I'm a little pony

One of the things I have noticed about being a (not so) new parent, is that all of a sudden my house is filled with plastic objects that make noises. I can't take two steps without treading on something that sings, neighs, squeaks or beeps at me. A trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night sounds like one of those compilation sound effects CDs you get free with geek magazines. It's also costing me a small fortune in batteries. I reckon we could power a small village with the combined voltage of toy dwelling AA's in my house. Of the singing objects, my favourite is this rocking horse, with very realistic hair and fake leather sadle. It also sings 'I'm a little pony, clippity clop, clippity clop...' which amuses my lad and dad alike.

I've been thinking, who sings these songs that go into kid's toys? I mean, do people make a career out of it? Or does a serious singer fall on hard times? One of the singers really does put Whitney Houston circa 'I Will Always Love You' in the shade, she really belts name that colour, letter, animal out - I have to replace the batteries every 20 minutes if we leave that one on. I'd like to think that some of my offsprings toys have had some input from a star or two. I can imagine Tom Jones getting a call from his agent one day:

'Tom, I know things have been a bit quiet, but I've got you something'
'Excellent Boyo*, what is it, a world tour?'
'Wellllll... not exactly'
'Does Elton want to record that duet he's been talking about since 1972 - you know the one about the windy candle or something?'
'Hmm, I think that is still being recycled. No, this is some studio work, original stuff'
'Oh excellent. Who is the writer? Wonder? Gabriel? McCartney? Or is it someone good?'
'None of those, you might have heard of them. Price. Fischer Price.'
'No, doesn't ring any bells. Hang on a minute!'


* Please pardon my pathetic attempt to inject a bit of Welsh into the post