Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

Latest Episodes:

Bigger, Bigger, Bigger Jun 10, 2022

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This week’s SONG TO CHEW from my “Stayin’ Over” album is BIGGER, BIGGER, BIGGER. In our families, the ‘big’ people are the adults, and the ‘little’ people are the kids. ‘Big’ people have more power and we often use it to make the ‘little’ people do what we want. But before long, all ‘little’ people get to be ‘big’ people, and we start pushing the new ‘little’ people around. More and more these days, we see ‘big’ people pushing their version of the world onto the ‘littler’ people around them. The same dynamics that happen in families, also happen in organizations, and societies and globally. So the more us ‘big’ people can learn about how to manage being ‘fair’ in our families; about how to listen to ‘little’ people better, the more skills we gain that help us better manage ourselves as members of one of the groups in our human community here on this planet of ours.

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = www.peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

I Wanna Try It Jun 03, 2022

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This week we'll ‘chew’ on a song from my “Stayin’ Over” album, I WANNA TRY IT. This song was prompted by one of my ‘parental learning moments’. It was a holiday, and I’d purchased a toy for my daughters, who tore off the wrapping paper, but they couldn’t get the box open. It was stapled shut. I heroically took out my Swiss Army knife and told them to “Stand back!” I removed the staples, opened the box, cut the bags, and poured the pieces onto the rug. I searched for corresponding numbers on the large diagram of directions. As I pushed one of the plastic parts into place, it split into two pieces! Both girls inhaled loudly and I remember thinking, “Oh No! I BROKE THEIR TOY! It’s the same thing my Dad did to me!” I remember seeing my therapist about that! I finally got it out of my system by writing this song! Teachers, parents and older siblings often show younger children how to do things, and we forget to let the little ones have, a "hands on" experience. When we do things for others that they can do for themselves, we deprive them of the chance to empower themselves, to learn to be self-sufficient. People grow much more by doing, than by letting others do things for them. Thanks for stopping by! Please subscribe and invite your friends. See ya next week for another SONG TO CHEW!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = www.peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

Logical May 27, 2022

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This week’s SONG TO CHEW comes from my “Family Roles” album, recorded live with my daughter Willow at our presentation for about 600 human service professionals at a national “Laughter & Play” conference. The song is called LOGICAL. Us parents do our best to use this with our children, but sometimes, us ‘logical thinkers’ get carried away trying to convince others that our ideas are the best ones. When we do this, we can miss that other people’s input needs to be considered and validated, even if they disagree with our logical conclusions. Even if they’re children! We will be much more successful in resolving disagreements, when we pay attention to ‘how’ we use logic when we explain things. Attacking someone else’s position doesn’t work well for finding ways to proceed together successfully. Logic works best as a tool to help us navigate through the context of our larger, often confusing lives. The easiest path to a successful conclusion becomes clear, when all parties are included in the process in a caring way.

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

Chromasoma Phobia May 20, 2022

Show notes

For our SONG TO CHEW today, Alan Arnaboldi sings CHROMASOMA PHOBIA, written by my old friend Bob Blue. It’s from my “Ebenezer’s Make Over” album and it gives us a glimpse into Bob’s creative ability as a songwriter. He weaves specific scientific information into a poetic description of how our chromosomes determine our biological gender. Us humans are ‘very interested’ when we see someone who’s gender isn’t instantly recognizable. We’ve been trained to pick up any signals about gender so we ‘know in advance’ how best to interact with them. This song is interesting to ‘chew on’ because, along with the chromosomes that this embryo inherits, there are scads of other complex human interpretations and cultural morays about gender and sexuality offered by others who have more dominant voices, that this new human will have to sort through! We wish them the best of luck!!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = www.peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

Bored, Bored, Bored May 13, 2022

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Hello there! This week’s Song To Chew is BORED, BORED, BORED from my “Wha’D’YaWanna Do?” family album. Feeling bored can be very painful. When our daily ‘distractions’ recede, any painful feelings we might have stuffed away because we didn’t want to deal with them, seize the opportunity to step up front and demand our attention! Sad, scared and angry feelings get our attention! And ‘boredom’ is kind of a mix of all three! It hurts and it comes out of not believing in ourselves. Being bored can happen to those of us who use work to ‘medicate’ our painful feelings. We ‘busy’ ourselves so our painful feelings never have a chance to surface. It’s call “being driven”! When we feel bored, it always helps to shift our perception into a ‘wait’n see’ attitude! Life always presents us with a new focus. We just have trouble seeing what’s out there, when we're bored and feeling sorry for ourselves! Give this a try! Put your hand on your heart. Feel it beating, then think about our limited number of heartbeats! Why in the world would we use them up being bored!? It's okay to take care of ourselves by removing ourselves from unpleasant boring situations. Try listening to this song! Singing always seems to help! I’ll be back next week with another ‘Song to Chew’. Bye for now!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

