Customer Reviews

All You Need Is Love: Beatles Songs for Kids

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

Operative word, KIDS. I am a huge Beatles fan, but I bought this CD for my kids. It is not fair to compare it to the original Beatles releases. The singers are all children. It isn't something I would sit and listen to myself but it beats the 233rd version of 'The Farmer in the Dell" and "On Top of Old Smokey".... My kids adore it! My daughter sings "Yellow Submarine" in the bathtub; she knows all the words! If you have kids, I very highly recommend it!

K - I - D - S ! I read the other customer reviews for this album, and frankly found many of them useless - this album is for KIDS, not Beatles fans. My kids love it - it's not that easy to find music actually sung by children, and my kids think it's terrific to hear little voices, voices like their own, singing. I am personally a Beatles fan, but that's not really germane to this album (though it did help me to teach the kids the lyrics). And to the person who in their review wrote "completely unknown" about Raffi... they have not been listening to much children's music!

While my kids love repetition, I myself was getting tired of "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Monkeys on the Bed", so when I stumbled on this CD I thought, "Great!" At first, I thought it was going to be original Beatle songs, with the Beatles actually singing, but it's not and actually I'm GLAD about that. My daughters (ages 3 and 1) don't know the Beatles, but they DO love to hear other children sing, offkey or not.

I only wish that the Beatles had written "Puff the Magic Dragon." It surely would have been included in this wonderful compilation.

I've read all these other reviews and and really shocked that so many people didn't like it. I'm a big Beatles fan and really think that it is very cute. Maybe the children singing are not the best but my son loves too hear kids voices so I'm not sure that even the "real" thing would have as much of an impact. If you buy it knowing it's children singing and not the Beatles you should be pretty happy with it. I wish they would do this with more "non-childrens" music!

I have over a dozen Beatles CD's, and we enjoy their music in our home from time to time. I suggest that if you want to expose your children to the Beatles, then play music actually made by the Beatles.

In contrast, this CD is commercial trash. We can't stand it! The version are very lame, and I can't see any benefit to children. It's not children's music. It's an opportunity to cash in on the Beatles.

Get something by Raffi if you are looking for really fun, beneficial children's music. And expose your children to the real Beatles when they get a little older.

The selection of tracks on this CD are great. The songs on display show the imaginative and childlike fantasy side of the Beatles that we all groove on. Personally, I like my daughter to hear the real Beatles tunes, but it is nice to hear kids singing and she likes that because it is easier for her to relate to. I was disappointed that Strawberry Fields, my fave as a kid, was not on there. The quality is a little less than I expected, but certainly tolerable. Overall, just a fun CD! If your a Beatles fan, you gotta have it for your little bugs.

I thought I had a pretty high threshold for kids music but this is really just bad. I even passed it around my office and solicited comments about which song was, in fact, the worst. I ended up mixing my own Beatles versions of these songs for my son. I'd recommend picking up the Beatles albums and skipping this.

Children love to hear other children sing, and they're not as hypercritical as we are. This has become one of my 3-year-old's favorites, I suspect partly because "mommy knows these songs too!" and she can tell I genuinely LIKE these songs as I sing and dance with her. Its the SONGS, people. They are great songs and remain great songs no matter what the arrangement, so I (thankfully) blew off all the naysayers who said "get the Beatles' originals". My kid doens't like the Yellow Submarine cover, but she has memorized Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. It's a nice, gentle way to introduce a child to a pair of the world's great songwriters, without having to burn your own CD of appropriate Beatles originals. Worth the ten bucks in saved time alone. And I actually liked the reference to "Twinkle Twinkle" at the end of "All You Need is Love". In the original, the Beatles were referencing "She Loves You", knowing their they could count on their audience to catch the reference to one of their earliest and most widely played hits. In this version, the kids are referencing not some early Beatle hit the other kids would likely have not heard of, but two songs, (Twinkle and Row your boat) that they could be equally sure that THEIR audience would have heard of and have caught the reference/joke. Lighten up, purists!

Presumably if you're considering buying this it's because you want your children to love the Fab Four. This disc is probably NOT the best introduction to them.

The biggest fault is the song selection. Some of them are outright questionable for young kids. (do you want your kids singing about cross-dressers? Check the lyric to "Ob-La-Di,Ob-La-Da" in the final verses..) Others just aren't that kid friendly (Which do you think a 4-7 year old will "get" more...the 'let's end the arguments' theme of "We Can Work it Out" or the granola hippie musings in "Mother Nature's Son"?) If you just want to maintain the John to Paul ratio, "Nowhere Man" would be more in keeping with a child's tendency to imagination and fantasy.

The other problem is the versions are only occasionally good. Eric Bibb's take on "Here Comes the Sun", "Ob-La-di, Ob-la-Da" (despite the lyrical objection), "All Together Now" and "Mother Nature's Son" probably sound the BEST here...although that's not saying any of them are fantastic versions. "Birthday" is NOT 'amazingly soulful' as the Amazon reviewer states...it's wretched. When I'm 64 is also exceptionally painful to hear.

BOTTOM LINE: If you MUST get a re-recorded CD of Beatles tunes for the kids, don't get this one. If you're merely looking for age-appropriate songs that they'd like, I'd suggest THIS lineup of tunes burned onto CD-R from the Beatles CDs in your own library:

With a Little Help from My Friends (it is NOT about drugs despite what a reviewer says below)
When I'm 64
Birthday
Hello Goodbye
Yellow Submarine
Octopus' Garden
All Together Now
Twist and Shout
We Can Work it Out
Nowhere Man
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (also NOT about drugs..it's based on John's son's drawing for crying out loud...how could it NOT be kid friendly? :)
Hey Jude
Good Night (from the White Album..it's always sounded like a Disney song anyway!)
I'm Only Sleeping (from Revolver..this one probably IS about drugs, but it's so veiled a little kid won't pick up on it...they'll just take it at face value as a 'let me sleep in' song)
All you Need is Love
Your Mother Should Know (from Magical Mystery Tour)

These should make a nice selection and get your kid started on appreciation of the Fabs.

If kids are going to be exposed to music, it shoud be the beatles, and if they can get hooked on the beatles sound with little voices, that is GREAT! we play this CD at the kids museum i work at, and i decided i HAD to buy it just for "Dear Prudence" which is one of the greatest tunes. i'm 22, and i listen to the Beatles, but this CD is very refreshing to listen to as well.