Jason from the Jungle Gym Jam will personally autograph your copy of the "Everyone's Invited!" album to your family so you can easily enjoy the music in your car, kitchen or home theater. Comes in a wonderfully designed 4-panel digi-pack with artwork by children's illustrator Melissa Bailey.
Includes unlimited streaming of Everyone's Invited!
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Inspiration
A family trip to our town pool during 4th of July weekend brought sudden and intense inspiration for Amy and me while our daughter delighted in her first swim of the season. When it was time to go home, she didn’t want to come out of the water, and we had the new song’s main theme very quickly. The feelings I got about those summer days by the poolside in my own childhood came to mind and ideas were coming quickly for images to include in the song.
Writing
Our first challenge was to make sure we were writing a new, truly original song and not unintentionally paraphrasing an important influence in children’s music, Justin Roberts. His song “Kickboard, Baby Yeah” came to mind and I knew not to make a reference to kickboards in the lyrics, so Amy and I came up with sunscreen, goggles and flipper fins. I was a bit suspicious of our first draft of the chorus which I had ended with the line “Isn’t that what summertime is for?” until I confirmed my suspicion, listening back to “Kickboard.” There it was in Justin’s bridge: “Then we’ll really know what summertime is for.” So we got to work on rewriting the last 2 lines of the chorus to what it is now.
In the Studio
Since the song was written in the summer with a specific seasonal appeal, we knew we’d have to record the song and get it to post-production quickly to get the single out on radio while there was still enough summer left. We got the band started on rehearsal right away and made an iPhone recording of our rehearsal runs through the new song. This helped us to refine the arrangement. In rehearsal, our bassist Judy heard something in my lead guitar intro to the song – the opportunity to scat-sing along with my guitar solo, like George Benson or David Gilmour. This was another situation to make sure I wasn’t copying Justin Roberts, who scat-sings lots of riffs in his songs on the “pa-pa-pa” syllable, so I tried out a “na-na-na” syllable which worked beautifully. Our game plan was to record the drum and bass parts for “Stay in the Pool,” “Jungle Gym Jamming” and “Window of the Train” all in one session.
We got into the studio and achieved our goal of recording the bass and drums or those three songs. With Dave scheduled to do a lot of traveling in the summer and knowing we couldn’t afford to lose much time on this project, we agreed that I would rent his professional-grade microphone and amplification equipment so I could record vocals at home without having to wait for an available studio appointment. Dave suggested a modification to the lyrics in the 2nd verse to help the story flow better and be more relatable to kids. I edited the lyrics, putting Dave’s feedback into play.
Fun fact: “Stay in the Pool” is Casey’s first studio track as a member of the band.
lyrics
Intro:
C Em F G
Verse 1:
C Am
I've got sunscreen everywhere
F G
That isn't covered by my swimsuit
C Am
I've got towels and my goggles
F G
And my flipper fins to boot
C Am
Now we're roasting in the back seat
F G
Until Mom turns on the A/C
C Am
But I'm happy that we're driving to
F G
My favorite place to be
F C/E
You know I love the water
Dm C
without a doubt
G F
The hardest part is
C/E F G
Get-ting out
Chorus:
C Em F
I want to stay in the pool
G
Until my fingers get pruny (YEAH!)
C Em F
Spend all day in the pool
G
Do you think that sounds looney? (NO!)
Am E7
'Ttil my ears get water-logged
F D7
and my lips turn a little blue
F G
I want to soak up this summer day with you
C Em F G
Verse 2:
I guess I'll have to climb out sometime
To take a break and have a snack
When I'm halfway up the ladder
I hear the water call me back
So I'll jump back in with gusto
And come bubbling to the top
You've got to see my wicked cannonball
And my awesome belly flop
You know I love the water without a doubt
The hardest part is keeping out
Chorus
Bridge:
A♭ B♭
We take play and safety seriously
E♭ A♭
So we all can have our fun
A♭ B♭
We listen to the lifeguard
E♭ G
When she says walk, don't run!
Cm B♭ A♭ G7
Breakdown:
When I say Marco you say Polo
Marco (POLO!), Marco (POLO!)
Chorus
Sub this last line of Chorus (note added A7 chord)
F G C A7
I want to soak up this summer day with you
F G C A7
I want to soak up this summer day with you
F G
I want to soak up this summer day with you
Tag:
Cm B♭ A♭ G7
C (6/9)
credits
from Everyone's Invited!,
released January 28, 2014
Jason Didner -Lead vocals, guitars
Casey McCleary -vocal harmonies
Judy Helbig -Bass guitar, vocal harmonies
Ross Kantor -drums, vocal harmonies
Produced, engineered and mixed by Dave Cushing at Snowdome Studios, Montclair, NJ
Mastered by Scott Anthony at The Viewing Room, Springfield, NJ (storybooksound.com)
Jason Didner and the Jungle Gym JamMontclair, New Jersey
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