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PODCAST

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

Humor, wisdom & commentary by Peter Alsop on his award winning songs and stories; some for kids & families, some for teens and adults! peteralsop.substack.com

education self-improvement

All Episodes

5:10

Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2025/10/24

I wrote “Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do” in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980’s, which was spreading like wildfire through the Gay community.My daughters Megan and Willow joined me when I went to perform at a California Men’s Gathering back then, ... and the men kept coming up to ‘thank me’ for coming to sing and bringing my daughters along. There was so much fear back then about contracting HIV from gay men. No one knew for certain yet, how this deadly virus was transmitted. People were

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3:54

Letter To Mr. Brown

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2025/10/04

THE LETTER TO MR. BROWNDear Mr. Brown, from the kids in Room Two G-C-GWe’re writing you a letter, like you taught us to do C-G-C-DWe all got together at lunch this noon G-Em-CAnd we decided we’d better do something soon. G-C-D9-G‘Cause lately you’ve been diff’rent, and we don’t know why G-A-Am-GDid we do something wrong? Am7-GWe’re sorry and we’ll try C-D9To act a little better, if we’ve been bad G-A-Am-GWe all think that you’re the best teacher we’ve had Am7-G-D9-GYou used to hold our hands,

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2:41

Baby Needs A Parent

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2025/09/29

As a psychologist and songwriter, I’ve made my living lecturing, consulting, writing songs and doing concerts for kids, parents and human service professionals. I’ve presented at conferences and concerts all over the world for more than 50 years.I wrote ‘Baby Needs A Parent’ in 1980, when most single parent families were headed by Moms. These days there are more Dads heading single-parent families than there were back then, but a 2022 US census reported that approximately 80% of single-parent

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84:26

Peter Alsop's "Ebenezer's Make Over"

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2025/07/15

Have you ever laughed, cried or sung-along with one of my songs? If so, I’m guessing you’ll like this full length feature video of my new play-concert “Ebenezer’s Make Over”!It’s about a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three spirits in the night. They shake him awake with passionate and humorous songs written by Holly Near, Geof Morgan, Charlie Murphy, myself and other cultural workers from the feminist men’s and women’s movements. Scrooge learns what will happen to him and the rest

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5:19

When One Is Too Many

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2025/03/28

Here’s an anthem I wrote from one of the Twelve-Step sayings. We sang this on the main stage with the audience at the 1986 Philadelphia Folk Festival, along with my friends Kim and Reggie Harris. Join us!WHEN ONE IS TOO MANYOne drink, one smoke, one snort of coke A-DA sugar slip, hey, a mainline trip A-E-E7Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? A-DMy friend, I know you know what’s required! A-E-E7Cho: When one is too many, and a thousand ain’t enough, A-DYou cannot do any, hey, you

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5:24

When Jesus Was A Kid

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2024/12/19

WHEN JESUS WAS A KIDIt’s Christmas time again DAnd the mall is really weird.Everyone gets stressed outChristmas shopping every year. D-A7I have to stop and wonder,Looking at my Christmas listWhen Jesus was a kid,Would He be doing this? A7-DI know He was a baby,But did He ever cry?Did Jesus wet His diapers,Or were they always dry?Did He use a bottleBefore He used a cup?Did Jesus throw things on the floorFor Mary to pick up?Did Mary ever spank him? GAhh, does the

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4:08

It's Only A Wee-Wee, So What's The Big Deal?

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2024/12/15

When my buddy Utah Phillips recorded my song, ‘It’s Only A Wee-Wee, So What’s The Big Deal?’, he introduced it by saying,“Now here’s my idea of a kids’ song folks! Full bore, overhead cam, spoke wire-wheels, no holds barred damn kids’ song! None of that ‘knicky-knacky-nu’ stuff we were stuck with when we were kids. When’s the last time you actually said ‘wee-wee’ in public? ‘It’s only a wee-wee, so what’s the big deal? It’s only a wee-wee so what’s all the fuss? It’s only a wee-wee and everyone’s

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05:07

Small Bribes

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/10/06

I wrote today's 'Song To Chew' for our Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. It's called SMALL BRIBES. Thought he might need some advice about how to stay out of trouble. I haven't released this song on an album yet, but I've got a 'soon to be released' YouTube video with Uncle Sam singing it to him. (He looks and sounds a lot like me!) I'll let you know if I hear back from Justice Thomas. If you have something you'd like to offer him in return for leaning his Supreme Court decisions a

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06:05

Yecch!

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/09/29

Today's 'Song To Chew' is YECCH! from my “Wha'D'Ya Wanna Do?" album. I play this song at almost every family concert because almost veryone loves screaming "Yecch!" at the top of their lungs! It's a 'scream-along' so you can join in with us! It's full of make-believe and playfulness, and it's an example of how story and oral tradition grab our attention and engage us. There is an air of danger when we face unknown monsters. When adults laugh with kids at "yecchy" stuff, kids recognize a

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08:24

Let’s Face It!

