Althouse: "One day I'm gonna whistle?"

January 6, 2011

"One day I'm gonna whistle?"

The little girl asks at 1:47:

Highest rated comment at YouTube: "If I ever have a daughter, I'm going to have this relationship with her. I promise."

(Via Andrew Sullivan.)

60 comments:

Lyle said...: Too cute. Children are the best. Wish I knew more songs to sing to my nieces, because I'm always have to make up nonsensical songs for their enjoyment.; 1/6/11, 6:32 PM
coketown said...: Cute video. Stupid comment. Get that twit a postcard so she can mail her feigned sentimentality in to PostSecret.; 1/6/11, 6:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Note to self: Sign non-musical husband up for guitar lessons, stat.; 1/6/11, 6:43 PM
steve said...: I'm 50 and never had kids. When I see that, it reminds me of what I missed. I wish I had a little girl.; 1/6/11, 6:43 PM
Phil 314 said...: Interesting whistle, all tongue and teeth no lips. How does he do that? I always prided myself on my whistling but its mainly lips.

Kid's probably going to have a good voice when she gets older.; 1/6/11, 6:46 PM
DaveW said...: This was posted on Ace of Spades overnight thread last night. I watched it then.

She's really cute, and they sing pretty well together.; 1/6/11, 6:50 PM
Robt C said...: I love my two sons, who are way grown up now, but this video makes me reeeely wish I had had a daughter. My wife tells me there is nothing like a daughter-father relationship, and I would have liked to try.; 1/6/11, 6:52 PM
HKatz said...: They make a good duo. Or trio, if you count the snowman. It's nice to see parents and kids spending time together like this, and I like how the kid's propping her arm up on her dad throughout the song.; 1/6/11, 6:58 PM
Anonymous said...: "This was posted on Ace of Spades overnight thread last night. I watched it then."

Yes ... Andrew Sullivan readers are a day late and a dollar short.

Get with the times, Ann. And please stop linking us to the weblogs of criminal drug users.

It's unbecoming of you.

There are many voices on the internet who don't violate our nation's drug laws that you could be linking your readers to.

Why do you insist on providing links to criminals?; 1/6/11, 6:59 PM
Revenant said...: There are many voices on the internet who don't violate our nation's drug laws that you could be linking your readers to. Why do you insist on providing links to criminals?

Yeah, I sometimes get cranky when she links to George Bush's comments, too.; 1/6/11, 7:01 PM
Robt C said...: @c3
It's hard to explain but easy to do. You sort of tuck your tongue with a V shape behind your upper teeth. Something more like a "sissle" rather than a "whistle" comes out. Not very loud, but effective. And it's easy to hit the proper notes.; 1/6/11, 7:03 PM
Skyler said...: Adorable!!; 1/6/11, 7:07 PM
JAL said...: @c3 .. my thought too... have never seen anyopne whistle like that (unless the short burst type is done the same way.)

I like the way she's leaning on him.

The dad never smiles.; 1/6/11, 7:10 PM
Anonymous said...: "The dad never smiles."

After 10 takes, and at 11 pm he was probably pretty tired.

The love in that little child's eyes for her father says everything.; 1/6/11, 7:16 PM
HKatz said...: The dad never smiles.

He does smile with his eyes, several times, at her.; 1/6/11, 7:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Interesting whistle, all tongue and teeth no lips. How does he do that? I always prided myself on my whistling but its mainly lips.

My husband whistles like that, and I always thought it was unusual. (I've never been able to manage either way.) I've never seen anyone else do it, though.

- Lyssa; 1/6/11, 7:20 PM
rhhardin said...: The guitar is strung backwards; or it's a mirror image.; 1/6/11, 7:33 PM
Beth said...: rhhardin: I think he's left-handed.; 1/6/11, 7:34 PM
Bob_R said...: Yes, lefty upside-down guitar. See Elizabeth Cotton and Albert King.; 1/6/11, 7:40 PM
Skyler said...: I didn't think smiles were necessary to show love. Sometimes you can be serious and show love. In fact, it's better if you can show love for your children while being serious, otherwise, they might think that being serious is a bad thing.; 1/6/11, 7:43 PM
george said...: My daughter will sing along with me when I play. She has more trouble carrying the melody and staying in time than that little girl but all of the sentiment is the same. Good times.; 1/6/11, 7:45 PM
KCFleming said...: That's the sweetest damn thing. Looks exactly like my daughter did at that age. So earnest in her singing; it breaks your heart.

