song To Chew' is GNARLY DUDE. 'Gnarly' means 'twisted and knobby', but it's also slang for 'something unpleasant or unattractive', or for the opposite, 'something excellent or very good'. To be a 'gnarly dude', we have to figure out how to be tough and cool at the same time! Sounds challenging! One of the unwritten lessons we learn in school is that we need to study the subject and the teacher in order to get good grades. By the time we go to school, most of us have mastered how to get what we want from our parent...
2023-05-1907 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWHome Where The Heart Is This week's Song To Chew, 'HOME WHERE THE HEART IS', opens the musical stage play I wrote with Ellen Geer, “Pie In The Sky", which ran as part of our 1987 theater season at the Theatricum Botanicum. It takes place in a small American town that has its own nuclear reactor. The kids of the town want to get rid of it because it's creating health problems, but the grown-ups are slow to respond. It's based on the fable of the Pied Piper who rid Hamlin Town of it's plague of rats by playing his magical flute. When the townspeople refuse...
2023-05-1208 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSamit And The DragonMy SAMIT AND THE DRAGON song comes from our “In The Hospital" album, recorded with my buddy Bill Harley and the two pediatric nurses from Seattle Children's Hospital who instigated the whole project, Diane Gates and Penny Pefley. We won the Best Children's Album of the Year Award from the National Assn of Independent Record Distributors in 1983! Doctors and nurses in pediatric hospitals still use it to help kids and families. It was new back then, but today, many traditional medical professionals use visualization techniques to help patients support their own internal healing processes. It helps them relax and become...
2023-05-0510 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWAsk Away This week's SONG TO CHEW is ASK AWAY from my “Grow It At Home" album! The concept is simple! 'Ask others for help', but that can be difficult for some of us. We don't want to impose or look weak or confused. Some think it's gender-linked to men, as many men would rather drive around lost for hours instead of asking for directions, but we know this affects everyone. When we ask for clear information, we often get big words or acronyms that we've never heard before! And when we're stressed or nervous, it's easy to get facts mixed-up, right? Cle...
2023-03-3108 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWUs Kids Brush Our TeethOur SONG TO CHEW this week is US KIDS BRUSH OUR TEETH from my 'Stayin' Over' album. A four-year-old doesn't brush their teeth just to get them clean! That's what adults do! Kids have a completely different agenda! If we get upset with our kids for "not acting like adults", we miss the delight and playfulness of how our children brush their teeth. It's called "appreciating diversity!" They'll be adults soon enough. Through them, we have an opportunity to see the world with new eyes. Most parents forget the 'kid toothbrushing ritual', as soon as we pass into our teenage...
2023-03-2408 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWIrish Seatbelt Jig - Apple Juice - MeMeMe - Spin AroundOur SONG TO CHEW this week, is a 'batch of songs'. We'll listen to the IRISH SEATBELT JIG, APPLE JUICE, ME-ME-ME, and SPIN AROUND. We'll 'chew on' how impactful these repetitive little children's songs can be! This kind of song gets into our heads, like some of the commercial jingles and 'ear worms' we find ourselves humming or singing to ourselves, word-for-word, years later! Unnoticed by us, these simple jingles and musical memes pass on our cultural messages too! Some messages are healthy for us, like my seatbelt song. It's a safety message. But other messages are 'not-so-wonderful', like some of...
2023-03-1709 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWI Cried This week's 'Song To Chew' is I CRIED by Ruth Pelham from my 'Stayin' Over' album. I first heard Holly Near sing this wonderful song, then I met the wonderful Ruth Pelham in person. She's an educator, songwriter and performer and she's dedicated her life to helping children learn by using music. Her school programs and songs blend her years of experience with her innovative approach to education. I recorded I CRIED because it was the only song I'd ever heard for children and families about divorce. It's masterful and addresses the courageous and healing discussions that need to take pla...
2023-03-1009 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPat Your Daddy Our 'Song To Chew' this week, PAT YOUR DADDY ON THE KNEE comes from my “Uh-Oh!" album. When we scratch the surface of these 'family music' songs, we find important life-lessons for adults too. Adults who don't have any kids tell me, they learn from 'chewin' on' these songs! Life-lessons for little kids can help big grown-ups too! Everybody in the world has rough times when things happen that are painful and disturbing. And we don't want those rough time to come back again. The memory of them affects all our decisions; the kind of work we choose, who we fall i...
2023-03-0306 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWThe Newborn Our 'Song To Chew' this week, from my “Family Roles" album is THE NEWBORN, written by Rosita Perez. Technically, it's a 'Poem To Chew' from her book, "THE MUSIC IS YOU: A Guide to Thinking Less and Feeling More". I love this poem because it points out how the words 'belief' and 'faith' are different. When someone chooses to hold a 'belief' in something, no matter what evidence or verifiable facts are supplied, especially if they question the 'belief', a 'believer' will not change, and they may even refuse to listen to others who don't hold the same belief. It's a...
2023-02-2405 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWUh Oh! This week's SONG TO CHEW is the title cut from my "Uh-Oh!" album, so of course it’s called 'UH-OH!' Making messes is something all humans do from time to time. Actually, when we make a mistake, it’s a great opportunity for us to practice forgiving ourselves! When we can do that, it makes it easier for us to accept and forgive others around us who make mistakes. When we practice loving and supporting others who mess up, that helps us find the courage to go on next time we mess up! Usually we're not so excited about fixing...
