Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

    Have you ever noticed how much 'name-calling' goes on when cultural and social change is in the air?  I thought today we might chew on a Tedd Judd and Sandy Pliskin song I recorded on my "Ebenezer's Make Over" album.  It's called YOU AIN'T BEEN DOIN' NOTHIN' IF THEY HAVEN'T CALLED YOU GAY!  The form is based on a song written by Eliot Kenin back in 1982 called "You Ain't Been Doing Nothing If You Ain't Been Called A Red".  Activists who work to make people's lives a bit more just and balanced and equal, get labeled as 'Reds' or 'Communists' or 'Socialists'.  The practice of using negative labels is often used by frightened, dominant privileged people when they feel threatened by others, whose existence or life-style is unfamiliar or different than their own.  And we've seen it forever in the realm of gender and sexual orientation and identity.  High time we 'called out' this practice, eh?  Thanks for stopping by!
* Subscribe to this weekly Songs To Chew podcast here:  ~
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* Check out my new CAMPING WITH DADS album here:  ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* 'Like' my FaceBook page here:  ~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Watch my music videos here:  ~ Youtube.com/peteralsop
* Support my music and teaching here:  ~ Patreon.com/peteralsop
* You can order my CDs & downloads here:  ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 
 

   Today we'll listen to a song written and sung by Holly Near, from our "Ebenezer's Make Over" album.  She wrote FOOLISH NOTION in 1980, and it's still completely relevant today.  Here we are, 40 years later, still asking the same, age-old question; "Why do we kill people, who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?" We'll chew on that idea after the song! I've never hit any of my children, (although I DO remember being spanked by my Dad!)  Things can change!  When we eliminate the option of using violence, then we're forced to come up with "better" ways to resolve conflict, and we also stop modeling to younger generations, the misconception that we can solve problems by using violence!  Thanks for stopping by.  If you subscribe to this podcast, then I'll be sure to see you here next week too!  Bye for now!
* Subscribe to Songs To Chew podcast here:  ~
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* Check out my new CAMPING WITH DADS album here:  ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* 'Like' my FaceBook page here:  ~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Watch my music videos here:  ~ Youtube.com/peteralsop
* Support my music and teaching here:  ~ Patreon.com/peteralsop
* You can order my CDs & downloads here:  ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

    I have a friend who refuses to say "good-bye".  She says "it sounds like we'll never see each other again!"  So today's "Song To Chew" is AU REVOIR, from my "Uh-Oh!" album, because "au revoir" in French means "until I see you again!"  Much less scary!  Separation from someone we love, can bring up fears that we might not see that person again; that we might find ourselves all alone and abandoned!  As social human creatures, we have deeply rooted fears of being left alone.  Those fears usually go away as we get older and more secure in our ability to survive without our parents.  But some of us grown-ups still have trouble when it's time to separate and go our own ways.  Lots of pre-school teachers play this song to help kids AND parents understand that they WILL see each other again at the end of the day!  It also helps parents see how our own separation anxieties can get passed on to our children.  As my friend and teacher, Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse says, “The health of a family can be seen, by the ease of their comings and goings."  So, take it easy, and I'll see ya next week, with another song to chew.  Au Revoir!
* Subscribe to this weekly Songs To Chew podcast here:  ~
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* Check out my new CAMPING WITH DADS album here:  ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* 'Like' my FaceBook page here:  ~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Watch my music videos here:  ~ Youtube.com/peteralsop
* Support my music and teaching here:  ~ Patreon.com/peteralsop
* You can order my CDs & downloads here:  ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

    On this week’s episode of SONGS TO CHEW, we have a couple of short songs to chew on.  In my family of origin, we grew-up with a lot of 'teasing' and 'making fun' of each other.  Everyone in our family was 'fair game' as a target, and sometimes we'd all laugh so hard that we'd start crying.  Most often, our clumsy attempts at being clever, were just dumb and ridiculous, and a bit cruel, and we learned to develop a thick skin.  As I grew older and wiser, I learned that when I tried to make myself 'look good' at someone else's expense, it really doesn't look all that good, and if we're paying attention, it doesn't feel all that good either.  First, we'll listen to THE LA FREEWAY SONG, live from the Icehouse in Pasadena, and then a song I wrote almost 50 years ago to play for people who weren't listening to what I was singing up on stage.  It's called, HEY YOU!  Both of these songs use 'body sounds' to get people's attention.  I hope you enjoy these free weekly podcasts, and your friends will thank you if you suggest to them, that they too might enjoy listening to each week's menu. Thanks for stopping by!
* Subscribe to Songs To Chew podcast ~ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156
* CAMPING WITH DADS - my newest album! ~ https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1. 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 
 