My little one sang like that to Live for Today by The Grass Roots, a dead serious rendition, but the wrong words.

Sha-la-la-la-la-la, what did you saaaaay!; 1/6/11, 7:52 PM
Unknown said...: The Blonde was always glad she had no sisters, only brothers. After babysitting her oldest niece's daughter, she says she knows why. But that kid is spoiled.

The little girl in the video is another story.; 1/6/11, 8:08 PM
MadisonMan said...: It's easy to have such a relationship with a 3-yo. 13-yo? Not so much :); 1/6/11, 8:26 PM
KCFleming said...: The time with her when 3 makes her bearable at 13.

At 23, you can start to be friends again.; 1/6/11, 8:31 PM
Titus said...: My Indian UK husband and I are thinking of buying a slumdog kid during my next trip to India. You can get one for just a few rupees.

We want a girl.

Or his cook may pop one out for us, and we will accept it, if it is cute.; 1/6/11, 8:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Robt C -- My 35yr old daughter still calls me daddy.

I don't play instruments, but daughter and I had the entire Pirates of Penzance memorized. At twelve she could sing Maybell's pieces perfectly.; 1/6/11, 8:55 PM
Ann Althouse said...: ""This was posted on Ace of Spades overnight thread last night. I watched it then." Yes ... Andrew Sullivan readers are a day late and a dollar short."

If you go to the link to AS, you'll see that he is reposting it from a previous post of his, so the Ace got it first implication would seem to be wrong.; 1/6/11, 9:02 PM
madAsHell said...: Best I can tell....he's playing a right handed guitar, but it is upside down! The high E is on top, and the low E is at the bottom of the strum. All of his chords are inverted. He's playing the guitar upside down.

Keith Richards claims that he handed Hendrix a right handed guitar, and Jimi just turned it over. He proceeded to play like nothing had happened. ahhh...Jimi was left handed.

For the record, Jimi's guitars were specially strung for the left hand (not upside down right handed guitars).

That guy has a mind like a 3D cad machine. He may have perfect pitch as well.; 1/6/11, 9:19 PM
madAsHell said...: Lyssa -

Get him a Mac first, and then show him how to use GarageBand.

Then show him YouTube....and examine some of the HowToPlay X videos.

Oh, yeah....give him time to play!

Well...not too much time to play...the time needs to focus on the guitar!; 1/6/11, 9:28 PM
Penny said...: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros performed this song on Letterman last week and nearly melted my heart.

Now it's sloshing around inside my chest!; 1/6/11, 9:37 PM
sunsong said...: Sweet!; 1/6/11, 9:57 PM
Anonymous said...: My Indian UK husband and I are thinking of buying a slumdog kid during my next trip to India. You can get one for just a few rupees.

We want a girl.

I assume that's why Sullivan linked this--children as the ultimate gay fashion accessory.; 1/6/11, 10:11 PM
Harry said...: The wistful comments of people who don't have children sound naive.

I have a 24-year-old, a 21-year-old, and an 18-year-old. I was at a Christmas party where there was an adorable two-year-old boy toddling about. I couldn't stop gaping at his wonderful innocence. His mom said to me, "When people with grown-up children look at my son, I can tell by their expression that they know something I don't. I keep wondering what it is I'm going to have to go through!"

Yes, maybe or maybe not. In addition to the joy, our daughters put my wife and I through the worst times of our lives. Our son--no problems so far.; 1/6/11, 11:55 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Will have to share this with my daughter tomorrow. We have our own song -- a rocking chair song -- that I used to sing to her every night when she was little.

Lyle, if you want some nice songs to sing with your nieces, check out Justin Roberts.; 1/7/11, 12:51 AM
Peter Hoh said...: Dad never smiles?

Look closely -- right at 1:03 dad gives a little flicker of a smile, and the girl just lights up.; 1/7/11, 12:59 AM
Titus said...: We will name our little slumdog child Sunita or Sneha or Hannah or Reagan.

She will be a total bitch.; 1/7/11, 2:23 AM
Deb said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/7/11, 3:34 AM
DaveW said...: If you go to the link to AS, you'll see that he is reposting it from a previous post of his, so the Ace got it first implication would seem to be wrong.

