Kimya Dawson
The singer on her passions: attachment parenting and poop songs.
by Caitlin MacRae
September 22, 2008
To me, Alphabutt feels like another Kimya album, and it's really neat to hear music that children can listen to that doesn't sacrifice or dumb down emotional complexity.
I had a really amazing experience a few years ago. I went and did a show for the Boys and Girls Club in Carlsbad, and after I played a few songs, I decided to play a song of mine, "Lullaby for the taken," which is about my nephew being kidnapped, and I played it, and I said to the kids, "This song is really sad, but I feel like playing it today." And I played it and I could see that some of them looked really sad, and I said to them, "When you're sad it's really important that you talk about the things that you feel sad about, instead of just keeping it in," and then after I played, the kids lined up to tell me what they were sad about. Some of the kids were like, "I had a goldfish who died last year," and some of them would say, "My daddy just left for war," you know, "My mommy had to get a restraining order against my daddy," or you know, parents got divorced, or one of their parents died, or their grandparents died. But so many of these kids had all this stuff that they were aware of that was going on in their life, and maybe they hadn't had a really intense opportunity to really talk to someone about it.
I think a lot of kids have a lot more stuff inside of them then we realize, and we can be a lot more straight-up and a lot more real with them about pretty heavy stuff. And I think it just really helps for them to have the example of big people showing their feelings. Adults very rarely let kids know that they feel sad. I think kids need to be made aware that all feelings are okay to feel, and they should never be ashamed of feeling bad or upset about something, they just need to figure out how to work through it and how to cope with it and how to grieve. And you know, they just need to be given the tools that they need to deal with stuff, and not feel like they have to hide things or feel ashamed of things.
Alphabutt also has more references to bodily functions than your other records.
I feel like when I made this album I was conscious of the language. 
"I am a firm believer that there are no dirty words." I've gotten a lot of emails from people, like teachers or something who are like, "Oh, kids love your stuff, but I always have to burn a CD I can play in my classroom that doesn't have the dirty songs on it." So I thought it would be nice to have one album that was daycare friendly, or school friendly, or grandparents-house-friendly. But I am a firm believer that there are no dirty words, you just have to pay attention to how you use language, that nothing should be taboo but nothing should be hurtful.
I saw somewhere that you were working on a book for kids?
It's sort of a pipe dream. My original plan was to release Alphabutt as a book and an album together, and then as I thought about it more, it's like, well, the album's done, and I'm on tour, and to get a book made . . . it just would have taken a long time. So I decided I would get the album done, focusing on finishing up touring and being a mom, and think about the book a little later. I've got a friend in Colorado who has his own publishing company and he has told me that as soon as I get a kids book done he will get it out for me and have toys made of the characters, so eventually that's something I would like to happen, but right now it's just in my mind. Right now, I'd rather just chill out, go sit by the river and hang out with my baby.
Click to buy Kimya's new album! |
©2008 Caitlin MacRae and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Caitlin M. is a recent college graduate, a former Californian, and a maker of wild excuses (freelance). She is an avid knitter, a trained bookbinder, and spends more time than she’d like to admit trying to perfect cooking with both chocolate and cayenne pepper. In addition to her more grandmotherly hobbies, she spends her time writing flash fiction, defending the city of Los Angeles, and daydreaming of Wyoming. |
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