2023-02-1708 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWNo One’s Normal This week our 'Song To Chew' comes from my “Pluggin' Away" album. It’s called NO ONE'S NORMAL. I wrote it because if you tell someone they're 'normal', they can get insulted by that! But if you say they're 'abnormal', they don't like that either. Maybe we should get rid of these 'label' words and stick to action words! Tell me what someone does, not what category they fall into! Everyone is themself! And no one person is ever completely normal! So this song is about understanding that the word "normal" refers to being included in a group that has the most pe...
2023-02-1008 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWTake Me With You Our 'Song To Chew' this week is the title cut from my TAKE ME WITH YOU album. This song exemplifies the 'naughty child' themes that I find so appealing, and use so often in my family songs. Kids are really smart. They figure out what works best for them to get what they want from their parents. When we're little, we have to depend on big folks around us to supply us with what we need! Food, clothing, shelter, and parents are very busy human beings, because doing everything that needs to be done in a family, can be a tall o...
2023-02-0408 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWMy Gums Grow Teeth This week our 'Song To Chew' is MY GUMS GROW TEETH from my ““Uh-Oh!" album. One of the 'rites of passage' for all kids, is 'losing a tooth'! I thought I'd write a song about that for my 'pre-schoolers' album, but then I realized, pre-schoolers aren't losing their teeth, they're growing them! That's probably pretty scary, like, "How do my gums know what to do? How come they don't get all mixed up?!" In order to write this song, I had to put myself into the shoes of a pre-schooler, and that was very instructive! I highly recommend it to those of u...
2023-01-2706 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWListen To The Beet Today, for your audio pleasure, we'll LISTEN TO THE BEET, as our 'Song To Chew' from my 'Grow It At Home' album. I entered this song in a contest put on by the L.A. Unified School District where the winning songs would be included in a CD compilation, to be distributed to all the elementary school kids in Los Angeles, to get them to eat and enjoy more vegetables! My motivation to write usually comes from some life lesson I learned. I figure, if it's helped me get some clarity about things going on around me, why not pass t...
2023-01-2008 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWIf It Doesn’t Have Me Our Song To Chew this week, 'IF IT DOESN'T HAVE ME' was written by my buddy Bill Harley. It's from our “In The Hospital" album that helps kids understand more about hospitals and doctors and nurses, and builds compassion for other kids and people who have medical difficulties. The original inspiration for this project came from two wonderful pediatric nurses, Diane Grimm Gates and Penny Pefley. They suggested a number of topics that would make great songs. We got together with Bill and together won the 1989 Parent's Choice Award for Best Children’s Recording of the Year! When a child has to...
2023-01-1309 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSometimes Si, Sometime No! Today our Song To Chew' is SOMETIMES SI, SOMETIMES NO! from my 'Grow It At Home' album. It's originally from a DVD I made for the Loma Linda University Medical Center in San Bernardino, California. We made a video with my songs and stories to entertain andeducate the families of their patients. Most of their patients are families from local neighborhoods in San Bernardino, that were loaded with violence and drug dealers, gang shootings and bar fights. The kids live with domestic violence and prostitution right there where they live and go to school. We wanted to help families learn som...
2023-01-0608 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPoop Goes The Weasel Our SONG TO CHEW this week is POOP GOES THE WEASEL. I wrote it to help parents engage their little kids in the process of getting toilet trained. When I perform this song live, I use a weasel or otter hand puppet to demonstrate as we sing together. Laughing at poop and fart jokes and anything to do with the toilet seems to appeal much more to guys than to girls. We probably think they're funny because we're not supposed to talk about this stuff, but it's mostly grown-ups who made up that rule! Adults are embarrassed and uncomfortable around t...
2022-12-3006 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWThe Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa and GodFrom my “Chris Moose Holidays” album, our SONG TO CHEW this week is THE TOOTH FAIRY, EASTER BUNNY, SANTA & GOD. They're all stories that most of us have heard since we were little. Each of them a bit mysterious and none of them willing to simply show themselves, to prove to us that they're real. They require some level of belief. We've seen hints of their existence; a dollar under our pillow, an Easter basket at the end of our bed, or Christmas presents under our tree on Christmas morning, (maybe some cookie crumbs from the cookies and milk we left...
2022-12-2313 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWNo Excuse T’Use Booze Our 'Song To Chew' this week, is NO EXCUSE T'USE BOOZE from my “Stayin' Over” album. There are an estimated 5.3 million kids under the age of 17 in this country who have a serious drinking problem. When I wrote this song, 'Honky Boy Pete' popped into my mind, told he was a 'recovering alcoholic' and he wanted to talk to the kids, if I didn't mind. He explains some of the down-side things that happen when kids and other people drink booze to medicate their painful feelings. One out of four kids in the U.S. currently live in alcoholic homes, and...
2022-12-1607 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWHigh Standards Our SONG TO CHEW this week, HIGH STANDARDS, was written by my dear friend Bob Blue. This song was part of my conference presentations and part of my personal story. Our parents who love us, want us to do the best we can, but sometimes they forget that kids need time to play and relax and explore our relationships. Getting straight 'A's' in school, doesn't mean we know how to have a happy and meaningful life. This song models how forgiveness and humor can help us heal and find a healthier story than a repeating self-narrative of "I'm never enough...