I'm glad you used the word "seem" professor. If you follow the links you'll see this is not the video he posted.

Not that I'm interested in a 'I had it first argument' between anyone and the likes of Sullivan. I was simply saying I had seen it the night before.; 1/7/11, 4:31 AM
Penny said...: Here in the states, we prefer our bitches to be slummy and our bastards to be funny... assuming they're not packing gunnys.

Please fill us in on the injuns, Titus.

Are they dark skinned or red skinned?

If they have tanned skin, please inform them that they should not choose to enter our country at the moment, but give them hope. Their time will come!

Tell those that seem particularly distressed, that the line of pale folks is getting shorter. It should ease their tension.

But please, whatever you do, do NOT ever tell them that it's a "little white lie". That pisses EVERYONE off!

I know, I have no clue here either? In fact, I always liked Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Anyway...enough about me. YOU are our ambassador, and I have faith!

Know this, young man...

"The herd that is not gullible is cullable." ;); 1/7/11, 4:49 AM
Anonymous said...: " ...you'll see that he is reposting it from a previous post of his, so the Ace got it first implication would seem to be wrong."

That's not the point, Ann. And you know it. Nobody even claimed AoS posted it first. You're out of order.

In fact, the father posted it first. On YouTube. It was then linked by someone to Metafilter. From there, it was linked by several bloggers and went viral on its own.

You had several bloggers from which to choose to give your link (and by implication your support for their advertising endeavors).

You chose to point us to the blog of a drug criminal.

That's wrong, and your readers do not appreciate being sent there when you had a choice of where to credit that video.

You can choose to continue to link to drug criminals if you want. It's your blog. But you'll be called on it by your readership - which is appropriate.

We dont' like you linking us to criminals. Please stop doing it.; 1/7/11, 4:51 AM
MarkW said...: Yes, lefty upside-down guitar. See Elizabeth Cotton and Albert King.

Yeah, it's just a regular right-handed guitar flipped around without even being restrung. Apparently quite a few lefties play guitars strung upside-down like that, which seems weird to me.

BTW, if you play guitar, here's a little experiment for you -- flip the guitar around and if you're like me you can instantly recreate the experience of being a rank beginner. Try making chord shapes with your opposite hand. I'm right-handed and I know where the fingers should go, but what now feels completely simple and natural with my left hand is impossible with my right.; 1/7/11, 7:01 AM
KCFleming said...: "We dont' like you linking us to criminals. Please stop doing it."

That's a rather long post to support a trivial conclusion.

Next: a treatise on socks.; 1/7/11, 7:06 AM
alan markus said...: Hate to get all cynical, it's a cute video, but looking at the YouTube channel & Facebook, I smell a run at internet monetization in their future. Hopefully he will earn enough to finish his college education and for his two kids educations, too. I'm the father of an 11-year old daughter - I'm not so sure that when she was younger, making her do this song 10+ times at 11:00 at night would have been such a great "father/daughter" bonding experience.

Here's the text from the video:

CHECK OUT REST OF CHANNEL!!
I'M JUST A FATHER OF TWO WORKING MY WAY THROUGH COLLEGE

SUBSCRIBE!! BECOME PART OF OUR EXPERIENCE!! CONTACT US AT GONNAWHISTLE@YAHOO.COM
OR
JORGEELIALEXA@YAHOO.COM!!
. Here's how this video came about.
It was 11:00pm. After 9 or 10 practice runs with a mic that was off the entire time, we were so tired and bummed out! On the last try, she yawns and couldn't wait to go to sleep! and so did i. But this is Alexa Narvaez,one of 2 beautiful daughters, trying out Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeros "home" song.
For amazing photography albums, bios and awesome family moments add us on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jorge-A...; 1/7/11, 7:16 AM
KCFleming said...: Yeah, I saw that. Ack.; 1/7/11, 7:23 AM
kjbe said...: It's easy to have such a relationship with a 3-yo. 13-yo? Not so much :)

By 23, it comes back to that easy part (it did for us, anyway).; 1/7/11, 7:40 AM
HKatz said...: The wistful comments of people who don't have children sound naive.

Some of the people making wistful comments don't have kids, but some of them do. Not all child-rearing experiences are the same across kids and families (whether the kids are in their terrible twos or terrible teens).

