When you’re a music fan and a parent it’s often a struggle to find children’s music that doesn’t make your skin crawl. I’m not putting a fatwa out on Raffi and Barney, but I’d really like to beat them senseless. Just once.

Moxy Fruvous “Spiderman” (Theme from the TV cartoon)
Update: Alert reader Adam tells me that this song is not by They Might Be Giants, but rather from the Moxy Fruvous album “Bargainville.” Curses! Deceived by the Internet again!

Butthole Surfers “Underdog” (Theme from the TV cartoon)
Last night I stumbled across Kill Bill Vol. 2 on TBS. I just love David Carradine’s soliloquy on Superman (“He doesn’t have to become Superman. When he wakes up in the morning he is Superman.”)

Kelly Hogan “Rubber Duckie” (Ernie from Sesame Street)
When Sesame Street came out I was just a little too old for it. So I never really knew much about it until my daughter came along. I gotta say that their music is, by and large, very well done.

Kelly Hogan is from Georgia and lives in Chicago, where she tends bar at the Hideout in addition to singing. She can really belt out a song and is a lot of fun to hear live.

John Secada “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” (Fred Rogers)
Okay, this one makes my skin crawl. It’s just so wretched that I had to post it.

The Persuasions “On The Good Ship Lollipop” (Shirley Temple)
You’ve just gotta love an entire CD of doo-wop versions of kids songs.