2022-12-0905 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLet ’Em Laugh This week's 'Song To Chew' is LET 'EM LAUGH from my "Take Me With You!“ album. One of the toughest things we face as humans is being laughed at and 'shunned' or ridiculed by others. Usually, the 'butt of the joke' is someone who appears or acts differently than most people. There's never a good excuse to single someone out for ridicule, especially for differences over which they have no control; like their race or size or their disability or sexual orientation. And sometimes, we're the 'different person'. So when other people do this to us, it says much more about...
2022-12-0206 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWIt’s No Fun When Ya Gotta Eat An Onion Our 'Song To Chew' this week is IT'S NO FUN WHEN YA GOTTA EAT AN ONION. Our individual taste differences are tailored by what we learned to eat with our families when we were little. If we associate certain foods with comfort and good times, we look forward to having those experiences of chewing and savoring the taste of foods that reminds us of those pleasant times. It's the stories about our food that set us up for how we behave around our eating habits. We might not like a story about eating "unformed chicken embryos", or "common fungus", or "sou...
2022-11-2708 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWFamily Of Friends Our Song To Chew this week is FAMILY OF FRIENDS, from my “Uh-Oh!" album. I wrote this song because we each hold a story about our family of origin. Some of us grew up in a family that was warm and safe. Some of us had a family that did not 'feel so safe'. Many of us had a family that was a mix of those two styles. And some of our families were scattered and hard to define, or we had a number of foster families. It's important to have courageous conversations with our family members if we’re upset ab...
2022-11-1808 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLet The Woman In You Come Through Our Song To Chew this week is LET THE WOMAN IN YOU COME THROUGH from my “Asleep At The Helm” album. We're trained to perform as others of our birth gender have in the past. Boys and girls are told stories about how we should behave, and those stories guide us as we mature and grow. In fact, there are many other stories that might be 'our story', that are much different than the ones we've been taught. We need freedom to explore our feelings and express our love and attractions if we are to discover our own story. How else can...
2022-11-1111 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWas St. Pat Scared?WAS ST. PAT SCARED? Let's listen to our "Song To Chew" for today and find out! This song's from my “Grow It At Home” album, to help us understand how we humans have taken over most of the world by eliminating any other creatures that threaten us or our expansion. The Irish myth about St. Patrick, 'ridding Ireland of all the snakes' is a wonderful place to start this discussion. It's 'fear' that drives us to completely wipe out some other living species, rather than finding some way to share space with them. Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland...
2022-11-0409 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWhat If?This week our SONG TO CHEW is "WHAT IF?" When we don't understand what's going on around us, we create stories to explain what might be going on! And that's when our over-active imaginations take off and amplify our worst fears. This process can stop us in our tracks and make things worse! So, this song takes a look at how we can change our stories, and our reactions, and learn how to 'respond' instead of 'react'. Most of us don't like to admit that we're scared, (especially us men and boys), but the stories we tell ourselves about what...
2022-10-2808 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWNew Games Our SONG TO CHEW today is called NEW GAMES, from my “Pluggin' Away” album. Almost all games we play in this world of ours are competitive, and it would be great to change that, so we have more choices about ways we can collectively play together. Most games are designed with very clear rules, structured so players can build skills in outsmarting or outmaneuvering each other in order to win. A big part of growing up is testing ourselves to see what we can do. We compare ourselves to others and we feel great when we see that we measure up...
2022-10-2107 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLetter To Mr. Brown Our SONG TO CHEW this week, LETTER TO MR. BROWN, is from my “Take Me With You” album. When I wrote this in 1986, there was a backlash going on because so many child sexual abuse cases were coming out in the news. Everyone who worked with children; teachers, boy scout leaders, choir directors, even parents became very careful about not touching children at all, unless it was absolutely necessary, because they were afraid, they might get in trouble. This song helps us talk openly about the effect these kinds of fears have on us. It models healthy, and safe ways that...
2022-10-1408 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWA Friend Like Me Today our SONG TO CHEW is called A FRIEND LIKE ME, from my 'In The Hospital' album. The idea came from two nurses at Seattle Children's Hospital, Diane Grimm Gates and Penny Pefley. I asked my buddy Bill Harley to join us, and we won a Parent's Choice BEST CHILDREN'S ALBUM award that year. We included a booklet full of helpful notes about how the songs and stories help school-age kids and families who spend time in a hospital. I visit Bill, and we exaggerate some of our scary concerns by 'enlarging them' to be much bigger than possible. Our sill...
2022-10-0709 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWHyperactive This week’s SONG TO CHEW is called HYPERACTIVE, from my “Pluggin’ Away” album. This song is a satire. The chorus says "Sugar's good for me and you!", but the verses point out that refined sugar is not healthy for our bodies. Kids understand satire, and know that sugar is not healthy for them. They have heard their parents say it a million times, "No! You've had enough sugar!" This song is actually a way for children to relieve some of their stress and frustration about the parental limitations they've had to deal with! You can sing-along too if want! We are all...
