Are You Kidding Me?? - addition on May 15

I am to blame. I willing went to McDonald's. Mark was out of town for a game, we had a crazy day, and I wanted to treat the girls to Happy Meals. No excuses, this all could have been prevented but in a moment of weakness I tried to take the easy way out. I could fill a post with the ridiculousness of the messed up order and the two times we waited in the drive through line to fix it but that is not even the worst of it. Stay with me.


Trying to keep calm after my second time through the line I popped in the Kidz Bop CD that came with the meals. The first song is Photograph, happily sung by little voices. The original is sung by Nickelback which should be the first clue it may not be good for my 6 year old. So without further ado here are the lyrics to songs that they give out to their patrons 4 years of age and over (they do have toys for kids 3 and under if you choose)....


"Photograph"


Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
How did our eyes get so red
And what the hell is on Joey's head (they changed this to heck)


And this is where I grew up
I think the present owner fixed it up
I never knew we'd ever went without
The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school
Most of the time had better things to do
Criminal record says I broke in twice (they changed criminal to school, not sure how that makes it better)
I must have done it half a dozen times


I wonder if it's too late
Should i go back and try to graduate
Life's better now than it was back then
If I was them I wouldn't let me in


Oh, oh, oh Oh, god, I
Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye.
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye.


Remember the old arcade
Blew every dollar that we ever made
The cops hated us hangin' out
They say somebody went and burned it down


We used to listen to the radio
And sing along with every song we know
We said someday we'd find out how it feels
To sing to more than just the steering wheel


Kim's the first girl I kissed
I was so nervous that I nearly missed
She's had a couple of kids since then
I haven't seen her since god knows when


Chorus and some other stuff...


The next song "Hanging On" starts out like this....


I've had a bad day
And nothing ever seems to go my way
I've got a heartache
Don't wanna think about it
And every time I try to smile, I cry,
so I'll just hide my face
Get out of my way
Don't wanna talk about it

Can we save the teen angst until they are actually teens?


I'm not a letter writing kind of person but I AM going to write a letter to McDonald's. What kind of people do they have choosing Happy Meal toys? Do other parents actually listen to this stuff before giving it to their kids? What is wrong with this picture? Me overreacting? I guess I just stash these CDs with the tattooed Barbies and thong wearing Bratz dolls. Seriously people, this is just wrong.

May 15, 2009 addition:

I guess they got much response about this promotion....
McDonald's Kidz Bop CD Pulled for Kid-Unfriendly Language
by Brett Singer May 15th 2009 6:00AM