Time to take a brief stress break in the middle of your hectic day and think back to your childhood… of the simple little things in life that made you happy….. or made you smile….. that made everything right in your world….. if only for that moment in time. The theme here is toys, usually meaning the toys of the past or “yesteryear”. Some of these songs look back on a particular toy with great fondness while others use the theme of toys to shed light on something completely different….. if you know what I mean. The only requirement here is that there is a toy mentioned by name or referred/suggested to in the title of the song….. even if it happens to have a ‘double’ or ‘alternative’ meaning. You’ll find a few of these to be real obscure but there are some fun ones here in the mix. Enjoy!
Songs About Toys
- A Broken Doll – Al Jolson (1916)
- Baby Be My Toy – Teresa Brewer
- Barbie Girl – Aqua
- Big Boy Toys – Aaron Tippin
- Brand New Key – Melanie
- Come & Buy My Toys – David Bowie
- Cuddly Toy – Nilsson
- Doll House – Priscilla Renea
- Dreidel – Don McLean
- I Like My Toys – Idle Race
- I’m In Love With My Little Red Tricycle – Napoleon XIV
- I’m Your Puppet – James & Bobby Purify
- Jack In The Box – Jackpots
- Kite – U2
- Kites Are Fun – The Free Design
- Let’s Go Fly A Kite – from the Disney classic, Mary Poppins
- Like Toy Soldiers – Eminem
- Little Plastic Castle – Ani DiFranco
- Little Toy Trains – Glen Campbell
- Master of Puppets – Metallica
- My Ding-A-Ling – Chuck Berry
- New Toy – Lene Lovich
- Old Toy Trains – Roger Miller
- One Tin Soldier – The Original Caste, Coven
- Parade of The Wooden Soldiers – Harry Connick Jr. (A Disney Classic)
- Puppet Man – The Fifth Dimension
- Rag Doll – Aerosmith
- Rag Doll – Four Seasons
- Real Toys – Altered Images
- Red Rubber Ball – The Cyrkle
- Rubber Duckie Song – Ernie from Sesame Street (voiced by Jim Henson)
- Skip A Rope – Henson Cargill
- Teddy Bear – Elvis Presley
- The Dreidel Song – various artists
- The Hula Hoop Song – Teresa Brewer
- The Man With All The Toys – The Beach Boys
- The Marvelous Toy – Chad Mitchell Trio (however the well done animated video shown below is John Denver as the vocal – who actually was former member of the Chad Mitchell Trio long before he went solo in his career)
- The Teddy Bear Song – Barbara Fairchild
- The Teddy Bear’s Picnic – Henry Hall & His Orchestra (1932) An All-time children’s classic
- Toy Balloons – Russ Conway
- Toy Boy – Mika
- Toy Soldiers – Martika
- Toys In The Attic – Aerosmith
- Yellow Balloon – The Yellow Balloon
- Yo-Yo – Billy Joe Royal
- Yo-Yo – The Osmond Brothers
BONUS #1:
SONGS ABOUT GAMES & OTHER RELATED PLAY THINGS
- 19 Something – Mark Wills
- Do The Donkey Kong – Buckner & Garcia
- House At Pooh Corner – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- March of The Toy Soldiers – from the Nutcracker Suite – originally by Tchaikovsky
- Merry Go Round – The Replacements
- Music Box Dancer – Frank Mills
- My Boomerang Won’t Come Back – Charlie Drake
- Pac-Man Fever – Buckner & Garcia
- Penny Arcade – Roy Orbison
- Pinball Wizard – The Who
- Playground In My Mind – Clint Holmes
- Puff The Magic Dragon – Peter Paul & Mary
- Return To Pooh Corner – Kenny Loggins
- Simon Says – 1910 Fruit Gum Company
- Two Little Boys – Rolf Harris
SPECIAL BONUS #2:
CLASSIC TOY TV COMMERCIAL JINGLES
1960’s Cracker Jacks Commercial with Famous Theme Song (This is a classic embedded in deep within the memories of those of us who grew up in this era)
1960’s Slink Commercial with Famous Theme Song (same can be said here for an iconic tune from my childhood)
1980’s G.I. Joe Theme Song from the TV cartoon series of the 80’s
Extra Special Bonus #3:
YouTube Sensations
“The Gummy Bear Song” (English version) – Gummibar (includes sing-along lyrics)
“Transformers Song – I Am Optimus Prime” – Parody of “The Time” (Black Eyed Peas) by Angie Griffin & Chad Nikolaus
“The Toy Song” – Destorm
Filed under: childhood memories, Fun 'N' Games, kids games, Nostalgia, Song Lists, Toys & Games | Tagged: childhood games, childhood memorial, childhood nostalgia, childhood toys, song list, songs about toys | Leave a comment »
Board games, with their colorful packaging, enticing game boards and iconic playing pieces, are popular with just about everyone. No matter what your taste, there’s a game out there for you. Besides testing your knowledge (Go To The Head Of The Class), or skill (Operation), or luck (Trouble), they are fun to play and a great way to interact socially with others. Milton Bradley has been by far the leading producer of board games, followed by Parker Brothers. Ideal Toys was the main producer of action games during the 1960s and 1970s.
Hopefully this will bring back happy memories of the games you played, in which you chanced it all at the spin of a wheel or a toss of the dice. After each game’s listing are the manufacturer and the year it debuted. These games run the gamut – ranging from the from Milton Bradley’s 1916 classic, Uncle Wiggly, all the way through Cranium, released in 1992. See how many of these you remember 🙂
Not to be left off this list — A nod has to be given to the ancient and ever 
popular games of backgammon, chess and checkers which have stood the test of time (as well as passed down from generation to generation) and are still very popular to this day. 
Also — Games involving traditional playing cards (such as Poker, Black Jack, Gin 
Rummy, Solitaire, Hearts, Crazy 8’s, etc.) or specialty playing cards (Uno, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, etc.) were left off this particular list even though their popularity — WAS — and — STILL IS — HUGE!
Reflections of Pop Culture & Life's Challenges 