2022-09-3009 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWIf I Was In Charge Our 'Song To Chew' today is IF I WAS IN CHARGE. Have you ever seen someone do something, and you thought to yourself, "I think I could do a little better than that!" Even when we were kids, we could see grown-ups around us messing things up. We could have handled it! Except that when we grew-up and we finally had a chance to be in charge, we found out things are a lot more complicated and difficult than we thought they were! My daughter Willow sings with me on this song. When we find ourselves in charge, with power an...
2022-09-2309 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWYou Are My Spoon Today's SONG TO CHEW is written and sung by Amy Fix. 'YOU ARE MY SPOON' is part of my "Ebenezer's Make Over" album; a feminist version of Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol". His story is actually a 'make over' about how crochety Ebenezer Scrooge changed his stingy ways after being visited by three spirits during the night. I use that story along with songs from the feminist men's and women's movements to awaken Ebenezer to the errors of his sexist and patriarchal ways! With songs from my friends Holly Near, Amy Fix, Geof Morgan, Charlie Murphy, Fred Small, Romano...
2022-09-1606 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWI Need A Hug Our SONG TO CHEW this week is "I NEED A HUG” from my “UH-OH!” album. When we get older, we're not supposed to need as much 'emotional support' as we did when we were kids, but there are lots of us walking around who 'just need a hug' to help us keep going! It's a physical message that we're loveable, and that we're doin' okay! It's called reassurance. All over the world different cultures and religions have their own different rules and regulations that load up the simple hug with all sorts sexual implications and complications! It's true that human sexual a...
2022-09-0904 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWRoots And Wings Our SONG TO CHEW this week is 'ROOTS AND WINGS' from my “Grow It At Home” album. I took the imagery from watching trees and birds in nature. In order to 'stay in balance' as we move through our lives, we need to be 'realistic and grounded' at times, (roots), and still be creative enough to sail out on the wings of our imagination. Of course, it's only possible to pass these skills on to our children, if we adults have these skills in 'balancing' things in our own lives. Some of our 'tools for living' get passed on through o...
2022-09-0204 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWI Can If I Wanna This week our SONG TO CHEW is from my “Pluggin’ Away" album. It’s called I CAN IF I WANNA. The chorus is 'call and response' with a little character we call the 'Neggy'. It's that little 'voice' inside us that undermines our self-confidence and says "you'll never accomplish what you're trying to do!" It's different than hearing 'an opinion' from someone who thinks we ought to change something so it will work better. When we hear Neggy comments that are not helpful, like "that will never work!", or "there's no point trying that!", or "you're going to fail for sure!", th...
2022-08-2608 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWShoulder To The Wheel Our SONG TO CHEW today, SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL, was written and performed by Geof Morgan, from my “Ebenezer's Make Over” album. It came out on his Flying Fish recording, "Finally Letting It Go" in 1981. I named this podcast 'SONGS TO CHEW', because if we listen to a song and just 'swallow it' without 'chewing it' a bit, we don't really get to 'taste it' or savor its nuances. I heard Geof sing this one at the 5th Annual Conference on Men and Masculinity in Los Angeles back in the early 80's. The song addresses the fact that the most danger...
2022-08-1908 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPluggin’ Away This week’s SONG TO CHEW is the title cut from my “Pluggin’ Away” album. It's a song about, 'having persistence'; about finding the will to 'keep on trying' when we want to accomplish our goals. The hard part of persistence is figuring out 'how long should we keep on trying', before we decide that we're beating our head against a wall?! As the song says, "People who keep pluggin' away, they're the ones who get things done, 'cause they keep pluggin' away!" There are always tasks to be done that no one wants to do, but our attitude makes the diffe...
2022-07-2908 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWhat Kind Of Brother? Our SONG TO CHEW this week is written and performed by Joe Jencks. It's on my “Ebenezer’s Make Over” album, and it's the 'title cut' from his album, "WHAT KIND OF BROTHER ARE YOU?". Joe's song models how men and boys do not have to make jokes at the expense of women and girls, just to 'fit in with the guys'. That stuff's been going on for thousands of years, and it is way past time for a change. Every man knows that if we speak up to a group of men or boys, and go against the accepted pra...
2022-07-2207 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWCourage Today's SONG TO CHEW is called COURAGE. We'll listen to the version I recorded for my live “Wake Up!” video with John Ritter, and my friends Irene van der Zande and Timothy Dunphy from Kidpower. They have an organization that teaches kids and families how to keep safe, and out of dangerous situations. We need 'courage' to face something or someone who scares us. 'Courage' comes from the french word 'couer' which means 'heart'. If we pay attention, our heart tells when we're scared, sad, happy or angry! Out heart reacts when we feel danger, and sends a message to our brain...
2022-07-1508 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSlap Hands This week’s SONG TO CHEW is SLAP HANDS, from my “Wha’D’Ya Wanna Do?” album. Giving someone "five"; slapping hands with them is an extension of the more formal 'handshake' between two people. It comes from the age-old practice of offering another person our hand, empty and extended in friendship, to show that we're not holding a weapon and have no intent to harm or injure them. We 'shake hands' to confirm or seal an agreement with another person. It's been used for centuries as a way to show our personal bond to them, and to give our word that we...
2022-07-0808 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWI Believe You This week’s SONG TO CHEW, from my “Chris Moose Holidays” album is 'I BELIEVE YOU'. It models how to be a safe place for loved ones and anyone else who might need 'a good listening to'! Did someone ever say to you, "Don't be scared!" Did that really help? It never worked for me! I just knew that person wasn't a 'safe person' to talk to about my fears. I certainly want to be a safe place for my family and friends when they're upset. I learned that if I just listen and BE WITH THEM; give them SUPPORT, they us...