When a kid becomes a teenager, things don't have to go to hell and kids don't have to become impossible to deal with.; 1/7/11, 7:41 AM
tim maguire said...: It looks like I'll have to be the naysayer. There is absolutely nothing in this video that tells me he's a good dad.

And it's not because, while she is singing to him, he is singing to the camera with hardly a single look of tenderness in her direction.

It's because any no account drifter can pop into his daughter's life and wow her with a song for a few minutes before heading off to the bar again.

I want to see him follow up this great song moment by cooking her dinner and animatedly reading her a story that's interesting to her but boring as growing grass to him. Then I'll be convinced.; 1/7/11, 9:27 AM
tim maguire said...: I should have refreshed before posting. I see I'm not the only naysayer.; 1/7/11, 9:31 AM
Phil 314 said...: Hate to get all cynical, it's a cute video, but looking at the YouTube channel & Facebook, I smell a run at internet monetization in their future.

There's something ironic about a right of center blog, presumably positively predisposed to free enterprise, begrudging someone try to make a buck. It suggests there's some invisible line that free enterprise/entrepreneurship shouldn't cross.

Or is it that some folks are just innately cynical?; 1/7/11, 9:33 AM
tim maguire said...: The issue, c3, is deception, not profit. This in't just an "awww...how cute!" moment, it's a marketing plan.

That said, the deception is mild at worst. Everyone on youtube is trying to make money.; 1/7/11, 9:44 AM
MayBee said...: It's because any no account drifter can pop into his daughter's life and wow her with a song for a few minutes before heading off to the bar again.

True.

It makes me sad to hear people pining to have relationships "just like" a relationship they know nothing about.

Treasure your own relationships, whatever they are. If they aren't what you want, do everything you can to make them better. But don't imagine what might be/might have been with someone else.; 1/7/11, 9:45 AM
AllenS said...: What's wrong with having a marketing plan to try and sell something that's cute?; 1/7/11, 9:46 AM
Larry J said...: Yes, maybe or maybe not. In addition to the joy, our daughters put my wife and I through the worst times of our lives. Our son--no problems so far.

My daughter-in-law grew up with two younger sisters. When she became pregnant, she hoped for a son because "girls are too much drama."

She's now the mother of two boys, aged 6 and 2. They're a handful as expected but so far, no drama.

Now, my granddaugher (also aged 6) is a whole different story.; 1/7/11, 9:58 AM
tim maguire said...: Nothing, Allen. That's why I said the problem was the deception instead of saying it's the marketing.

In fact, that was my whole point in responding to c3's post--the problem (assuming for this discussion that there is one--again, see my previous post) is not the effort to make money, but the hiding of that effort behind a cute family moment.; 1/7/11, 10:01 AM
MayBee said...: My mother's father left her and her mom and her 4 siblings several times for various women. After the last time, my grandmother had to send some of her kids to live with other families. Most of the furniture was repossessed.

Yet when my grandfather wanted to come meet my mother's children, all he could talk about was the time he came home from work and she (a 5 year old) was so excited to see him she was jumping up and down on the bed. He could see her through the window, her happy face bouncing up and down up and down because daddy was home! Oh, how he loved that memory.

And I bet if he could have filmed it and put it on YouTube, people would yearn for a wonderful father daughter relationship just like that.

I'm sure the father in this video is a wonderful dad. But we can only know our own relationships, and getting all involved in what you imagine about someone else is no good.; 1/7/11, 10:02 AM
DaveW said...: tim,

I have videos on youtube and I'm not trying to make any money. They're just videos of my dogs and whatnot, to share with friends and family.

I don't see anything wrong with this guy making a buck off the video if that's what happens. I don't know how he could possibly know this video would go viral though. And he has other vids of her up that are not nearly as cute as this one.

/shrug; 1/7/11, 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...: I love this song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I love this version too.; 1/7/11, 10:43 AM
Deb said...: I took the video at face value. I enjoyed it because it brought back memories of my daughters at that age. They grow up way too fast, and I wish I had a better record of those years than I do. Mostly, I have to rely on memory.; 1/7/11, 11:25 AM
Peter Hoh said...: Tim, do you know anything more about this guy, or did you just assume that single dad means no-account drifter?; 1/7/11, 4:55 PM