My Body: Singing For Our Lives May 07, 2022

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Today we’ll listen to MY BODY’S NOBODY’S BODY BUT MINE. It seems our Supreme Court doesn’t realize that when there’s an embryo developing inside a woman’s body, that it’s her choice and nobody else’s, to decide if she wants to give birth to that embryo or not. The supporters of eliminating Roe v. Wade are the same people who sit in their “love thy neighbor” churches, mouthing platitudes like “do unto others, as you would have them do unto you”, while they vote against increasing the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour, funding school-lunch programs and any ‘single-payer health-care-for-all’ bills, - all of which would make it possible for impoverished parents to take better care of their children. These legal constrictions on a woman’s right to choose is certainly not about caring for the welfare of children. We marched through the streets of Milwaukee back in 1979 singing this song, and since then it's been sung at thousands of rallies, and in classrooms and auditoriums. Everyone has the right to be in charge of their own physical body. A woman’s decision to have an abortion is not taken lightly. It’s something that should never be legislated by anyone but the pregnant woman herself. It’s complex and personal, and up to one person only. It’s her choice! Then we’ll sing along with Holly Near’s anthem SINGING FOR OUR LIVES. As Joe Hill said, “Don’t mourn, … organize!” I say, “Don’t forget to vote, and keep singin’!”

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

I Am A Pizza Apr 29, 2022

Show notes

This week we’ve ‘chewing on’ my most popular song, “I AM A PIZZA”! Other than the normal toppings, this song does not offer lots of complicated philosophical flavors, but there are a few. There’s the importance of using imagination in our lives; the concepts of ‘playfulness’, ‘childlike fun’, joy and the awareness that the health of our bodies depends on our ‘state of mind’. When we let our minds wander freely, new doors open and we find unexpected solutions to puzzles in our lives. When we stop trying to "make sense of everything" and we laugh or sing along, our other senses fire up and get us back in balance! When ‘Life’ hands us a situation that we don’t expect, it can knock us for a loop! How well we recover depends on how we see what just happened. The ‘glasses’ we have on make all the difference about our ability to respond in healthy ways. Listen to our podcast for free, then you can ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’, and go back for all the other episodes! Bye for now!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

The Matador Apr 22, 2022

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This week’s SONG TO CHEW was written by my old friend Geof Morgan, one of the main musical voices of the feminist men’s movement in the 70’s and 80’s. His song, THE MATADOR, is sung by our mutual friend and well-known singer-songwriter, Charlie Murphy. This song emphasizes how some men feel the need to prove our bravery by taking life-threatening risks and performing violent acts. Many of us understand that we will probably never have a ‘peaceful world’. It’s likely that humans will always struggle with each other here on this planet, but it's past time for us to look honestly at our history. If we want to be able to build social systems that support and lift people; if we want prosperity and lives with some grace and beauty, rather than lives under fear and poverty and wars, we need to abolish the violent ways we’ve learned to treat one-another, and find ways to value joy and love in our own male lives.

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = www.peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

Erica Levine Apr 15, 2022

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Today’s SONG TO CHEW from my ‘Fan Club Favorites’ album, is called ERICA LEVINE. It was written by my dear old friend Bob Blue. Throughout history in many different cultures, women have been treated like property. Fathers would have to pay a certain amount of money or make a gift of property as a "dowry" to a young man, who would be willing to marry his daughter and take her as a wife. Societies passed on the idea that there was something wrong with a woman who didn't have a husband. She was "incomplete" or "not worth anything" if she wasn't married. So Bob wrote this song about a young woman who had a strong sense of her own self-worth. Erica didn't need to marry someone in order to feel good about herself, and she wasn't about to marry anyone until she was good and ready! We can't set a boundary for ourselves and take care of someone else’s feelings at the same time. Click on the link below to listen, and if you like this podcast, please subscribe and tell your friends. Bye for now!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe

Itsy Spider Apr 08, 2022

Show notes

Our ‘Song To Chew’ today is a classic children’s song from my “Uh-Oh!” album, ITSY SPIDER. Many children’s songs have deep and lasting effects on us though out our entire lives. My version of this song is kind of an ‘up-grade’. I learned the original Itsy Spider song in pre-school 70 years ago. Back then we did hand motions; our fingers became Itsy spiders walking up the drain pipe, our wiggling fingers were the rain drops falling; and we’d throw our arms out to the sides as we “washed the spider OUT!” The sun came out, and our fingers became Itsy spiders again, climbing back up the spout! Again and again and again! For 70 years! And I started thinking, “what lessons have we been teaching our children!?” The definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results!’ Maybe the Itsy spider ought to try something new! Ya think?! The original song models patience, and perseverance, and my version adds the importance of setting boundaries and walking through our fear of changing! C’mon! Have some fun and sing along with us!!

~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com

~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1

~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop

~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos

~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors

~ www.peteralsop.com/music = CDs & downloads

Get full access to Peter Alsop’s Substack at peteralsop.substack.com/subscribe