2022-07-0106 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWUse It Again Our SONG TO CHEW this week, USE IT AGAIN, is from my “Grow It At Home" album. Scott Walker, a social activist from Santa Barbara, called me to see if I had any songs about 'stopping the use of plastic bags in stores'. The City of Santa Barbara wanted to pass a law to eliminate the use of plastic bags, and encourage shoppers to bring our own cloth shopping bags to the store. Waste from plastic bags creates serious environmental danger for humans, animals and even plants! They block stormwater drains and cause flooding during rainstorms. In landfills they take 400 y...
2022-06-2406 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWPass It On! I’m Peter Alsop and a big fan of ‘silly’, so our ‘Song To Chew’ this week is PASS IT ON! from my “Chris Moose Holidays” album. It’s a wonderful song for creating discussions, which is what this podcast is all about. It may be the first and only “sneeze-along song” you’ve ever heard! Thirty years ago, there wasn’t a big political controversy about wearing face masks, but today our world is a much different place than it was when I wrote this song. We’d never heard of Co-Vid and few of us died from the ‘flu’. Seems like much of ou...
2022-03-1106 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWJunkfood Junkie This week’s ‘Song To Chew’ is about food! How appropriate! JUNKFOOD JUNKIE was written by my old friend Larry Groce. He let me record it on my first ‘Peter Alsop’ album back in 1975. Larry’s best known for being the artistic director and host of “Mountain Stage”, a two-hour live music radio program produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting on National Public Radio. His song got lots of radio airplay when it came out. It’s about a health food advocate with a hidden sugar addiction, who medicates himself uncontrollably with junk food, and eventually overdoses alone in his room. Still relevant t...
2022-02-1807 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLittle Tree Hi there! I'm Peter Alsop. Glad you stopped by! Today is Christmas Eve, so we’ve got a “Story to Chew” instead of a “Song to Chew”. I wrote and recorded this holiday story about LITTLE TREE and put it on my “Chris Moose Holidays” album. It’s about ‘being special’. We know that each of us creatures living on the Earth have our very own story, and that’s what makes each of us special. Some parts of our story will be like stories of others, and other parts of our story will be uniquely ours! Because we’re the only one living our life, ri...
2021-12-2412 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWCostume Party It’s October and in honor of Halloween, our ‘Song To Chew’ today will be COSTUME PARTY. I’ve noticed scatterings of children, test-driving their Halloween costumes in super-market aisles, making sure they work! Hidden inside their new identity, they are no longer just a ‘child in a supermarket’! Every one of us wears a costume. Each day, the clothing we put on when we get up, is our costume for the day! And when we wear different costumes, we get to see the world through different glasses, which is great! Because we can learn so much, by exploring other diverse ways to...
2021-10-2907 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWGotta Lotta Livin‘ To Do Our ‘Song To Chew’ today is GOTTA LOTTA LIVIN' TO DO. I wrote it in the late 80's when there were huge fears about contracting HIV from gay men. Kids and families needed to understand that this deadly virus was not transmitted through the air, but mostly through physical contact, and kids could get it too. I took my daughters Megan and Willow to sing with me at a California Men's Gathering, and got lots of hugs from men there, thanking me for coming and bringing my kids. Willow and I recorded this song on my ‘Pluggin’ Away’ album, along with Ry Co...
2021-10-0809 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWDear Mr. President Today's ‘Song to Chew’ is DEAR MR. PRESIDENT, from my 'Stayin' Over' album. It's written by Bob Blue in the form of a letter written by a 2nd grader to the President of the United States about how he got in a fight with a friend over who had the biggest 'sticker collection'. He thought the President might want to consider that fighting about 'having the most' isn't really worth it. Kids constantly have to figure out problems in their lives at home and in school. I've found that when we feel stuck with a 'problem', we can think of it as a...
2021-08-2709 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWBurning Times BURNING TIMES is our 'Song To Chew' today, written and performed by Charlie Murphy, one of the strong clear voices of the early feminist men's movement. It's about the plight of women in Europe in the Middle Ages, who were labeled as witches by establishment men who feared the influence they had as community organizers. It's from my "Ebenezer's Make Over' album which is a story with songs by Holly Near, Geof Morgan and many other feminist writers. There's a wonderful, short book I recommend by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, called "Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History Of Women...
2021-08-2010 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWChickens For Peace Today's 'Song To Chew' is CHICKENS FOR PEACE, inspired and loved by thousands of children who want a peaceful world, but no one much listens to them, because they can't vote! We want to protect our loved ones from wars and violence, but when we don't explain scary things to children, it can create more anxiety for them. It's not easy, but it IS possible to talk with kids about serious subjects in safe ways without scaring them. This song is designed to do that by reframing the word, 'chicken', which is most often used as a negative word abo...
2021-08-1310 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWFive Moms And Three Dads On this week's "Songs To Chew" we'll listen to my friend Tom Hunter's song, FIVE MOMS AND THREE DADS. It's on my 'Ebenezer's Make Over' album. Tom presents a different vision for how we can support a more caring and fulfilling society by allowing and supporting more diverse kinds of family groups. The traditional American 'nuclear' family, with two biological parents and their offspring, is what most of us learned, and considered to be 'normal'; whereas a bunch of adults, living communally with each other and their children, feels 'foreign' to many of us who were raised in accepted "norma...
