Writing Silly Bus Kid Songs

A lot of work goes into the writing of a Silly Bus kids song. Our approach in Silly Bus is to write songs that appeal to both kids and parents, and finding that balance of sound and style that appeals to both generations is not easy to achieve.

Let's take for example the song, “Teddy Bear Boogie.” The concept of the song was to write a song with a very youthful theme, and we wanted to emphasize the letter ‘B' because we were writing songs to align with an alphabet curriculum. We also wanted the song to have a lot of movement. The need for movement was to keep kids entertained while listening to the song both at home and at our shows. We have found that if we write songs with a lot of movement, kids feel that they can participate with the songs, and they respond more positively than to songs with less movement.

Taking into account all of the requirements we wanted to incorporate into our song, we came up with a theme about a dancing teddy bear. A dancing teddy bear certainly met our desire to create a song with a youthful theme. The fact that the teddy bear danced opened up all sorts of possibilities to add movement.

The end result is the song we have today about a teddy bear that starts out dancing to the front and back, and with each chorus the teddy bear performs additional moves. By the end of the song, the teddy bear is moving forwards and backwards. He is clapping, snapping, patting his head, and tapping his knees. These are all moves that children can happily perform while listening to the song. (Read the full lyrics below this article.)

The final effort for the song was the actual music to support the lyrics. As previously mentioned, Silly Bus writes songs to appeal to adults as well as children. Since this song was about a teddy bear who liked to boogie, we adopted a boogie-woogie blues style of music. This style just seemed fitting. It is a style of music that gained popularity in the early 1900's, and different flavors of boogie-woogie music are heard in many music genres today. One of those genres now happens to be kids' music. So, for those parents who appreciate classic styles of music, this song is for you…and of course your kids too.

Teddy Bear Boogie
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Over here and over there
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Almost everywhere

Boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

My teddy bear likes to boogie
When he hears a funny song
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Sometimes all day long

Boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Turn around and clap
Make your fingers snap
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

My teddy bear likes to boogie
He really really likes to dance
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Whenever he gets the chance

So, boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Turn around and clap
Make your fingers snap
Give your head a pat
And give your knees a tap
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

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