Line 24 of the Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is here!

That's what I love about songwriting - that you can write something about your own experiences and think it's completely specific to you, and then people can take away a completely different meaning for themselves. I really love that. I think you've been successful at writing a song when it has a larger life than yourself.
~Idina Menzel

I know adding a line to Irene's Progressive Poem has been daunting for folks who don't know many lyrics. My head is stuffed full of lyrics, and I hoped that would help me out. As I go about my days, usually lyrics just pop into my head. Kind of a soundtrack that goes with whatever is going on. Like if "I Can't Go For That" by Hall and Oates starts playing in my head, I apparently don't want to do something. Sometimes I get a song stuck in my head that doesn't have anything to do with anything and it just hangs around. Or the last song I heard in the car will stay on repeat.

So, I've got lots of songs to draw from, but I was seriously cowed by trying to come up with the next line for the Progressive Poem. I thought about children's songs, Beatles songs that appeal to kids, I had the urge for specificity, for an action, but that's not where we're at. If I suddenly had Freddy going for spaghetti or put us in an octopus' garden, that would be jarring.

I told Ariana what line 23 was and she asked "Would flananas work?" which made me laugh (I had mentioned that I wished I could use a line from SteveSongs' tune about a guy named Joe, maker of a delicious banana pie whose secret ingredient is...flananas. I fear there's no room for banana pies, even ones made with flananas, in this poem.)

I told Elena what line 23 was and she suggested What do we think we might see? for line 24 (and Someday we'll find it for line 25, etc.). Hmmm, okay!

Just kidding, I probably didn't use that. Elena and I agreed that I would use whatever the next line was on the song on the radio. It was Ooooooooo, which goes with anything, don't you think?

Okay, if that wasn't going to work, maybe I should circle back to my original idea (that I told Matt after he gave us the first line): I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand. I mean, werewolves go with stargazing, right? Who is more enthusiastic about night skies than them?

With that settled, I finally relaxed. I kid! No relaxing. I decided to cling to the stargazing line and do something related to that. Jamie Woon has a nice line: Feel that night air flowing through me, which kind of rhymes with "curiosity," but ultimately I decided to go with the Foo Fighters: Looking for a sign of life from "Learn to Fly."

2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

Endless summer; I can see for miles…
Fun, fun, fun – and the whole world smiles.
No time for school- just time to play,
we swim the laughin’ sea each and every day.

You had only to rise, lean from your window,
the curtain opens on a portrait of today.
Kodachrome greens, dazzling blue,
it’s the chance of a lifetime,

make it last forever–ready? Set? Let’s Go!
Come, we’ll take a walk, the sun is shining down
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
Tomorrow’s here. It’s called today.

Gonna get me a piece o’ the sky.
I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea
and there’s a tiger in my veins Oh,
won’t you come with me waltzing the waves, diving the deep?

It’s not easy to know
less than one minute old
we’re closer now than light years to go
To the land where the honey runs

…we can be anyone we want to be…
There’s no stopping curiosity.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
Looking for a sign of life

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Found Lines:

L1 The Who, ‘I Can See for Miles’ / The Beach Boys, ‘Endless Summer’
L2 The Beach Boys, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ / Dean Martin, ‘When You’re Smiling’
L3 The Jamies, ‘Summertime, Summertime’
L4 The Doors ‘Summer’s Almost Gone’/ Led Zeppelin ‘Good Times, Bad Times’
L5 Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine “You had only to rise, lean from your window,”
L6 Joni Mitchell, “Chelsea Morning”
L7 Paul Simon, “Kodachrome,” “Dazzling Blue”
L8 Dan Fogelberg, “Run for the Roses”
L9 Spice Girls, “Wannabe”/ Will Smith, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”
L10 The Beatles, “Good Day Sunshine”
L11 The Carpenters, “Top of the World”
L12 Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Underneath the Lovely London Sky” from Mary Poppins Returns
L13 Carol King, “Hi-de-ho (That Old Sweet Roll)”
L14 Steve Miller, “Fly Like An Eagle”
L15 Don Felder, “Wild Life”
L16 Nowleen Leeroy, “Song of the Sea ” (lullaby)
L17 Sara Bareilles, “She Used to Be Mine” from WAITRESS
L18 Stevie Wonder, “Isn’t She Lovely”
L19 R.E.M, “Find the River”
L20 Carole King, “Way Over Yonder”
L21 Mint Juleps, “Groovin” by The Young Rascals
L22 Jack Johnson, “Upside Down”
L23 Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson), “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie
L24 The Foo Fighters, "Learn to Fly"

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Jan has it next! Good luck, buddy! (Feel free to use my leftover lines if you want. Oooooo goes with anything!)