2021-08-0606 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWAnimal Crackers Today's short, little 'Song To Chew' is called ANIMAL CRACKERS. It exemplifies how children act out their anger while they're playing. When angry, hurt or sad feelings aren't allowed to be expressed directly, they will surface again, often in less healthy ways. Healthy parents can set clear limits for children about what is okay and what isn't, and still allow kids to express all their feelings. When kids know they have 'safe parents', who won't let them 'go too far', it allows the kid to act like a kid again, and explore their own abilities, knowing that they're in a safe...
2021-07-3006 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWThe One About The Bird In The Cage The SONG we'll CHEW today, from my 'Asleep At The Helm' album, is "THE ONE ABOUT THE BIRD IN THE CAGE' written by Rutthy Taubb. It's about a man who keeps his "bird" in a cage, dependent on only him. He feeds her, owns her, says he's going to teach her how to fly, and to sing, but he will have to clip her wings. And she buys his story and loves him, but then wakes up to find that she is unhappy and her 'song' is gone. He angrily blames her. Somehow, she gathers the courage to stand up and te...
2021-07-2307 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWLet's Trade Butts! Today's Song To Chew from my Fan Club Favorites album, has been a big hit in junior high schools all across this country! It's called LET'S TRADE BUTTS, so of course, it's humorous. When teens are asked about their bodies, they often express self-criticism, and strong feelings of inadequacy, jealousy and shame. Our adolescent years are difficult because our bodies AND our role in society are changing. As teens we often want to look like someone else. We want some body part to be bigger or smaller. We know our life would be better we were taller or thinner or our ha...
2021-05-2807 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWG-Gee Its Warm Out Here Today our 'Song To Chew' is sung by an ecological activist, Snowy the Frostman! The kids and I are hanging out at the mall during the holiday season, listening to Snowy 'stutter-sing' his way through "G-GEE IT'S WARM OUT HERE" from my "Chris Moose Holidays" album. It's about climate change and global warming! "So why does Snowy the Frostman stutter?", you may ask. I think 'stuttering' sounds like 'shivering while you're talking', and because I work with many special-needs kids, I like my songs to include some of the special 'differences' that these kids live with. Kids with special needs...
2021-05-2108 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWMy Secret Let's chew on the 'Wonderful Diversity of Human Sexuality' with MY SECRET, a song from my very first album. I often use humor in my songs to share tidbits of information that I've found valuable. This song is loaded with bad puns and exaggerations. We humans have a huge range of diverse sexual behaviors, many of which are common, but there are some secrets that people hide, out of fear that others may regard them as "not okay" or "weird, exotic, disgusting, sacrilegious, shameful, dirty, illegal, sinful or just plain silly." I believe that an adult person's sexual behavior is thei...
2021-05-1407 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWYou Get A Little Extra When You Watch TV Today's Song To Chew is YOU GET A LITTLE EXTRA WHEY YOU WATCH TV, from my 1983 "Wha D'Ya Wanna Do?" album. It's about all the hidden messages delivered to us constantly through our televisions and internet. Commercials and news and sit-coms model for us how the rest of the world around us operates, right? But we see what the producers and marketers want us to see! Have you noticed how extremely 'happy' TV people are when they have a nice clean floor in their kitchen? Have you ever felt 'that happy' after cleaning your kitchen floor? Hmmm? The behaviors we see on t...
2021-04-3008 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSo Long Today on 'Songs To Chew' we'll listen to a song called SO LONG, and talk about sadness and loss and grieving. We know that things in our lives have beginnings and middles and ends, and so it is with people. Leaving people, places and things behind can be scary and sad and exciting all at the same time. Sometimes leaving things or people that created problems for us becomes even more complicated, because they also provided us with some great stories and unforgettably joyous rides. Some losses in our lives we have absolutely no control over, but sometimes we do hav...
2021-04-2307 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWGet On Home I released GET ON HOME on my "Camping With Dads" album to help kids understand why folks in Malibu decided to tear down an old dam up in their hills. It tells about the steelhead trout struggling to 'get on home' from the ocean, back up the stream where it started life, and the rain drop wondering how it can 'get on home' to the ocean, after traveling in a cloud, then falling onto the Malibu mountains, both stuck behind that same dam. We each run into dams in our lives; not just dams that stop water, but all kinds...
2021-03-2608 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSonical Digital Musical Box Today's Song To Chew is SONICAL DIGITAL MUSICAL BOX, a functional song from my "Camping With Dads" album. For anyone who wonders where the piano, horn section and electric guitars on the song actually come from, since we're on a camping trip up in the mountains! My songs usually have content that helps listeners find more balance in their lives, but some songs like this, are just silly or fun. Songs don't have to be philosophical to be life-changing. I think it's great when a song can do both! This album helps Dads who listen with their boys, become more awa...
