Ten Years of Middle Child Melodies

          As you probably haven't heard by now, the International Middle Child Union is celebrating 10 years of obscurity. As part of the festivities, I thought it would be fun to take a little stroll down our very own Middle Child Musical Memory Lane and revisit some of our favorite Middle Child melodies. What better place to start than with our take on the Simple Minds classic “Don't You (Forget About Me)”...

 

          Gene Autry had a huge hit in 1950 singing the story of a fluffy bunny, “bringing every girl and boy baskets full of Easter joy.” “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” became one of the most popular Easter songs ever. As you might expect, our Middle Child rendition tells a slightly different tale...

 

          “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is an American classic. The Middle Child version is, well, a whole other ballgame...

 

 

          Everyone knows the story of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” Of course far fewer know of  his Middle Child Syndrome suffering sleigh mate...

 

 

 

          Okay, this next one isn't a song, but while we're in the Christmas spirit, I couldn't resist sharing our telling of “The Middle Child's Night Before Christmas.”

 

 

 

          And speaking of holiday spirit, leave it to a Middle Child to turn “The Festival of Lights” into 8 nights of agony...

 

 

 

          When #middlechild started trending for no apparent reason a few years back, I thought maybe all my hard work was paying off. Then I found out that rapper J. Cole had just released his mega-hit, “Middle Child.” Of course, we couldn't let him have the last word...

 

 

CELEBRATE THE BIG DAY WITH MORE MIDDLE MUSIC! 

Check out the Middle Child's Day Playlist

 

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“The Middle Child’s Night Before Christmas” (2018 Update)

The Likely Author of “The Night Before Christmas” Was a Middle Child!

Livingston: All I want for
Christmas is some credit!

     While I was putting together an updated version of “The Middle Child’s Night Before Christmas” (previously released in 2014), I found it odd that Santa’s 7th reindeer is named “Donder” in the famous Clement Clarke Moore poem, but called “Donner” in the 1949 Gene Autry song, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” So I did a little Mid Kid muckracking, and made a shocking unrelated discovery: Clement Clarke Moore might be “The Grinch Who Stole the Night Before Christmas!” The likely real author was a Middle Child! His name was Henry Beekman Livingston, Jr. Naturally, he wasn’t given credit.
     When the poem (originally titled “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”) was first published in 1823, it was submitted anonymously. In the following years, it was reprinted without attribution in countless publications. Word had spread that it was written by Moore, and in 1837 a friend of Moore's put Moore's name on the poem. When Moore included the poem in a book of his poetry published in 1844, he became accepted as the true author. It wasn’t until 15 years later when Livingston’s family first discovered Moore was taking credit for the poem they remember their father reading to them as his own as far back as 1807! They waited until 1900 before going public with their claim, and the issue has been debated ever since.
     In 2000, Donald W. Foster, a Literary Detective and Professor of English at Vassar College, argued Livingston was the true author. And as recently as 2016, New Zealand scholar MacDonald P. Jackson spent a year looking into the matter, concluding Livingston was the likely author. Good enough for me! (And you think I’m nuts spending a mere blog post on this?)
     While experts still debate who the real author of “The Night Before Christmas” was, there’s no question who wrote this version...

      In case you’re still wondering, the names in the original 1823 poem were actually “Dunder” and “Blixem,” Dutch for “thunder” and “lightning.” (Which kind of makes sense because Moore knew German, not Dutch, and Livingston was of Dutch descent.) In a subsequent 1837 version, “Blixem” became “Blixen,” to make it rhyme with “Vixen,” and “Dunder” was renamed “Donder.” When Moore included the poem in his 1844 publication, he retained “Donder,” but “Blixen” was renamed “Blitzen.” Although “Donner” was popularized in the 1949 Rudolph song, the name was mentioned in the New York Times seven different times prior to 1949. So, mystery solved! Sort of. Not.

New Middle Child Christmas Classic Discovered!

     “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” has become a beloved Christmas standard -- except for those who have recently taken issue with its portrayal of bullying and sexism. Well, they’re certainly not going be happy about this news.
     After years of searching, a select team of the world's best Middle Child Musicologists -- working under the direction of the International Middle Child Union -- have unearthed a never before heard version of the holiday classic which actually predates Rudolph. And the protagonist in this newly discovered rendition is treated even worse!
     Much like Rudolph, “Melvin the Middle Reindeer” tells the tale of a reindeer overlooked and cast aside by his furry-pawed peers. However, there is no happy ending for this reindeer reject.
     Music forensic experts have determined this discovery was recorded in the very same studio as the version made popular by Gene Autry. But it was placed on a shelf and everyone forgot about it.
     You can download and listen to the track from SoundCloud. They even found a video, which is really weird since that wasn’t even a thing then.

NEXT WEEK: The Return of “The Middle Child's Night Before Christmas.”

Peter Cottontail: Middle Child Friend or Foe?

Whose side is he on?

     Back in 1950, singing cowboy legend (and future L.A. Angels owner) Gene Autry had a huge hit with the whimsical “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and became one of the most popular Easter songs ever. Until now.
     While Autry’s version tells the tale of a fluffy bunny, “bringing every girl and boy baskets full of Easter joy,” there’s a certain member of the family who might beg to differ. As expected, the Middle Child has another side of the story that needs to be told... err, uhm, sung.
     “There Goes Peter Cottontail” is the shocking account of what really happened after the happy hare hopped away and how, predictably, the Middle Child feels his basket came up a little short. (I mean, I'M the one who loves marshmallow Peeps. ME! Not my brother and sister! Why would they get more than me? It makes no sense!)

MY Peeps!

     But I'm not one to hold a grudge...
     Easter is a time for family, so grab your siblings -- okay, gently grab your  siblings -- gather ‘round the YouTube, and let’s all join together for the first-ever  Mid Kid Easter Sing-A-Long!