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/09/22

Today's 'Song To Chew' is LET'S FACE IT! from my “In The Hospital" album. It addresses facial disfigurement, and all the unsettling emotions that we go through when we feel that we're different than others around us. It's difficult emotionally, whether we're an adult or a child, to figure out how we're going to behave when others stare at us and feel uncomfortable. We have to cope with our own feelings of being left out and rejected. Maintaining a healthy, positive self-image is a lifelong

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06:57

Inspection

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/09/15

Today's 'Song To Chew' is INSPECTION. I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the pediatric nurses who helped us make our “In The Hospital"album. My buddy Bill Harley and I 'rap' this one. Our personal privacy is challenged regularly in a hospital by doctors, nurses and assistants who want to make sure we're okay. They even wake us up at night to make sure we're sleeping soundly! Today's kids are taught that it's their body and they can say "No!", but this all changes in the hospital. We can

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06:46

Juice

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/09/08

Today's 'Song To Chew' is JUICE, from my “Stayin Over" album. It's an uncomplicated song, about the complicated concepts of 'love' and 'energy'. When we feel we’re not loved, we feel empty, and we search for any kind of 'juice' to fill us up, like booze, sex, drugs, money, food or approval from others. But when we’re actually filled up with 'love', we don't have to go on that search. We can pass on that love and energy we have to others. We learn to love others from being loved. Children

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08:08

Stayin’ Over

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/09/01

Today we'll 'Chew' on the title song from my STAYIN' OVER album. Do you remember the first night you went to 'stay over' at a friend's house? Maybe it was a camping trip with other families. These adventures are loaded with memories and lessons we learned from our social interactions with others. It's a big step in independence for most kids. When we do it, we face separation from our own bed, blanket, our teddy bear, and from our parents. Some kids are nervous about wetting our bed, or

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06:50

Wiggle

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/08/25

Today's 'Song To Chew' is WIGGLE. It's a song about freedom! We all “wiggle” when someone won’t let us do what we want to do. 'Being alive!" means that in one form or another, we just need to "wiggle"! Some of us wiggle emotionally because we don't want to be 'pinned down'. Some wiggle physically because we'll jump out of our skin if we can't get down and run around and chase the kitty cat! And some of us do "ethical wiggling". Politicians do it; business people, religious people too

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05:25

The Prize

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/08/18

Today's 'Song To Chew' is THE PRIZE from my “Did You Walk?" album. It's song lyrics without any music, so actually, it's a poem. We're constantly being taught that it's important to 'come in first', to 'win the game', to 'win the race!' Some of us do it to get approval from others. Some think we have to do it so we can become financially independent and better able to care for ourselves and our loved ones. To have a kinder, more sustainable way of surviving on earth, we need to learn how to be

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07:46

Sandwiches

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/08/11

Today's 'Song To Chew', SANDWICHES, was written by Bob King. One of the subjects that kids love to sing about is food!! We'll 'chew on' ideas about kids and food and the interconnectedness of all the human things we do in our lives. There's 'enjoyment' and 'sharing'. There's 'mooching', which is trying to get something that someone else has, but not wanting to 'share' what we have. 'Mooching' is like a 'one way street' where everything on the road is coming in our direction, and real

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08:50

Needle-ee, Noodle-ee

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/08/04

Today's 'Song To Chew' is NEEDLE-EE NOODLE-EE. I wrote it with Penny Pefley, one of the two pediatric nurses who initiated our "In The Hospital" album! "Pokes" or "shots" are probably the number one fear children have about being in the hospital. Few children escape this experience, whether as an injection, an IV start, or a blood test. It may be impossible for a child to understand why they're being hurt when we're supposed to be making them better, but it's important for them to know that

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06:36

My Dad’s A Jungle Gym

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/07/28

Our Song To Chew today is MY DAD'S A JUNGLE GYM from my “Uh-Oh!" album. I used to carry my daughters around on my shoulders, or under my arms when they were little. Sometimes they'd get tired on a walk, and I'd carry them on my back. Eventually they'd wiggle free, hop down and run around again. Dads are generally less 'risk-adverse' than Moms, which means that we let our kids take more risks than Moms do. I'd let them stand on the roof of my van and hold out my arms and say, "Okay! Jump!",

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08:05

My Body Runs

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/07/21

Today's 'Song To Chew' is MY BODY RUNS, from my “Did You Walk?" album. I wrote this song at the request of two women who were marketing their Digi-Walker Pedometer, a small device for one's belt or pocket that counts the steps we take to be sure we get enough exercise every day. Kids have lots of questions about their own bodies and how they seem to work sort of automatically. "My body runs, my body goes! I don’t know how, but my body knows!" We really don't have much control over making our

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07:30

Wha’d’ya Wanna Do?

Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW ·

2023/07/14

Today's 'Song To Chew', WHA'D'YA WANNA DO?, is about 'wanting to have fun with a buddy'. As I listen to the lyrics more than 40 years after I wrote them, they're about being joyous. That's mostly what kids wanna do, 'find support as we go through our lives joyously'. Support makes it less scary to take risks, so when we take a risk, even if it doesn't work out, we learn that we can overcome obstacles and eventually become stronger and more confident. This song isn't as philosophically 'deep'

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