2021-03-1206 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWMy Father's Top Drawer For today's Song To Chew, I borrowed a tune from a song written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work, "My Grandfather's Clock". You'll probably recognize the tune, but it's not about my Grandfather, it's about my Dad and my childhood. I love using humor to address loaded subjects, so let's take a look at how porn affects us and our attitudes about sex. From "Fan Club Favorites" and my "Songs On Sex And Sexuality" albums, we'll listen to MY FATHER'S TOP DRAWER. If you're interested in supporting my work or becoming a sponsor for this podcast, (maybe you have some funds le...
2021-02-2608 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWGive Yourself A Hand Today we'll listen to a song that prescribes a cure for sexual harassment! It's been wildly acclaimed by thousands of feminists as we continue the fight to stop violence against women! From my "Fan Club Favorites" album we'll listen to GIVE YOURSELF A HAND! It's was inspired by a friend of mine, Dr. Betsy Stanko, a professor of Sociology who's been described as a radical feminist criminologist, and the story of her involvement in a multi-million dollar defamation of character lawsuit; a ne'er-do-well Department Head Dr. Sidney Peck; the National Labor Relations Board; top authorities at Clark University, and sexual...
2021-02-1208 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSnake Dance There are lots of entanglements in our closest relationships. We make commitments, and bring our own baggage with us, packed with our fears, hopes and stories. In some cases, when the honeymoon's over and the work begins, we feel constrained and unable to unwind from each other with nowhere to go for help. We strike out physically or verbally, and one or both of us may look for someone else to soothe us; to provide us an escape from this painful and toxic 'snake dance', where neither dancer knows how to retreat. I've seen a few relationships where the partner...
2021-02-0511 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWAnthropologist Do you wonder what to do when the world goes crazy all around you? For today's SONG TO CHEW, we'll listen to ANTHROPOLOGIST from my "Camping With Dads" album and share a technique I use when this happens to me. It's my 'tip for the week!' Just because we're bored or stuck somewhere that we don't really want to be, why get all uptight and angry, when instead, we can just put on our Anthropologist's hat, and observe all the curious and fascinating behaviors of the people in the tribe around us! It's amazing! Human beings are so peculia...
2021-01-2908 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWDragon Who Flies By My Window Did you ever wish that you'd done something, that you didn't do? Then later on, it was too late? Today's 'Song To Chew' is THE DRAGON WHO FLIES BY MY WINDOW. It's about 'remorse'. A sign on my wall says "Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down!" Good advice, but if we don't get our wings built fast enough, we quickly learn to be more cautious. Feeling remorseful is a sad, angry and painful feeling that I try very hard to avoid. Knowing that about myself has been very useful in helping...
2021-01-2208 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWClean Out The Attic Today's 'Song To Chew' is 'CLEAN OUT THE ATTIC' from my 'Chris Moose Holidays' album. My family had an old wooden chest in our attic, full of my great grandmother's lace doilies that my Mom didn't want us kids to ruin by spilling juice on them, so she kept them locked in the attic, starched and ironed all throughout our childhood. When she died, we opened the chest, and discovered the beauty of our great grandmother's handicraft skills. The lace was gorgeous and delicate. I packed up my share in a cardboard box that I stashed up in my attic...
2021-01-1508 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWe Can Bounce We've had a momentous week here in America, so this week's "Song To Chew" is "WE CAN BOUNCE" from my CAMPING WITH DADS album. I often write kid songs that help parents understand important things about their kids. Today's song is about some of the things I learned from my Dad, that can help and inform kids about their parents. Even though my Dad gave me "good advice', I still had to learn that sometimes advice we get from people we trust, won't work for us. We have to pay close attention to how we feel, and choose if we shou...
2021-01-0807 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSome Gifts Come With Strings Attached Our SONG TO CHEW today is "Some Gifts" from my CAMPING WITH DADS album. I make a distinction between giving a 'gift' and giving a 'present'. A child comes home from school and 'presents' Mom with a "birthday crown" made of yellow construction paper, taped together with glitter and dried pieces of gold elbow macaroni glued on it. Mom wears it around the house; maybe even to the store, because it's a 'present' from someone she loves, even though it's mostly about the child who 'presented' it to her! A 'gift' is different. It's specially for the person getting the gift...
2021-01-0108 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWWhen Jesus Was A Kid It's a very different Christmas this year, due to the isolated distancing we observe in response to the threat of CoVid. I thought we might listen to "When Jesus Was A Kid" from my CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS album to helps us focus on caring about others, sung magnificently by my daughter Willow. While listening to a conservative Christian talk radio show, where the host made mean-spirited comments about a number of people who he described as sinners, one of my kid songs that teaches kids to set healthy boundaries by "just saying no!" popped into my mind, and I thou...
2020-12-2508 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWBuy Me Something! Today's song is 'unusual'. Actually, many of my songs fit into that category! "Buy Me Something" is on my CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS album. It's great for discussing the trappings of capitalism, and how we and our children can become trapped and addicted to shopping for things obsessively and compulsively. After hearing this song, parents would often say, "My children already know this song! They wrote it! Are you sure you didn't follow us around in a mall somewhere, because it sounds exactly like them!!" Lines like, "Buy me things of great value, stuff to save, I want giant collections of everyt...
2020-12-1110 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWSafari (Into My Sister's Nose) On SONGS TO CHEW today we'll check out "Let's Go On Safari, Into My Sister's Nose". As a performer, if I want to get kids' attention, I just have to mention "boogers" or "underwear", and they'll start laughin'! It never fails! This is a great song to let our imaginations run wild, and it also gives us a chance to think about 'teasing'. Teasing is "playing with someone else's pain without their permission." When we make fun of someone, about something embarrassing they've done or some characteristic they have, it can really hurt. I think it's okay if friends tease eac...
