Track Listing

1. You'll Always Be You To Me
2. My Best Friend Is A Salamander
3. Picnic At The Zoo
4. Melvin McBrickle
5. Little Space Guy
6. Larry's A Sunflower Now
7. Language Lesson With Mr. Schnibelstein
8. Tantrum
9. Bucky The Miniature Talkin' Horse
10. Little Bitty Baby
11. An Ant Named Jane
12. Magic When You Come My Way

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191834 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-29
• Number of discs: 1

From Amazon.com
Peter Himmelman is better known for his introspective songwriting than for his sense of humor, but on My Best Friend Is a Salamander he makes deft use of both. A children's album that never talks down to its intended audience, it takes its cues from Carole King's classic Really Rosie and Randy Newman's Toy Story and Babe: Pig in the City endeavors. Working with a veteran band gives the songs a timeless feel and the messages imparted are much the same: "You shouldn't judge a friend by how he looks or what he eats," Himmelman sings in the title song (even if he eats a grasshopper foot and a roasted fly); "A rock is a mountain to a bee... but you'll always be you to me," he reassures. There's also a story about alien visitors ("Little Space Guy"), the world's smallest vocal horse ("Bucky the Talkin' Miniature Horse," only two feet tall), and the travels of "An Ant Named Jane" (who "found herself on a Miami-bound air-o-plane"). It's a delightful album for parents and children, and one that neither will tire of anytime soon. --Randy Silver