Craig Clarke wrote this review.
Before writing this review, I knew Jessica Harper only as an actress, specifically her work in two Woody Allen films, the horror classic Suspiria, and her role on the TV series It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (she won a Cable ACE award for her work during the fourth season). My personal favorite remains her film debut as Phoenix, the muse of tortured composer Winslow Leach in Brian De Palma’s Faustian Phantom of the Paradise, where she first displayed her charmingly husky singing voice. (I especially love that strut-and-spin dance she does at the end at the end of “Special to Me.”)
Though she still accepts the occasional character bit (most recently, the pivotal murder victim in Minority Report), recently she has reinvented herself as a singer and songwriter of music for children (she also writes children’s books, some of which are based on her music). Her albums have won four Parents’ Choice Gold Awards and five awards from the National Association of Parenting Publications, and she was named iParenting’s Mom of the Month in August 2004.
Hey, Picasso is a collection of 12 original songs inspired by classic paintings. Unlike most music written for children, Harper doesn’t patronize her audience. She has the enviable ability to write songs with catchy hooks that both children and adults can appreciate. Her simple (but not symplistic) lyrics are fun, memorable, and easy to sing along with, like the jazzy chorus from “My Advice” (inspired by Monet’s Caricature of a Lawyer:) “Always bring your umbrella and then the sun will shine. Never wear a wrist watch and you’ll have a lovely time. Give the world a nickel, it will give you back a dime. Just keep your toes and fingers crossed … and everything will be fine.”
Even my three-month-old perked up when these songs were playing, and I more than once found myself whistling their refrains. These songs are truly inspired pieces, not just a retelling of what’s ostensibly going on in the picture. Sometimes Harper is speaking to the person in the painting, like in the title track (inspired by Picasso’s Self-Portrait with a Palette) where she offers suggestions to the painted Pablo for what he should include on his canvas. Later, she tells the sad looking girl in Mary Cassatt’s Child in a Straw Hat that to “get your smile back” she should “Dance.”
Others influence Harper to look at her family. “Joy Ride” (inspired by Cassatt’s The Boating Party) contains the revelation that she “can’t lose with my baby by my side,” and Fernand Khnopff’s portrait of Jeanne Kefer makes her wish that her child could “Stay Three.” The latter’s syncopated refrain of “Hands clappin’, fingers snappin’, feet tappin’ / Feet tappin’ and rappin’ and nappin'” is just one of the many rhythmic joys to be found on this album. Many different styles are represented on Hey, Picasso, from jazz to rap to calypso to rock, but boredom is nowhere to be found.
Another Picasso (Three Musicians) inspires an ode to the high potential of youth. In talking to three young musicians (played by Harper’s daughters Nora and Elizabeth Rothman and her niece Rosie duPont), Harper reminds them that they are not limited on their instruments by music that was played before. These are, after all, “Not Your Father’s” violin / guitar / clarinet. The result is a set of funky, peppy solos that offer new takes on the instruments. (Ironically, the “old” violin piece that introduces the song is the “freedom’s song” chorus from the title track.)
Renoir’s painting of Monet Painting in his Garden at Argenteuil reminds her that “in every ocean there’s an oyster with a pearl / And there’s something shining in every boy and every girl,” that there is “Beauty in Everything.” And in “DreamDreamDream,” Harper puts herself in the place of the mother from Berthe Morisot’s The Cradle, promising that though “this world is not as perfect as it seems,” she “will try to keep you safe, you and your sweet dreams.” I identified with this sentiment and I think any new parent would.
More than a couple of the artists appear twice, so Harper obviously has her favorites, but her point is clear: to introduce children (and adults indirectly) to the idea that art need not be relegated purely to stuffy museums. The art, once created, no longer belongs just to the artist, but to us all (as represented by the endlessly charming cover illustration by Harper’s sister Lindsay Harper duPont). Hey, Picasso is the perfect way to introduce young minds to the old masters.
(Rounder Kids, 2004)
