Paddington: The Musical is the hottest ticket in town; Golden from KPop Demon Hunters was a No 1 hit in both the UK and US. Surely it’s time for a playlist of songs made for kids, which adults love too?
It’s a genre that includes some of the greatest music ever made, even if you’re strict about its limits (Somewhere Over the Rainbow isn’t included because The Wizard of Oz isn’t strictly a children’s film). This playlist doesn’t feature viral choruses, otherwise Bacon Pancakes from Adventure Time – turned into a bit by Hugh Jackman on Instagram, and also remixed with Empire State of Mind on YouTube into a Jake the Dog/Alicia Keys mash-up – would be in there.
Listen to The Observer’s playlist of the week here.
Happy from Despicable Me 2 (2013)
A get-thee-to-the-dancefloor groove with ridiculous levels of positivity, this is a track that seems as though it’s existed for decades, perhaps as a lost Marvin Gaye recording. In the film, Happy accompanies perma-grumpy inventor Gru in a life-is-good-when-you’re-in-love montage. In life, Pharrell Williams wrote it in a fit of pique – he said it was a sarcastic answer to the question “How do you make a song about a person that’s so happy that nothing can bring them down?” – hence the OTT lyrics.
Bright Eyes from Watership Down (1979)
A song about death sung by Art Garfunkel (and covered by the Manic Street Preachers in 1994), Bright Eyes was written and produced by Mike Batt, who is also responsible for the Wombles theme tune – another strong contender for the playlist. Appearing, with more strings, in the animated rabbit epic Watership Down, playing when bunny hero Hazel nearly dies, Bright Eyes stayed at number one for six weeks and became Britain’s biggest-selling single of 1979, with more than a million copies.
You Give a Little Love from Bugsy Malone (1976)
To be honest, any of the songs from Bugsy Malone would fit – Tomorrow, So You Wanna Be a Boxer? and Down and Out are all bangers – but You Give a Little Love edges it by rejigging the film’s excellent Bad Guys and layering a beautiful counter-melody over the top. As every kid knows, in the film it accompanies a full-on food fight. Rooty DJs Frank Tope and Tayo Popoola sometimes used to close their set with this.
Stick Song from Hey Duggee (2021)
You could invade a country to Hey Duggee’s Stick Song, as a friend pointed out. To be honest, The Enid Song, about Enid the cat, is better: just as catchy as Stick Song, but with a spacier, rave-prog feel, and “meow” instead of “stick” as a lyrical theme. But Enid isn’t as widely available – and anyway, once you hear Stick, you can never unhear it. It will march – relentlessly, endlessly – through your dreams. Forever.
You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story (1995)
Unbelievably, Randy Newman’s beautiful theme tune was beaten to the Oscar by Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas. You’ve Got a Friend in Me is not only one of the best kids’ movie songs of all time, it’s one of the best songs of all time. The cheery, un-cloying lyrics become utterly heartbreaking when combined with the melody, especially on the middle eight, and on “and as the years go by, our friendship will never die”. Guaranteed to cause open bawling in adults, especially if their kids sing it too.
Illustration by Charlotte Durance