2020-11-2706 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWEulogy Today we'll listen to a song called "Eulogy". It touches on how we feel when there's been a significant loss in our lives. Fans tell me they've played this song at funerals for their loved ones. With all the CoVid deaths soaring around us, our mortality is very present in ways that it wasn't before this pandemic hit. Death is very scary for most of us. I've lived with Death standing just off my left shoulder since I was seven years old. All Death had to do was reach out and touch me from an arm's length away, and I'm go...
2020-11-2008 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWDads 'N Boys On today's SONGS TO CHEW podcast we'll listen to "Dads 'N Boys" from my CAMPING WITH DADS album. We grow-up in patriarchal cultures from all around the world, and we learn that 'real men' NEVER do anything that a girl does, like 'caring for others'. We learn that's 'not cool!' This song lists many traits that Dads and boys have, and it reminds us that to build a more caring world, Dads and Boys need to learn to 'widen our own circle of caring', instead of staying stuck in a childlike focus on ourselves, where our "circle of carin...
2020-11-0608 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWIt's Only A Wee-Wee Today we'll listen to "It's Only A Wee-Wee, So What's The Big Deal?" It's a song about gender, written in 1981, and it's still sweeping the Montessori schools of the country! My old buddy Utah Phillips used to sing this one. He called it, "a full bore, overhead cam, spoke wire-wheels, no holds barred damn kids song!" I love playing it because it generates discussions about the ways that boys around the world have entitlements and privileges that girls don't, and how our patriarchal culture, besides favoring males, teaches our girls ways to manipulate boys in order to 'level the playing...
2020-10-2307 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWGotta Be Somewhere My SONG TO CHEW today is"Gotta Be Somewhere", the last song on my CAMPING WITH DADS album. I thought it would be wonderful to finish the album with a song that is both a recap of our camping adventure, and a charming existential mystery about whether or not we ever went on the trip at all! Ever been somewhere that you wish you weren't? It can be miserable!! But why choose stress? If we tell ourselves "well, ... I gotta be somewhere", ... all of a sudden, things look much better, right? So think of this, as a tool you can keep...
2020-10-1609 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWBuddiesToday's SONG TO CHEW is "Buddies" from my UNIFORMS album. This song is for buddies who love each other, regardless of their gender. It works well to generate discussions about homophobia and sexual orientationism. When I wrote this song back in 1978, there was homophobia all around us. There have been lots of feminist men's songwriters and performers writing wonderful songs that shed light on ways men can live our lives expressing love and support for one another. Please let your friends know about this SONGS TO CHEW podcast. It's free. I'll be back next week with another song from my new...
2020-09-1207 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWChris Moose Holidays 4 This is the fourth and last chapter of Chris Moose Holidays. (for kids and families) Makes sense to listen to them in order, and then you grown-ups might want to listen to the 4 chapters of Ebenezer's Make Over: Songs from the Feminist Men's and Women's Movement. Just click on the title and it will stream to you. More shows coming in January! Please share with your friends. Happy Holidays. Peter Alsop CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYSChris Moose(3:22)Little Tree(9:44)The Gift(2:40)Daddy's Roll(2:39)Christmas Cheer(1:42)Buy Me Something!(2:45)When Jesus Was...
2018-12-1618 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWChris Moose Holidays 3 In Chapter 2 the kids and I sang about the problems with smoking, over-eating, drinking alcohol and even shopping compulsions, … now here's Chapter 3!CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYSChris Moose(3:22)Little Tree(9:44)The Gift(2:40)Daddy's Roll(2:39)Christmas Cheer(1:42)Buy Me Something!(2:45)When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14)The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44)G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42)I Believe You(2:05)The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43)Pass It On!(1:30)Clean Out The Attic(3:37)Earthsong(3:57)CREDITS:Produced by Peter Alsop
2018-12-1417 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWChris Moose Holidays 2 Today in Chapter 2 of Chris Moose Holidays, we pick up with our discussion about Santa Claus. CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYSChris Moose(3:22)Little Tree(9:44)The Gift(2:40)Daddy's Roll(2:39)Christmas Cheer(1:42)Buy Me Something!(2:45)When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14)The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44)G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42)I Believe You(2:05)The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa & God(2:43)Pass It On!(1:30)Clean Out The Attic(3:37)Earthsong(3:57) CREDITS:Produced by Pete...
2018-12-0712 min
Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEWChris Moose Holidays 1 Today’s show is the first chapter of CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS, which was originally released in 1994 as one of my albums. I have Christian and Jewish friends who tell me it’s part of their holiday ritual to sit together, and listen to this story every year. Amazing! I know.CHRIS MOOSE HOLIDAYS - CREDITSChris Moose(3:22)Little Tree(9:44)The Gift(2:40)Daddy's Roll(2:39)Christmas Cheer(1:42)Buy Me Something!(2:45)When Jesus Was A Kid(4:14)The Night Before Hanukkah(2:44)G-Gee, It's Warm Out Here(2:42)I Believe You(2:05)The Tooth...
2018-12-0716 min