    Our 'Song To Chew' this week is called "Dyin' To Be Thin".  I wrote it as the title song for a 1986 NOVA documentary on anorexia and bulimia that won an Iris Award for excellence.  In the US, an estimated 8 million people suffer from anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorders and that includes at least three out of every 100 adolescent girls.  "Dyin' To Be Thin" was used in a musical version of Aristophane's play "Lysistrata", presented at the Theatricum Botanicum in the summer of 2003.  It fit so well with the play's theme, where the Greek woman agreed to withhold sex from any soldiers who wouldn't stop fighting in the wars.  It's staged at a modern-day gymnasium with the women working out to look their most attractive!  (check the YouTube link below!) My sister-in-law, actress Melora Marshall sings this one, along with the other actors in the cast.  Like Lysistrata, we're all concerned about wars and countries taking over other countries, and racial injustice, patriarchy and the systems and conditions that we live in.  Our economic and social systems create stories for our youth, who in order to feel good about themselves, have to constantly diet and exercise to lose weight and look more attractive, rather than simply eat a healthy diet and exercise to stay fit.  I'd love to change those stories!  Help spread the word!  See you next week with another Song To Chew.
* Subscribe to Songs To Chew podcast ~
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* CAMPING WITH DADS - my newest album! ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHmsgbZ8UOQ&t=19s  ~ "Dyin' To Be Thin" video
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

    Today's Song To Chew from my Fan Club Favorites album, has been a big hit in junior high schools all across this country!  It's called LET'S TRADE BUTTS, so of course, it's humorous. When teens are asked about their bodies, they often express self-criticism, and strong feelings of inadequacy, jealousy and shame.  Our adolescent years are difficult because our bodies AND our role in society are changing.  As teens we often want to look like someone else.  We want some body part to be bigger or smaller.  We know our life would be better we were taller or thinner or our hair was a different color or length or texture.  Our appearance seems to be the ticket to acceptance from our peers.  So I figured, "Why not just trade body parts with our friends?  They might want something we have, and then everybody wins, right?!  Yet beneath the humor of this song, lurks the painful feeling for some of us, that if we're just ourselves, we're "never enough", and then the grass always look greener when we look in other people's yards, or at their bodies, or their lives.  And that's a recipe for painful depression, and as the song says "If you don't like your own, you're nuts!"  We don't have a music video for this one yet, so if you're inspired by the topic, please feel free to make one!  You have my official permission to put it up on YouTube!  And let your friends know about this podcast.  It's free!  I'm Peter Alsop. See you next week with another Song To Chew!
* Subscribe to Songs To Chew podcast ~ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* CAMPING WITH DADS - my newest album! ~ https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music 

    Today our 'Song To Chew' is sung by an ecological activist, Snowy the Frostman!  The kids and I are hanging out at the mall during the holiday season, listening to Snowy 'stutter-sing' his way through "G-GEE IT'S WARM OUT HERE" from my "Chris Moose Holidays" album. It's about climate change and global warming!  "So why does Snowy the Frostman stutter?", you may ask. I think 'stuttering' sounds like 'shivering while you're talking', and because I work with many special-needs kids, I like my songs to include some of the special 'differences' that these kids live with.  Kids with special needs are still 'kids', not just someone identified by what's different about them!  So teachers use this song to help their students discuss why people stutter and how it feels. They also use it to address climate change! One young ecological warrior of today with special 'differences', is the wonderful Gretta Thunberg. She's helped our whole world focus on why we have to take action soon to save our planet! If each of us does something small to reach out to others, it will get us all moving in a more sustainable direction, and we'll have a better chance of NOT ending up where we're headed!  I'm Peter Alsop.  See you next week with another SONG TO CHEW.  Bye for now!
* Subscribe to my weekly - Songs To Chew podcast ~ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* CAMPING WITH DADS - my newest album! ~  https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music
 

    Let's chew on the 'Wonderful Diversity of Human Sexuality' with MY SECRET, a song from my very first album.  I often use humor in my songs to share tidbits of information that I've found valuable.  This song is loaded with bad puns and exaggerations.  We humans have a huge range of diverse sexual behaviors, many of which are common, but there are some secrets that people hide, out of fear that others may regard them as "not okay" or "weird, exotic, disgusting, sacrilegious, shameful, dirty, illegal, sinful or just plain silly."  I believe that an adult person's sexual behavior is their own business, unless they're cruel, destructively violent, abusive or coercive.  Treating another person like that is just never okay with me.  So if you find yourself hiding your behaviors, you might want to see if your own flags are going up to signal you, saying "Hey!  Maybe we need to get some help here!"  I wrote this song to get folks who pass judgement on other people, to acknowledge that very probably, they have their very own hidden private quirks and idiosyncrasies!  As the song says, "I’ll tell you, if you’ll tell me.  Do you get hot with your bathroom locked?   Well, I cool my nerves with Mom’s preserves, it’s just a difference of degree!"  I'm Peter Alsop.  I'll be back next week with another SONG TO CHEW.  Bye for now! (Illustration by Terri Asher)
* Subscribe to my weekly - Songs To Chew podcast ~
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156 
* CAMPING WITH DADS - my newest album! ~
https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1 
* E-mail/ Website ~ peter@peteralsop.com  ~ https://www.peteralsop.com 
* www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop 
* Youtube.com/peteralsop ~ videos
* Patreon.com/peteralsop ~ support my music, podcast & other artistic endeavors
* CDs & downloads ~ http://www.peteralsop.com/music