“Waking Up Is Hard to Do”

In 2009 I heard Neil Sedaka being interviewed. He spoke of the joy he found with his five year old twin granddaughters Charlotte and Amanda. They accompany their renowned granddad on his album for children entitled “Waking Up Is Hard to Do”. I thought it was sweet and posted a blog about it.

Now it is 8 years later and the whole atmosphere of the country has changed. A dismal pall seems to have settled over us and we badly need a bit of fun to cheer us up. Sedaka is a legendary pop singer and songwriter and he's taken eleven of his hits from decades past and revised them. The tunes are the same but the words are changed to tickle a child’s fancy.

“Breaking Up is Hard to Do” (his 1962 hit), wouldn’t mean a thing to a toddler but they could certainly relate to “Waking up” being hard to do ! Neil performed it during the interview and I couldn’t help but sing along as he played and sang the words:

They say that wakin’ up is hard to do

Wear a smile and don’t you be blue

Just wipe the sleep from your eyes

Instead of going back to bed

You’ve gotta stretch and face the day

Just listen to the Birdies sing

And the flowers that await the Spring

Rise and shine, your dreaming’s through.

Wakin’ up is hard to do.

Some of the other parodies on the album are “Lunch Will Keep Us Together”, echoing “Love Will Keep Us Together”, “Where the Toys Are”, a takeoff of “Where the Boys Are”, and “Dinosaur Pet”, a variation on “Calendar Girl”...(“I love, I love, I love my dinosaur pet”).

I guess it will depend on your age if you remember these tunes as well as I do, but one thing is sure. If you have small children and you play this album for them you will find yourself captivated too. Just remember that singing and dancing is definitely permitted. Who knows? Maybe your children will write a blog entry about it 70 years from now!